Interview with Top Protective Sports Apparel Provider Zoombang President Joe Scott

Written by Ryan Wright

Twitter: @RyanWrightRNG

The game of football at all levels is changing, and in more ways than one, but perhaps more importantly with a greater focus on player safety. With an estimated 500,000 injuries per season at the U.S. high school ranks, targeting calls and helmet to helmet plays are rightfully scrutinized by officiating crews going as far as ejecting a player from a game that could intentionally cause injury to the opposition. As any fan of football knows, even the most routine of plays can end with a player on the ground having suffered an injury. With a renewed focus for player safety on the gridiron, RNG has sought out the top manufacturer of protective sports apparel available to help educate others in hopes of helping more aspiring players achieve their dreams on the field without need of visiting the team trainer, or worse, a local doctor.

In a Recruiting News Guru exclusive interview, I sat down with Zoombang President and CEO Joseph Scott covering Zoombang’s apparel line and how their unique polymers are unmatched on the market against the competition for player safety while learning how much of the NFL has already adopted Zoombang to their line of every day equipment.

Interview

Joe, how long has Zoombang been delivering protective sports apparel to the public?

“Zoombang has been delivering proactive sports apparel since 2003. The polymer was originally developed in the 1970’s and had unique properties in the way they responded to energy, in all modalities. Larry Rhoades, Zoombang’s founder, conducted extensive research and further development finding there was a significant opportunity in the impact protection industry. By the end of the 2004 football season every NFL Team was experimenting with Zoombang’s protective padding material.

“Larry Rhoades continued to invest millions of dollars in research and development while building a business development infrastructure. By 2007, an agreement was secured with the Rawlings Company to develop a line of compression gear with Zoombang. This relationship blossomed and Zoombang’s sports apparel was in stores nationwide.

Tragically, the founder died in a diving accident in 2007. The company remained operating on a limited basis until the current owners completed the purchase of the company in 2013 moving the company to Katy, Texas, in 2014.”

What type of protective gear do you provide for athletes?

“Primarily compression garments with Zoombang padding in the necessary areas for the particular sport i.e. rib and shoulder shirts, football girdles, knee pads, and arm sleeves as well as custom protection that is injury specific. We do that for a lot of our NFL teams. For example, if a player has a deep tissue bruise or a broken bone but can still play they will send us the glove or other garment where the injury is with an outline on it and we will make a custom pad to cover the outlined area and protect that injury. So, we really can protect any part of the athlete.”

Do you provide protection in football helmets?

“No. Although we are not in helmets… that could be in our future with the appropriate partner company.”

Which sports does Zoombang cater to with protective clothing?

“We cover all the major sports with football and hockey being the biggest for us. We are working towards creating a line just for cricket which is a huge sport around the world. MMA is a growing area for us currently.”

How does Zoombang’s protective padding work?

“The combined properties of the polymer/shear thickening/viscoelastic material results in an unmatched type of protection that will react to the environment around whatever it is protecting. At rest, Zoombang will simply conform to the exact shape of whatever it is supporting. Add energy, in the form of shock, and the material will instantly stiffen. Again, proportionately equal to the amount of energy applied to it, therefore at rest our polymer is very pliable.

“For example, if you formed it in to a disc shape a half-inch thick you can very easily push your finger through it. However, if you remove your finger and hit the sample disc shape sample with a mallet extremely hard you will see that the molecules of the polymer lock up and behave as a solid thus the disc sample remains intact and undamaged.

“This is what sets Zoombang apart as this molecular level change dissipates energy better than any padding alone. This is due to the fact that our polymer is not cured. Energy is absorbed in two modalities by virtue of a molecular change and as a traditional padding material.”

How is Zoombang different than the competitors?

“Most of the competitive products out there and merely foams or gels, and they simply act as a layer of padding whereas we, as mentioned previously, dissipate energy on two levels. We recently had an independent test conducted by a third party that show how we compare to some of the top name brands.”

*see results below

What is Zoombang’s pricing point compared to the competition?

“We are a premium product and it’s not our intention to compete on price. However, we do fall in to a very comparable area with the ‘pro series’ lines of our competitors.”

I’m sure you have done this often; have you envisioned playing games with Zoombang’s underlying padding and the difference it would have made for you during your high school playing days?

“This question would be better posed to either of my general partners Paul Marsh or Nathan Dagley as they both played at the collegiate level. Nonetheless, the answer will be the same as my high school level experience. Most definitely, confidence in your protective gear facilitates more aggressive play and less time on the IR.”

Which professional teams are using Zoombang?

“We have 14 NFL teams that actively buy from us but we have players on every team that wear our gear and trust Zoombang for their protection.”

What feedback have you received from some of the athletes?

“It has been all positive. I mean many of the professional athletes are under contracts with the Nikes and Under Armors of the world but choose to wear our protective gear. That speaks volumes. In fact, I’m told that back when Ray Lewis was playing he would get fined every game, as he was under a sponsorship agreement with another company, for wearing Zoombang but continued to do so.”

Is there one message about Zoombang’s protective padding that you feel is most important for the general public to know?

“This product simply provides the best protection available. If you want to protect your child with the best, use Zoombang. If you’re a coach, trainer, or equipment manager and the health of your player is paramount than you should be using Zoombang.”

How can amateur and professional athletes find your products?

“The best place to buy Zoombang gear is directly on our website at Zoombang.com.”

Joe, thanks for your time today and explaining how Zoombang helps protect athletes at all levels and in all contact sports from injury.

“Thank you.”

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Photo credits: Zoombang

Featured photo credit: Brian Cushing Instagram