Helmet

Jenkintown junior Jessica Hollinshead had her appeal to play field hockey wearing a hard helmet denied by the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association's Board of Control. Hollinshead had a hearing before the board Thursday and formally submitted her request. Jenkintown principal Tom Sebastian, who made the presentation on behalf of Hollinshead, was notified yesterday that the board had voted, 7-5, not to allow Hollinshead to play wearing the hard helmet. "Mr. [Brad]

It's not rock. It's not metal, or even thrash. Just call it Helmet and cover your head. Proving that music-industry hype is sometimes justified, Helmet - the hardest, heaviest-playing band of the moment - slayed a sold-out Trocadero Thursday with ultra-distorted guitars and dizzying rhythm structures. The New York City foursome played like a mini-orchestra - an avant-grunge quartet, one might say - churning out 15 songs in an hour-long sonic assault. Helmet reportedly conducts rehearsals like boot-camp drills, and its live show was surely a practice in mesmerizing precision.

Before long, the hottest accessory on the ski slopes will be a helmet. Even before the deaths of Michael Kennedy and Sonny Bono - both of whom died by skiing into trees and suffering severe head trauma - resorts were seeing more skiers in helmets. Now, those numbers are expected to skyrocket, which is just fine with Dr. Craig Perrinjaquet, who heads the medical center at the Breckenridge, Colo., ski resort. "We can fix knees. We can fix thumbs," Perrinjaquet said. "We can't fix brains.

Improved helmet design has helped reduce concussions in impact sports such as football and hockey, but it might be impossible to design a helmet that completely eliminates them, according to a panel of sports science professors outlining the latest findings. Helmets "certainly help to mitigate forces that are distributed by impact to the skull and the intracranial cavity and the brain," said Kevin Guskiewicz , a professor of sports science at North Carolina and an expert on football helmets.

Gary Busey, almost killed in a motorcycle accident just over two years ago, is trying to reconcile his distaste for helmets with firsthand knowledge that going bareheaded is dangerous. He's designing his own headgear. The actor, in Chattanooga last weekend to hype his first movie since the accident - My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys - said his helmet would protect riders while giving the sensation that they're not wearing anything on their heads. "I don't remember four weeks of my life," he said.

When Packers linebacker Clay Matthews wrapped his arms around Kevin Kolb and slammed him to the turf, the quarterback's head was protected with a helmet first released more than 20 years ago, according to a spokesman for the helmet's maker. Kolb was wearing Schutt Sports' Pro-Air II, a helmet that still passes industry standards but was released in 1988 and does not include many of the most recent innovations in protection, said Glenn Beckmann, Schutt's marketing communications director.

Mark Fitzpatrick was happily riding his two-wheeler with training wheels down the street with his big sister when Sgt. Larry Ruocco of the Waterford Township police pulled him over and gave him a ticket. But unlike many a grownup stopped by the police, Mark went away happy. The ticket that Ruocco gave Mark, 4, was a reward for wearing a bicycle helmet, as required by the state law that took effect July 1 for all children younger than 14. The special ticket was redeemable for a slice of pizza, soft ice cream or a round of miniature golf.

Oh, yeah. Eric Lindros made his Madison Square Garden debut last night. By the end of the evening, what had seemed so intriguing going in had turned into little more than a footnote. The Flyers' self-immolation in their 8-4 loss to the host Rangers took a lot of attention away from the big rookie, who scored a nice goal in the second period, before his team came apart. Lindros said his first goal in the building of the team that came within an arbitrator's decision of obtaining his rights, the team whose captain, Mark Messier, is his idol - he said it all amounted to no more than "trying to steal a couple of points on the road.

Eagles head coach Ray Rhodes applauded the NFL's $12,000 fine on the New York Giants' Keith Hamilton this week for the defensive tackle's helmet-to- helmet blow on quarterback Rodney Peete two weeks ago. "These are the type of hits they didn't want to see anymore and it was one of those type of licks," Rhodes said of the hit, which forced Peete out of the second half of the Eagles' 17-14 win over the Giants on Oct. 15. "I'm a defensive coach,...

