Under Armour and USA Football team up

Under Armour, Inc. which outfits and warms some of the top athletes around the world, just signed a deal to dress youngsters playing football.

Vienna-based USA Football, the sport’s national governing body on youth and amateur levels, had no previous outfitter prior to the deal with the Baltimore-based sportswear apparel company (NYSE: UA).

“It’s a partnership that goes through 2009 with a mix of cash, performance apparel and media,” said Steve Alic, director of communications for USA Football. “Under Armour represents a ground-breaking outfitter partnership for USA Football’s national team program.”

USA Football recently picked Chicago-based Riddell as its official football helmet and protective equipment partner.

USA Football will conduct more than 100 football training events nationwide this year that UA will provide apparel for.

USA’s members that benefit from the training sessions include coaches, game officials and league administrators, who reside in every state and D.C.

The partnership also gives UA the exclusive right to outfit USA Football’s 2009 Junior National Team, America’s first high school-aged national team in football. It will compete this summer, dressed in Under Armour uniforms, against seven other nations at the world championship in Ohio.

UA will also participate in USA Football’s grant program, which awards uniforms and equipment grants each year to youth leagues and high school football programs, based on merit and need.
UA’s existing youth partnerships include the Under Armour High School Football All-America Game, and it recently amped up its relationships with universities.

Late last year, Under Armour inked a deal to spend $11 million over five years to outfit the entire Texas Tech University athletic program.

In September, Under Armour and the University of Maryland athletic department announced a five-year, $17.5 million all-apparel pact.

Source: Washington Business Journal

An Air-Cooled, Football Shoulder Pad System That Works...Cool!

• Introducing the latest advanced technology in combating heat stroke and heat related illnesses in football players. Developed by Physicians and Scientists from the University of Florida Research Foundation.
• Significant changes in the body core temperature cause conditions ranging from mild weakness and fatigue to decreased athletic performance, coma and death.
• Cool, compressed air enters the pad then flows through vertical air flow channels that are open next to the chest and back of the player.

Athletes, coaches, and even armchair quarterbacks know that successful athletes need conditioning. But did you realize that they need ‘air’ conditioning?

One of the most dangerous health risks to football players has always been the risk of heat stroke. Two years ago, after having gone through the tragedy of losing an athlete to heat related complications during practice, Physicians and scientists from the University of Florida immediately began researching a means to prevent this dangerous and sometimes fatal condition.

It was determined that the air temperature under the players’ shoulder pads often reached dangerously high levels leading to severe dehydration through perspiration. Although players frequently removed their helmets, this only fooled their bodies into thinking that they were cooler, when in fact, the temperature surrounding the player’s body remained dangerously elevated.

It was farther determined that the way to alleviate this condition was to lower temperature of the body’s core. The researchers found that they were able to successfully cool the body core by passing cool air over the strategic areas of the player’s shoulder and back.
Dr. Nik Gravenstein from the University of Florida came up with the concept of a pad that players could wear that would address the real issue of heat-related illness. This invention was brought to Fred Williams of Williams Sports Group, LLC of Jacksonville, Florida. Mr. Williams has invented numerous protective designs which are being used by numerous NFL and college football programs.
Fred Williams developed an ‘air flow channel system’ which, when built into the protective cushion of an existing shoulder pad would provide a unique system of air delivery. This system is the revolutionary new ‘Temperature Management System’ (TMS).

In the TMS system, cool, dry air effectively lowers his core body temperature, keeping it from rising to dangerous levels. The device was field tested by University of Florida research scientists and has been incorporated into the Douglas Custom Pro and Riddell Power Shoulder Pads.

• Heat related illness is second only to head injuries as a cause of death among athletes in the United States.
• The TMS system will replace the air across a players chest and back over 100 times per minute.
• A rise in body temperature is also associated with a decline in athletic performance.

Source: Williams Sports Group

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