1997 football buyer's guide & directory.

Plan ahead." That's the advice given to every young football coach who is preparing his first equipment order.

Most young coaches wind up feeling like a quarterback with two huge ends bearing down on him. With the needs of his athletes pressing from one side and the constraints of a budget coming at him from the other, things could get uncomfortable, to say the least.

Coach Chris Dell of Kennedy High School in upstate New York puts it best: "Do your homework. Be ready to present budget requests well in advance of the date you'll need them, and when you present them, have all the information needed and more."

This is one instance where it doesn't hurt to over-prepare. Because you don't want to go over budget, but you can't afford to skimp. Especially in football, when you order equipment, you're basically purchasing the health of your team for the year. Cutting corners should never happen.

Information is the key, and for many coaches keeping up on new developments and innovations is a year-round job. So that means getting to the conventions and other events where manufacturers are going to display their latest gear, as well as reading the journals and even reviewing those ubiquitous press releases.

Here's a sampling of what's new for 1997:

Helmets and Face Guards

Schutt Sports Group now offers three Varsity helmets: the Air Power, Pro Air II, and Air Varsity, and has upgraded all these lines, adding new Pro Gloss Paint in 39 colors, which should fit the needs of every team. Designed for high school and college use, these helmets feature a GE Lexan polycarbonate alloy shell and a foam-molded liner padding system.

For youth and Pop Warner leagues, the Air Junior uses a dual density foam liner system with front, side, and back pads, a nose bumper, universal snap-in jaw pads, a foam-padded top pad and polypropylene shell.

Schutt also features 54 different face guards in its Super-Pro line. These guards are available in 31 colors and with either Armorguard or Vinylguard for extra durability. Schutt also offers its Hard Cup chin straps in two sizes, a "four-point high hook-up" and a "short n' long." Both cone in thirteen different team colors and are designed for college, high school, and youth league use.

Nokona offers one of the most popular helmets for youth, freshman, and junior high use. It's NPJH 8 Junior High Helmet is perfect for youth and intermediate ages. It meets all NOCSAE standards, and is one of the few helmets specifically designed with the special needs of young adolescents in mind.

Gear 2000 offers four different chin straps, each with a patented buckle design to eliminate strap stretch. Available in a high or low hookup and in both hard and soft cups, this new line of straps promises superior comfort and protection.

One Xcel offers something new in face shields. Compatible with all popular helmet brands and face mask combinations, their protective eyeshield offers state-of-the-art visual acuity under all lighting conditions. Schutt also offers a full line of eyeshields, available in both clear and tinted styles, that cut down on distortion and enhance peripheral vision.

Apparel

Jerseys continue to get bigger, and not just because your players are getting bigger. Oversize jerseys continue to be the rage. All major manufacturers are featuring jerseys with bigger shoulders and wider waists. Not only is the look fashionable, but it could help make your players look and feel bigger, thus enhancing their performance on the field.

Don Alleson's new "Pro-Brite" line, in both 100% colored nylon tricot mesh and 100% white poly tricot mesh, is proving popular with teams at all levels. Don Alleson offers matching pants with a dazzle cloth front, practice and scrimmage jerseys, compression shorts, and sanitary shorts.

BSN Sports offers game pants and practice pants in both Scholastic and Youth sizes as part of its Pro Down line. The Scholastic line, for high school athletes, has a sewn-in elastic waist with belt attached, as well as built-in snaps for hip and tail pads. The Youth line also has the built-in snaps, and features a lace front and 100% polyester double knit construction. The Pro Down line also features practice jerseys in Varsity sizes and practice/game jerseys in Youth sizes. These jerseys are both made of 100% heavyweight nylon porthole mesh and are available in seven different colors.

Betlin continues to offer custom team apparel in the hottest new colors. They have a full line of game and practice jerseys, available in both traditional one color and the new contrasting side panel two-color styles. Matching pants, in both lace-front and elastic-waist styles are also available.