Though Brad Marsh says he hasn't made a decision about wearing a helmet when he returns to the lineup, Bobby Clarke says there is no decision to be made. "Dr. (Jeff) Hartzell says he has no choice," the Flyers' general manager said, referring to the team physician. "After a concussion like that he has to put one on. " Marsh was not anxious to discuss the subject. "I can't play until next week anyway," he said. "So there's no reason to talk about it now. "I do have a feeling I know what (his wife)

OTTAWA - The road to a reduction in hockey's devastating concussions may well run through Saint-Jerome, Quebec, a small town 45 minutes northeast of Montreal. There, more than 100 researchers and designers at Bauer Hockey have spent the last 2 1/2 years dedicated to improving their helmets. On Friday in Ottawa, Claude Giroux helped represent Bauer's launch of the new Re-Akt helmet. For Giroux, the project hits home because he sat out four games last month with his second career concussion.

EVERY GAME night, Scott Hartnell has the unenviable task of standing in front of an empty net during pregame warmups to gather loose pucks so his teammates can move on to the next drill. With his shaggy hair flopping around, Hartnell skates in warmups without a helmet. And when he's collecting the pucks, he usually does it with his back turned to his teammates, who sometimes send the frozen chunks of vulcanized rubber whizzing by his unprotected mug. "I've gotten cut a couple times from guys being stupid," Hartnell said.

There are just two Dreddons on the football field for Overbrook. It just seems like more. Devon Dreddon, the younger and larger of the twins, plays running back and linebacker. He snaps for punts, kicks off, and returns kicks. He wears No. 14. Deandre Dreddon, who is older than his brother by two minutes, plays wide receiver and safety. He sees some action at quarterback and is the team's top kick returner. He wears No. 4. There is no other brother wearing No. 24 or 44. But the twins are so active, and so involved in nearly every aspect of the game for the Rams, it sometimes seems as if there's another out there.

MILWAUKEE - As the champagne gushed like oil from newly struck wells, the man whose 10th-inning single had triggered the Brewers' Friday night bubble bash was somehow apart from it all. Dressed in a soggy uniform and a black-metal swat-team helmet, Nyjer Morgan paced the clubhouse in a solitary fog, as if more determined to comprehend his good fortune then enjoy it. On the joyful night that Milwaukee earned its first Championship Series...

NEW YORK Giants defensive tackle Chris Canty said he has looked at his hit on Michael Vick, the one that caused the quarterback's bruised right hand, and he felt it was legal. Vick felt the Giants should have been flagged for some roughing-the-quarterback penalties. "He's entitled to his opinion," Canty said in a report in the Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger . "I didn't think there was anything wrong with the hit when it took place, I didn't think there was anything wrong with the hit when I looked at it again today.

In the brutal world of the NFL, what Washington's DeAngelo Hall said on Wednesday is as routine as putting on aftershave. But a lot of folks are going to have trouble with a player who boasts openly that he's going out on Sunday to hurt an opponent. Hall said he hoped Tony Romo plays for Dallas on Monday night - so he can put a helmet hit on the quarterback's broken ribs. "Absolutely. I want to get a chance to put my helmet on whatever hurts," the cornerback said.

"We Got Your Back. " That's what is written across the front of a helmet that the Seneca football team sent to Mainland as a show of support to the Mustangs. The gold helmet is signed by Seneca players and coaches. "We wanted to show them South Jersey was thinking about them," Seneca coach Bill Fisher said. South Jersey football programs have rallied around Mainland as the school, football team, and community struggle with the Aug. 20 automobile accident that killed four Mainland football players.

MILWAUKEE - As the Phillies opened a four-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers without Chase Utley on Thursday night, it was more than fair to wonder whether their second baseman would have been in the lineup if he had worn a helmet that offered more protection. Such a helmet is available to Utley and every other major-league player. In fact, it became required equipment for minor-league players last season. The helmet, manufactured by Rawlings, is called the S100. It got its name because it is designed to protect players from the impact of a 100-m.p.h.

"We Got Your Back. " That's what written across the front of a helmet that the Seneca football team sent to Mainland as a show of support to the Mustangs. The gold helmet is signed by Seneca players and coaches. "We wanted to show them South Jersey was thinking about them," Seneca coach Bill Fisher said. South Jersey football programs have rallied around Mainland as the school, football team, and community struggle with the Aug. 20 automobile accident that killed four Mainland football players.

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - Ben Askelson hit a high 0-1 curveball onto the hill beyond the left-field fence to send the boys from Billings, Mont., into the U.S. final of the Little League World Series with a 1-0, seven-inning victory over Huntington Beach, Calif., on Wednesday night. Montana gets to rest up until the U.S. championship game Saturday, while California must face Clinton County, Pa., on Thursday night. Both teams had chances to prevent the game from going into extra innings.