Petaluma couple donates for youth football league's high-tech helmets

The Petaluma Panthers of the North Bay Youth Football League have received a $6,000 donation to purchase new football helmets.

Petaluma residents Laura and Matt Rodrigo cut a personal check for $1,000 to the Panthers. The company where Laura works, Petaluma hardware and software firm GC Micro - owned by Belinda Guadarrama, the CEO and president - also donated $5,000 to the program.

The Rodrigos' son, Cody, plays for the Panthers.

The football helmets, produced by Riddell, offer state-of-the-art technology to register head impact based on five sensors placed inside the helmets. They cost $280 each.

In each of those 105 helmets are five sensors located in different spots. The sensors measure and record four elements related to impact: location of the impact, the impact's duration, linear acceleration and rotational acceleration.

Those last two elements refer to direct impact as well as if the head and helmet moves in other than a straight line.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been revised to correct an error in describing ownership of the Petaluma company GC Micro.