Local attorney invents training tool to help make football safer

Ken Thompson is an attorney and Mountain Brook resident who loves football, calling it “the ultimate team sport.”

“Players from different backgrounds learn trust and rely on one another to accomplish their shared goal,” and the athletes are taught “self-discipline and teamwork,” he told Village Living.

In addition, “the element of physicality in tackle football is unique,” Thompson said. “It raises the stakes and quickly exposes weakness in the team.”

However, that physicality can cause injury, and there is an increased awareness in today’s world of concussions, CTE and other football-related head injuries, Thompson said.

This awareness on the part of parents has heavily contributed to the sharp decline in participation in youth tackle football in America.

Village Living reported in September that Mountain Brook Athletics youth football saw a roughly 30% drop in participation from 2015-18.

But Thompson has a new invention he believes can help young players stay safe while also improving their game. It’s called the H.U.T. Strap, which stands for “heads-up training.”

The strap connects the back of the helmet with the shoulder pads and has a safety snap that breaks free when a player uses improper technique and looks at the ground.

“It is the first-ever training tool that assists players in learning and retaining proper heads-up technique,” Thompson said.

Every time a player lowers his head, he exposes the crown of his helmet to impact and increases his chances of getting hurt, Thompson said.

“The H.U.T. strap is going to help make the game much safer,” he said.

Thompson wants to help save youth football, which he calls “the wellspring for our high school and college football programs.”

Thompson played tight end at Carroll High School in Ozark, graduating in 1986, and his son later played at Mountain Brook High School.

He spent well over a year developing the strap and talked to doctors, coaches, trainers and engineers. He began showing the strap to coaches in spring 2019 and was granted a patent in June 2020. The strap, which is made in the United States, costs $40.

The H.U.T. Strap’s greatest effectiveness will likely be in youth leagues, Thompson said.

“We want players to develop good habits,” he said. “We don't want to have to break bad ones.”

But it can be an important teaching tool for high school and college players. “There are problems at the higher levels of play,” Thompson said, citing the number of targeting penalties as an example.

“There’s also an important performance element,” he said. “If you don't have your head up, you are not going to perform your job as well. You have to see what you hit.”

Mountain Brook High School began using the H.U.T strap during spring practice in 2019 and has 22 straps they use mostly for their linemen, said MBHS Head Coach Chris Yeager.

Yeager is convinced that the H.U.T. strap is effective, calling it “a simple, low maintenance piece of equipment that effectively trains the most foundational skill in athletics — keep your head and eyes up.”

Thompson equipped the third- and fourth-grade youth teams in Mountain Brook with the strap last fall. “Both won their grade championships,” Thompson said.

Over the last year and half, Thompson has made presentations about the strap to several colleges, as well as such high schools as Helena and Gardendale.

His plan had been to introduce the H.U.T. Strap throughout the Birmingham area this spring. “COVID-19 prevented me from doing it,” he said.

“I’m now working remotely to generate awareness of the H.U.T. Strap at the high school level,” Thompson said.