By Staff
Coaching Management, 9.8, November 2001, http://www.momentummedia.com/articles/cm/cm0908/bbkeepcool.htm
Like most football programs, the University of Colorado is always on the lookout for new and better ways to keep players cool during competition. But the Buffaloes have taken that effort one step further, going beyond simply searching for more effective cooling devices to helping develop a more useful product. As part of a two-year collaboration with Nike, Inc., the Colorado players and staff have been working with the sportswear giant to test and refine an experimental cooling system that may be a revolutionary way to keep players cool from the inside out.
The team has been using what they call the Nike Cooling Top since the fall of 2000. In the simplest terms, the cooling unit comprises special Nike cooling undershirts, hoses, and an air compressor, which is positioned on the sidelines. Using one of 22 hook-ups (11 for the offense and 11 for the defense), a player sits on the bench and a hose connected to the compressor is attached to a valve near the top of the special Nike undershirt, which is worn beneath his pads. Air generated from the compressor then blows throughout the shirt and cools the player.
The shirt itself is the heart of the cooling system and, according to Colorado Football Director of Equipment Mike Smith, has gone through a number of adjustments since the team began experimenting with the technology two seasons ago. "Basically, Nike has created a dry-fit undershirt, and in that undershirt is an air bladder," he explains. "It's a very flat and lightweight air bladder with different tubes and holes in it. And the configuration of that air delivery system is really the only thing we've changed."
With Colorado's help, Nike has worked to refine the air delivery system in the shirt to suit players' needs. "When Nike developed the bladder, we took the shirt to our players and said, 'This is what this thing is. How would you want it put together inside your shirt so it wouldn't cause you any difficulty?'" Smith says. "Our players helped design how the air delivery system in the shirt would work and where the various tubes would go so they wouldn't bother them."
While the system doesn't claim safety benefits, like cooling a player's core temperature, the comfort benefits have been obvious. "Psychologically, when you have air flowing through your chest area and back, you feel cooler overall," says Colorado Head Athletic Trainer Steve Willard.
"We've always done everything we can to keep the sideline area cool, be it through fans, swamp coolers, or whatever," adds Smith. "And with that mind-set, we thought this could be a way to potentially keep our athletes cooler inside their shoulder pads, which is something we haven't been able to do [with other devices] up until this point."
Although the cooling top system officially remains in the research and developmental stage--Nike states it has no plans to release the product to the market yet--those at Colorado feel the device is something programs should at least look into procuring for their own teams, if it is eventually made available for purchase.
"We've used it a lot and it's gone pretty well," says Smith. "Functionally, we've seen some benefit, and our players really seem to like it."