1. By LAUREN LITTS
For the Pocono Record
We’ve all seen it happen.
A quarterback takes a big hit, and doesn’t get back up. A batter sends a line drive ricocheting off a
pitcher’s head, ending his season. A soccer player goes up for a header, only to come down with a
headache.
Every year, U.S. emergency departments treat an estimated 173,285 sports related Traumatic Brain
Injuries in children - According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
But there is some good news.
Unequal Technologies, a Kennett Square, Pennsylvania Company believes they can better protect
athletes.
The brain-child of CEO Rob Vito, Unequal has developed a three layer, military grade, Kevlar fortified
composite used to provide extra protection to athletes across all impact sports.
Unequal has partnered with Pennsylvania retailer Schuylkill Valley Sports to bring their line of
supplemental head protection to the public.
“We like Schuylkill Valley because they’re very hands on,” Vito said. “A sales associate is going to work
with you and help you get the best gear and answer your questions. With our product rolling out, we
wanted the moms and dads, trainers and coaches to have the utmost information available before they
make that decision.”
Greg Baldwin, Vice President of Merchandising for Schuylkill Valley Sports is excited about the
partnership.
“This concussion issue is at the forefront of sports today,” Baldwin said. “We’re really excited about the
Unequal products. The level of protection that Unequal provides is something that people are screaming
for.”
Available Products
Schuylkill Valley Sports now carries Unequal’s full supplemental head padding line consisting of the
DOME, HALO, BAND, GYRO, MAXX and PADS. Each is intended to provide sport specific protection.
PADS are the original, sticky kit with different sizes and shapes for customization in any helmet. The
DOME skullcap and BAND headband are designed to protect athletes in sports like field hockey and
soccer.
The HALO is an insert used in soft caps like golf and baseball caps, ideal for pitchers. The GYRO and
MAXX are place-and-play inserts used in higher impact sports like football and ice hockey.

2. The supplemental head padding line is relatively inexpensive, for the protection it provides. The price
range starts at around sixty dollars and runs up to a little less than ninety dollars.
Not all Unequal products are available in stores, though you may see them sooner than later.
“We are already discussing expanding our store inventories to include things like body and foot
protection lines,” Baldwin said. “We wanted the head protection zone line first due to the obvious
importance of protecting athletes against concussions.”
The body protection line features the Invincible Shirt, which provides additional rib protection for
athletes in football, and most notably, is being worn by several NFL quarterbacks including Michael Vick
and Ben Roethlisberger.
Consumers can find Unequal’s full line of products on their website www.unequal.com.
Unequal in the Pros
Initially, Unequal’s composite material was used to develop body armor for military troops like NATO.
“We were building protective products for the military,” Vito said. “We thought if we could make the
material lighter, thinner and more flexible, it could have applications into sports.”
Fortified with Kevlar, each Unequal product is typically less than a quarter of an inch thick and is
designed to help disperse impact forces.
When word got out that Vito was onto something that may revolutionize safety in sports, the calls
started coming in.
“When Tony Romo broke his ribs, when Michael Vick broke his sternum they didn’t call anyone but us to
build that gear,” Vito said. “We’re protecting 14 other players in the NFL with our invincible shirt. Why?
Because they get that it works.”
Troy Polamalu and James Harrison along with snowboarders Torah Bright and Arielle Gold, and Red Sox
catcher David Ross are just a few of the professionals wearing Unequal gear.
Warranty Wariness
There seems to be one issue in particular holding back many coaches, parents and players from using
Unequal and similar products – attaching something to the helmet voids the manufacturer’s warranty.
For example, Riddell’s warranty covers the polycarbonate shell. It’s five years for varsity helmets and
three years for youth helmets, provided there has been normal use and proper maintenance.
According to an Unequal representative, the only Unequal product that attaches to the helmet that
voids the warranty is the PADS, the original customizable sticky kit. The other Unequal products that do
not attach to the helmet do not apply.

