Brock International becomes SLI partner

BOULDER, CO — Brock International has become an Official Education Partner of The Sports Legacy Institute (SLI), a Boston-based non-profit organization founded to advance the study, treatment, and prevention of brain trauma in athletes and other at-risk groups. Brock PowerBase, a shock pad and drainage layer used underneath synthetic turf fields, has been proven to reduce G-max, which may reduce the risk and severity of concussion.

“Athletes tend to experience brain injuries in one of four impact areas: head-to-head, head-to-body, head-to-ball and head-to-surface. Brock has taken a leadership stance in trying to prevent concussions by focusing on the playing field itself,” notes Chris Nowinski, SLI’s co-founder and executive director. “We are excited to partner with an innovative company that shares our mission to protect athletes through education programs and raising awareness.”

SLI is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in June 2007 by Nowinski, a former Harvard football player and WWE professional wrestler, and concussion expert Dr. Robert Cantu, MD, in reaction to new medical research revealing that concussions and brain trauma in sports had become a public health crisis. SLI provides cutting-edge concussion education and develops policy innovations like the Hit Count Initiative. As an Official Educational Partner, Brock International has provided funding that helped SLI deliver their two-hour Advanced Concussion Training (ACT) program to more than 1,000 football coaches in the Los Angeles Unified School District, 2,500 coaches in The Chicagoland Youth Football League, and more than 3,000 Chicago Public Schools coaches and athletic directors, as well as programs for parents and athletes.
Research firm BioMechanica studied the estimated risk of head injury on synthetic turf surfaces with Brock underlayment and found the product reduces G-max, the peak force of impact, which the lab tests indicated should reduce the risk and severity of concussion; provides the same G-Max and playability as a pristine natural grass field and mitigates field hardening over time. In evaluating Head Injury Criteria (HIC), also known as critical fall height, Sports Labs found that Brock PowerBase offered significant improvement in HIC when compared to a turf field that featured a stone base.