On 1 June 2019, the new requirements for helmets to be used in all polo tournaments on US soil came into force in the United States. This is due to the fact that in 2018 the new requirements governing the sport of polo were created by the USPA (United States Polo Association) and made known to the public and different sports committees, and later, in April 2019, these requirements were ratified.
Therefore, since 2019 there is a strict regulation in the United States that seeks above all to raise awareness among athletes and their different teams about the need for protective elements that really take care of the riders, this as a measure to address the lack of safety protocols in many countries when using helmets for the game of polo.
The regulation is in force and ongoing since 1 June 2020, however, this regulation for polo helmets has the necessary safety standards required by the HPA (Hurlingham Polo Association) to be used in tournaments in England. This allows, for example, a player to go to participate in the English polo season and then play with the same helmet in the United States in places like Greenwich, Santa Barbara, Denver or Aspen, just to name a few of the places in the North American country that will have an intense movement.
Meeting the requirements demanded by the USPA has been an arduous task, since in the first instance they had to be approved by NOCSAE (National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment), the control body in charge of determining the safety standards for helmets in different sports in the United States, such as American football and ice hockey -just to give an example-. For this reason, the USPA wanted to take Nocsae’s criteria into account to ensure maximum protection in the sport of polo.
Among other things, in order to determine whether a helmet meets the required protection, it must be subjected to different tests, which are intended to test various aspects, which together make up a helmet with excellent protection. One of these tests consists of subjecting the polo helmet to various impacts, and it must withstand them in such a way as to simulate what may occur during a real polo match, i.e. the player is exposed to various impacts. In other words, the aim of this test is to ensure that the player is always 100% protected on the field of play, even if he has received multiple blows, but without considerably minimising the safety of the helmet after the first impact.
It is for this reason, and much more, that the process Krono Polo has gone through to achieve Nocsae approval for its polo helmets has been very exhaustive, making it one of the few brands with this certification and giving it entry into the US market. It is valid to clarify that it has been a process that has taken time and has not happened overnight. We invite you to get to know this helmet by visiting the website of the brand www.kronopolo.com
