TackleBar, a St. Paul-based football startup creating harnesses that teach players proper tackling fundamentals, has been selected as one of five finalists that will pitch in the NFL's 1st and Future startup showcase before the Super Bowl this weekend.
TackleBar creates harnesses that teach players how to tackle properly. By doing so, the company's founders, Jeremy and Brigid Ling, hope to reduce injuries commonly associated with the sport.
Here’s how it works: Players wear the TackleBar harness, equipped with two removable foam bars on the back, around their midsection. Using proper tackling fundamentals, players must reach around the ball carrier and rip off one of the foam bars.
The design teaches players the recommended shoulder tackling technique, which TackleBar says reduces injuries that commonly occur when one player throws another to the ground. TackleBar's system is popular in youth sports leagues but is also used for practices on some high school teams.
1st and Future, an event sponsored by the NFL and Arrow Electronics, focuses on startups that are developing products to improve athletes' safety and performance. A four-minute pitch at this event gives companies like TackleBar national exposure and connects them with big players in the business.
TackleBar is competing against four other companies on Saturday, Feb. 2, the day before the big game. Other competing startups include SOLIUS, a Seattle company that uses nano-spectrums of light to stimulate the production of critical hormones and peptides as a better way to reduce injuries; Nano, a Milwaukee startup developing a wearable device that monitors an athlete's hydration levels; TendoNova, an Atlanta company creating a hand-held device that aims to increase access to effective chronic tendon pain treatment; and TopSpin Technologies, a Detroit startup that made a device that aims to strengthen a player's neck to help reduce concussion risk.
The first place winner will be awarded $50,000 and two tickets to the Super Bowl. Second place will also receive tickets to the game, along with $20,000.
This isn't the first time that a Minnesota company has been recognized in the NFL's First and Future competition. Rochester-based GoRout, a startup creating visual display technology to simplify communications between players and coaches, took home the grand prize in 2017. GoRout CEO Mike Rolih told Minne Inno last year that the company's customer base tripled and its revenue grew 300 percent after winning 1st and Future.
The NFL Network will live stream Saturday's competition here.