Schutt again leads the way with a complete selection of shoulder, hip, thigh, and knee pads for all age levels. Schutt offers fourteen different shoulder-pad models at its Varsity level, appropriate for college and high school use, led by its Hurricane, Tornado, and Lightning lines. All feature Schutt's Impact Protection System for extra safety, while the vinyl construction affords comfort through lightweight construction.

Schutt also complements its shoulder-pad lines with Hip, Thigh, and Knee Pad sets. The Hip Pad set, available in vinyl-dipped and lightweight foam, offers tail-bone and hip protection in a three-piece slotted pad style. Available in five different styles, the sets suit any level. The Thigh Pad sets come in five vinyl-dipped and seven lightweight foam styles, and all include lightweight reinforced universal padding, with bumper edge, oversized, and youth sizes available. The Knee Pad sets offer air-cushioned technology, and come in four styles of foam and six vinyl-dipped styles. As an extra bonus for youth players, Schutt offers a Youth Seven-Piece set - four lightweight youth sets and two vinyl-dipped sets offered for knee, hip, tail-bone, and thigh protection. The sets include snap-in, die-cut, slotted, and molded pads for maximum comfort, fit, and protection. Finally, Schutt offers a line of seven different shoulder pad collars, in flat and round styles.

BSN's Pro Down line offers five different shoulder pad models suitable for all positions. Each features a shock management system for more protection and comfort without forgetting the importance of value. Pro Down's pads also feature a smooth epaulet design, pre-drilled shells for neck rolls, back, and sternum plates, extended deltoid areas, a removable SMS SuperCushion body, and a heavy-duty. 160 polyurethane shell. Pro Down's pads are available in six different sizes, suitable for all levels. Gear 2000's Ultra Gear line uses their Ultra-Air technology for greater air management, resulting in greater protection and comfort. With many different variations, Ultra Gear has a pad set appropriate for any position. Each features the Secur-a-Strap harness that holds the pads securely to the body, and Pad-Forward design to keep shoulder pads from riding up.

Nokona offers protective equipment for all levels from youth through professional. Their full line of pads includes lightweight hip pads in team colors, flak jackets, molded-foam hand and forearm guards, and neck, knee, and hip pads in a wide array of protective accessories.

Coach's Gear

With more and more coaches looking to outfit their staffs in coordinated outfits, more and more manufacturers are featuring pullovers and sweaters for coaches. Polar fleece and v-neck styles are available from many of the major manufacturers, including Champion and Don Alleson. Both feature fashions coaches are demanding: custom parkas, turtle necks, fleece-lined and unlined windbreakers (in pullover and button-down styles), and sweaters.

Champion's gear includes jackets for coaches, trainers, and even scouts, available in taffeta crinkle shells with mesh lining in the body and taffeta in the sleeves with elastic cuffs. The coach's jacket comes in six different color combinations, and a matching pant comes in taffeta crinkle, with mesh and taffeta lining, in seven different colors.

Telex offers a new innovation in headphones with its Audiocom wired intercom system. Adaptable to different field and stadium conditions, it is perfect for spotter-to-coach communication and works with two available belt packs. Telex also a cableless system as well as year-round backup services.

Louis Systems also offers a complete line of athletic intercom equipment, which feature lightweight, easy-to-use electronic systems used by major universities as well as high school programs. They will also design a specific system for your school depending on your needs.

Earmark also offers a wireless and cableless system that runs on batteries and offers continuous two-way communication. Noise-reducing earmuffs make their system easy to use.

As more and more coaches get comfortable with computer technology, the choices available to cyber coaches grow. Digital Scout offers one of the most popular computer systems. Their Complete Scouting System works with the hand-held Newton computer from Apple, and is designed specifically for football by football coaches. Sports Tech offers software that allows you to edit video fight through your Windows 95/NT system, and also offers full support for the questions you'll have. BW Software offers their new PlayMaker II program for both Windows and Macintosh. Chalk Talk playbook scouting, one of the first coaching programs available, continues to update its programs and now offers a playbook scouting program. StatKeeper for Football is a new software program available from ScoreWare. With a click of the mouse and a few keystrokes you can record plays and the program not only keeps track of each player but also produces statistics for later analysis.