3. “I’ve had this question with about a dozen NFL teams and universities. Our GYRO does not attach to and
does not modify the helmet. It is a place-and-play,” Vito said. “It’s no different than if you put on a doo
rag.”
Vito is so confident in his product that Unequal has made the commitment to stand in place of the
warranty of the helmet manufacturer.
“There hasn’t been a cracked helmet since the 1980s. You’re more likely to get a case of polio than you
are to crack a football helmet,” Vito said. “They make airplanes out of this stuff they build cars out of it.
We tell teams that if your helmet cracks while our product is installed, we will pay for the replacement
of that polycarbonate shell.”
Pleasant Valley Football coach Jim Terwilliger is cautious of products that alter his player’s already top
notch helmets.
“It’s such a fickle thing with the head,” Terwilliger said. “These helmets have already been tested and
approved and already provide great protection. We don’t allow our players to wear doo rags,
sweatbands or bandanas because we want that helmet to be as safe as possible.”
Notre Dame Baseball coach Kevin Hezel sees Unequal as a potential game changer for his team.
“Last season our catcher took a foul ball off the helmet, got a concussion and missed the rest of the
season,” Hezel said. “Something like this technology I would absolutely make sure our guys had it if it
meant we didn’t lose players.”
Unequal’s composite is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration, but Vito isn’t fazed.
“We will never be FDA approved,” Vito said. “We’re not a drug. We’re a pad. FDA approval really doesn’t
apply to our product.”
Research and Testing
A recent study by the Virginia Tech -- Wake Forest School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences may
have found a link between reducing head acceleration and reducing the risk of head injuries.
Researchers found that helmets that better manage impact energy will result in lower head
accelerations and thereby lower the risk of concussion.
“If you believe that a lower acceleration lowers the risk of concussion, well, Unequal lowers the severity
index, also known as the acceleration.” Vito said.
Severity Index (SI) is a measurement of the risk of injury used by the NOCSAE to certify helmets.
“What our product can do for concussions specifically we just don’t know,” Vito said. “What we do know
is we significantly reduce the severity index, in some cases by more than fifty percent.”
Unequal was tested by third party ISO17025 accredited labs and yielded some promising results.

4. In new, unused football helmets the SI was reduced by as much as 53 percent, in hockey helmets by 42
percent and in baseball helmets by 55 percent.
The National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE), a non-profit group
who develops performance standards for protective equipment used in a variety of sports supports the
Virginia Tech research, but finds it incomplete.
In an official release regarding the Virginia Tech findings the NOCSAE said, “The Virginia Tech Helmet
Ratings system approaches the very broad and complex issue of concussion protection from a narrow
vantage point of linear accelerations only and does not address other biomechanical variables such as
rotational accelerations.”
What you may not know is that a concussion is the result of more than getting hit hard.
“There is another portion to a concussion that never gets any press because people can’t do anything
about it,” East Stroudsburg South Head Athletic Trainer and Assistant Athletic Director Armand
Martinelli said. “That’s the rotational portion of a concussion. There is rotation and movement involved
in addition to that big impact.”
Scientists at Virginia Tech have recognized this limitation in their testing, and will move to include both
linear and rotational head accelerations in all future tests starting this fall. They will also start applying
this new research to other sports, including hockey, lacrosse and baseball.
Local Experts Weigh In
The best way to reduce the number of sport related concussions is still up for debate.
Two experienced local experts want to see more testing done and recommend caution when
considering supplemental equipment.
Armand Martinelli is skeptical yet hopeful of anything claiming to reduce the likely-hood of head
injuries.
“The brain is floating in fluid and when you move it at a certain amount of miles per hour and you then
stop it suddenly, it hits off the inside of the skull,” Martinelli said. “These folks are saying they can
reduce that impact force and slow the brain down even though their padding is on the outside of the
skull, and maybe they’re right. But show me the research on someone’s brain that proves it works.”
One way to reduce head injury, according to Martinelli, is to strengthen the neck muscles.
“Will it prevent all concussions, absolutely not,” Martinelli said. “But when an athlete has a good strong
neck, you can start to reduce some of the rotational portion of a concussion.”
Though Martinelli finds it hard to believe products like Unequal work, he is hopeful that further testing
will prove that they do.

