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McNiff's Riffs: MN company tackles football safety

A Minnesota company called TackleBar Football takes on the issue of football safety.
Credit: Thinkstock

After more than 50-years as a head coach, John Gagliardi retired from St. John’s University in 2012 with 489 career wins, far and away the most in college football history. During his tenure with the Johnnies Gagliardi was widely known for his unconventional approach to football, which included no hitting in practice, something he did away with way back in 1971.

“Football has a perception problem,” says Tim Healy, President & CEO of TackleBar Football. “The message from the media is negative and it is sticking. Parents are aware and as such, kids are not playing youth football.”

Healy played for Gagliardi in the 1980s and returned to the game as a coach when two of his sons decided to play. A strong proponent of the life lessons that come with football, Healy is spearheading a local effort to keep kids playing, albeit in a safer version of the game that he knew as a player.

“There are so many life lessons and character-building virtues that come out of the game of football,” says Healy. “We’re really trying to address participation and safety while improving the football experience.

RELATED: Read more McNiff's Riffs here

A few years ago Healy was an assistant coach at the junior high level at Providence Academy, when the conversation about concussions and football hit home. The numbers dropped to the point where the Independent Metro Athletic Conference (IMAC) was forced to look at all options regarding the future of high school football.

One option was the introduction of what is now known as TackleBar Football.

“Every player wears a harness which is attached by Velcro on the back of which are two removable 5-inch bars that you grab and pull off. And you just need to pull off one of them to end the play,” says Healy. “

The system was created by St. Paul resident Jeremy Ling, a medical engineer by trade and concerned football parent, whose kids were tired of playing flag football or “baby football” as they called it saying they wanted to play “real football”.

“I talked to Jeremy after the coaches meeting," Healy says. "I had been a distributor for Medtronic and actually sold the business to them and I was looking for my next thing so the timing was perfect. I came in with equity so I’m an owner, president and CEO and the best part is I get to talk football all day!”

Healy’s been on-board with TackleBar for almost three years and the company and concept are taking off.

Credit: Thinkstock

“We have close to 100 communities signed up for this fall, and we have a number of high schools that use it for practice for safety reasons,” says Healy.

TackleBar has heavy participation in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa, but Healy says TackleBar football will be played in 17 states this fall. And with conversations ongoing with USA Football and the National Football League, TackleBar offers a unique solution to a game badly in need of one.

“You get all the technique and game speed, it looks and feels like football, but we’re taking the big hit and the high-impact collision out, so we’ve made the game safer,” says Healy. “We have safe contact, we have sound fundamentals, the boys on the line can block, which with flag football you can’t. We promote having your head up so we’re promoting good technique. But we’re stopping on impact and we’re pulling the bar instead of driving the ball carrier to the ground or picking him up and throwing him to the ground. All we do is pull the bar.”

Healy says TackleBar’s target market is the 3rd through 8th grade youth football associations, and one of the most recent adoptee’s is the youth association for prep football powerhouse Eden Prairie, coached by fellow St. John’s alum Mike Grant.

“Mike loves it!” says Healy “The numbers are an issue. Most high school programs are experiencing a decline in numbers. So, if you look at 4th and 5th grade program numbers right now, that will be your high school program in five years.”

If football is a game of numbers the early returns on TackleBar are encouraging to say the least. In the first year after the IMAC Conference instituted TackleBar at the junior high level participation went up 38%, while year two brought an additional increase of 17%.

But, what about injuries you ask? This fall TackleBar will conduct a safety study in partnership with the University of Iowa and funded by Hennepin County. Until then, Healy is happy to provide the safety data compiled by TackleBar, through participation surveys.

“Zero concussions,” says Healy. “Last year we had 455 players participate and we had no concussions. We had a sprained wrist, a sprained ankle and a bruised kidney, and that’s it with 455 3rd through 8th graders.”

Healy says TackleBar is a “transitional” stage of football, bridging the gap between the flag and tackle games. It also might be a critical link in the survival of the sport itself in that it appeals to coaches, concerned parents, and most of all, to those kids who watch and still want to play football.

“Most coaches don’t want kids to tackle until they’re older because they know they’ll opt out, not because of concussions but because they’ll get a pretty good licking. And they’ll say, ‘I don’t want to play football anymore,’ and then they’re gone and they won’t come back,” says Healy. “The problem is they don’t know how to tackle and they don’t know how to get tackled. Eight and 9-year-olds get hurt, you know? There is contact in this game but they’re learning and playing with proper form and they wear helmets and shoulder pads, so they are protected.”

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