Before Jeremy Ling was the founder of an up-and-coming sports startup partnering with the Minnesota Vikings, he was a concerned parent on the sidelines of a youth football game.
Ling and his wife Brigid knew they weren't the only ones with concerns about letting their kids play football. Two years ago, they set out on a family-style project to create a solution. This evolved into TackleBar Football, a company creating harnesses that teach players proper tackling fundamentals while reducing 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.
Ling, a medical-device engineer by trade with several patents to his name, created the harness. Ling said that he wanted to make something that taught young football lovers how to play, but kept them safe. And it needed to be more engaging than flag football, which Ling said his elementary-age sons often refer to as "baby football."
"We've seen a radical decline in participation over the years because of safety concerns," Ling said. "And leaders in the football community are recognizing that we need to make changes."
Last fall, TackleBar announced a partnership with the Vikings to provide harnesses for more than 100 youth football players in Cottage Grove. TackleBar has also been involved with multiple youth football with the Vikings' youth football program, which is managed by former Vikings linebacker E.J. Henderson.
"His job description is to have a finger on the pulse of youth football, so it's a really strong testimony to what we're doing," Ling said.
He added that the startup has several other things planned with the Vikings, including a spring tournament at the Vikings' Eden Prairie practice facility, Winter Park.
In recent years, the technology world has applied itself to find solutions for preventing dangerous and frequent football-related injuries like concussions. Common solutions include diagnostic tools like sensors that can detect how hard a player was hit or determine the severity of a concussion. Ling hopes that by creating a safer way to play the sport, these types of injuries will be dramatically reduced in youth football.
"All that stuff is fine, but it's reactive," he said. "It's important to teach the kids how to play football in the first place without losing the essence of the game."
Ling added that he hopes TackleBar will become a standard in youth football league across the country in coming years. Currently, TackleBar is being used in several youth leagues spread across a half-dozen states in the Midwest. It is also being used for practices at some local high schools.
"When you look at the landscape, there's a lot of people that understand the concept, but are hesitant to change," Ling said. "But we need to make changes to preserve the game for our youth."