5. “I’m all for protecting a kid’s brain,” Martinelli said. “So I hope it works, that would be absolutely
fantastic.”
Doctor John Hauth, Professor of Athletic Training and Department Chair at East Stroudsburg University
isn’t quite sold on any of the numerous products available today either.
After attending this year’s National Athletic Trainers Association Expo in June, Hauth has seen an
exponential increase in the number of products that relate to concussions.
“There’s really no secret as to why that is, everyone in some way shape or form wants a piece of the
concussion pie so to speak,” Hauth said. “One of the presentations was about balancing the concussion
hysteria with the science and where we stand with sport related concussions.”
Hauth has a four inch stack of articles on his desk at ESU of unpublished scholarly research regarding
sport related concussions waiting to be reviewed.
“The reality is that the research on concussions and how best to defend against them is all just too
new,” Hauth said. “The definition of a concussion has changed over the years and we’re doing a better
job of identifying and treating concussions, but there is still so much to learn.”
Hauth suggests coaches and parents take a different route to safety for now.
“We’d be much smarter if we spent more time at the younger levels making sure that coaches do a good
job of fitting the helmet,” Hauth said. “Proper fit is actually a big issue, and we need to make sure
coaches are teaching proper tackling techniques and identifying kids that are putting themselves at risk
and taking steps to change it.”
The NOCSAE agrees, that while using approved equipment is important in athlete safety, “Learning to
avoid unnecessary head impacts, reporting concussion symptoms to a coach or parent and following
trained medical management decisions about when a concussed athlete can return to play are far more
likely to prevent a concussion or reduce the chance of chronic problems that may be related to
untreated concussions.”
Take it or Leave it
With the speed of games getting faster, and hits getting harder, protecting athletes as best as possible is
certainly an important issue that the sports world is still addressing.
Professional athletes from years ago are coming forward and offering themselves up for research into
finding an answer to the head injury problem.
Products like those made by Unequal, along with advances in helmet design and construction, may be
our best chance at fighting the growing concussion epidemic.

6. “I’m all for protecting a kid’s brain,” Martinelli said. “So I hope it works, that would be absolutely
fantastic.”
Doctor John Hauth, Professor of Athletic Training and Department Chair at East Stroudsburg University
isn’t quite sold on any of the numerous products available today either.
After attending this year’s National Athletic Trainers Association Expo in June, Hauth has seen an
exponential increase in the number of products that relate to concussions.
“There’s really no secret as to why that is, everyone in some way shape or form wants a piece of the
concussion pie so to speak,” Hauth said. “One of the presentations was about balancing the concussion
hysteria with the science and where we stand with sport related concussions.”
Hauth has a four inch stack of articles on his desk at ESU of unpublished scholarly research regarding
sport related concussions waiting to be reviewed.
“The reality is that the research on concussions and how best to defend against them is all just too
new,” Hauth said. “The definition of a concussion has changed over the years and we’re doing a better
job of identifying and treating concussions, but there is still so much to learn.”
Hauth suggests coaches and parents take a different route to safety for now.
“We’d be much smarter if we spent more time at the younger levels making sure that coaches do a good
job of fitting the helmet,” Hauth said. “Proper fit is actually a big issue, and we need to make sure
coaches are teaching proper tackling techniques and identifying kids that are putting themselves at risk
and taking steps to change it.”
The NOCSAE agrees, that while using approved equipment is important in athlete safety, “Learning to
avoid unnecessary head impacts, reporting concussion symptoms to a coach or parent and following
trained medical management decisions about when a concussed athlete can return to play are far more
likely to prevent a concussion or reduce the chance of chronic problems that may be related to
untreated concussions.”
Take it or Leave it
With the speed of games getting faster, and hits getting harder, protecting athletes as best as possible is
certainly an important issue that the sports world is still addressing.
Professional athletes from years ago are coming forward and offering themselves up for research into
finding an answer to the head injury problem.
Products like those made by Unequal, along with advances in helmet design and construction, may be
our best chance at fighting the growing concussion epidemic.