Labor of love: Father creates headgear to protect girls from concussion

Teenage concussions have skyrocketed across the country, and especially among female teens. In fact, after football, the most dangerous High School sport is girl's Lacrosse.

A special helmet designed by a father, however, is changing the game.

For Bella, the game of Lacrosse almost took her life, during her sophomore year.

"What they told me is my brain hit my skill three times," said Bella. "Forward, back, forward."

Bella was in bad shape.

"I remember not being able to keep my eyes open, and my coaches kept telling me 'keep your eyes open. You can't go to sleep'," said Bella. "Then, they called the ambulance, and put me on a spine board off to the hospital."

Bella, as it turned out, had a concussion so severe that she had to sit in a dark room, and missed five weeks of school, as well as months of sports.

"I was in a fog for such a long time," said Bella. "Even after I felt better, I was in a fog."

Bella was not the only one who suffered from a concussion on her team. Kelli also had two concussions.

In both instances, Kelli's concussion came from a ball that smacked her unprotected head.

"It just like hurts," said Kelli. "Everything in your head in fuzzy. You couldn't comprehend what is going on."

For girls 10 to 19, the rate of concussions have jumped 118%. A big reason why girl's Lacrosse is second only to Football for concussions is the lack of helmets. While boy's football players wear shoulder pads, gloves, and a huge helmet. For girls, they war a skirt and pretty goggles.

"Let's face it, the girls get ignored," said Rob Stolker. For Stolker, he loves sports and his four girls, and Stolker said he wants his girls happy and safe. When the youngest asked to play Lacrosse, Stolker said he couldn't believe there were no helmets.

"They're strong, they're fierce, they play hard, they play aggressive," said Stolker. "I love that, but to not have any protection on their head is just insane."

Stolker then decided to do something about it. He gathered a team on experts and created the very first approved headgear for girl's Lacrosse.

The headgear, called "The Hummingbird", has passed every test and standard, and it is designed for a female athlete. It even has a pony tail opening, and can be used in other sports as well.

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