On The Heart Beat, Concussion
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Heads Up!
Any heart-in-mouth dad who has driven, Popeye Doyle style, to the emergency room with a bleeding child in mom’s arms can relate to Federico Olivares.
Any heart-is-in-the-right-place dad who nervously watches as a child’s training wheels come off and a first real ride ends in a crash can relate to Federico Olivares.
Any parent’s heart might skip a beat watching their child take a hard blow to the head in any sort of play. Federico Olivares did.
Then Federico did something about it. Here’s his story:
“It all started on a summer day in 2010. My kids were riding bikes and electric four wheelers. All of a sudden, I saw my son fall down and hit his head hard on the concrete. While he had his bicycle helmet on, I realized that in a split second our lives could change. I felt helpless and knew at that moment that I had to do something about this, for me and for other parents. If there was one product that could add protection to any sport helmet, what would it look like?”
Federico is the founder and inventor of 2nd Skull maker of protective headgear for every sport that protects toddler, teen, and adult sportsmen and women, amateur and professional.
A longtime innovator at Fortune 250 companies, including PPG and Kellogg, Federico’s solution came to him as he watched Steeler games and saw players wearing skull caps.
Fast forward a decade and 2nd Skull improve head protection in any sport, any helmet. 2nd Skull won the NFL’s HeadHealth Tech II Challenge which resulted in the launch of the 2nd Skull Pro Cap, a thin, protective, and breathable skull cap that was held to rigorous testing as part of the project with the NFL.
Gratefully, it has also found its way onto the heads of peewees and pros of all sorts negating many of those chase scene style ER rides described earlier.
2nd Skull’s impact-absorbing innovation sometimes called invisible protection is made possible by the soft urethane molecules the headgear hold. On impact, the urethane molecules harden and reduce the energy transferred to the head.
See Federico and his early demonstration:
And another one:
Federico’s innovation and marketing expertise was in for a big surprise when he found that one of the biggest barriers to use was aesthetics, so they had to design cool looking products. They’re thin, flexible, and have anti-microbial protection, too.
Shout out to moms and dads protecting kids as well as maybe still playing: Use your noggin, think like Federico Olivares, and avoid a heart-stopping, tire screeching ride to the ER.
And the beat goes on.
