An interesting product in injury treatment is set to hit the open market
Photo credit: Kevin Jairaj, USA TODAY Sports
Until now, when every trainer for every college football team in the country wanted to evaluate a player, his or her options amounted to either examining him in the open on the sideline or walking him back to the locker room. Each presents its own set of awkward, potentially embarrassing and time-and-energy consuming challenges.
Every trainer, that is, except for Alabama's.
Last season the Tide debuted their own sideline tent with which to perform evaluations under the literal cover of privacy. That project, commissioned by the Alabama football program to the school's College of Engineering, led to sports medicine staffer Jeff Allen and recent UA graduates Patrick Powell and Jared Cassity going into business together to bring their idea nationwide. That product, SidelinER, is set to hit the open market.
“From a medical standpoint, everyone understands this is an issue on the sideline,” Allen said in a press release. “It’s not only a privacy issue, but it gives you a better place to do an evaluation. The SidelinER eliminated a lot of distractions.”
The trio's company, Kinematic Sports, is now taking orders in time for this season on its website. For more information, read Dan Wolken's column for USA Today from January explaining the tent's origins.
