USA Football, the sport's national governing body on youth and amateur levels, announced today that Shock Doctor, the market and technology leader in mouthguards, is its official mouthguard partner.

Shock Doctor's new three-year partnership with USA Football (through 2012) represents its most significant foray into youth football, a community composed of approximately 3.0 million youth football players and more than 120,000 teams. Based near Minneapolis, Shock Doctor is the global brand leader in the development and distribution of mouthguards and an innovator in sports protection.

The company will work with USA Football to help educate the youth football community on the importance of protective equipment by participating in the national governing body's 85 football training and development events in 27 states serving youth football coaches, league commissioners, and athletes.

Shock Doctor also sponsors the "What Football Taught My Child" feature in USA Football Magazine, where parents share how America's favorite sport benefits their children through exercise and its inherent values of teamwork, sportsmanship and responsibility. USA Football members reside in all 50 states and receive USA Football Magazine, America's only magazine dedicated to youth and amateur football.

In addition, Shock Doctor mouthguards will protect USA Football's national team athletes as they compete in International Federation of American Football (IFAF) competitions.  Fifty-six (56) countries spanning five continents possess national federations dedicated solely to football and hold IFAF membership. USA Football is the United States' sole delegate to IFAF. USA Football national teams compete in the following divisions:

  • Men's Senior Tackle (age 20 and older)
  • Men's Junior Tackle (age 19 and younger)
  • Men's Senior Flag
  • Women's Senior Tackle
  • Women's Senior Flag
  • Youth Tackle (15U; 15 and younger)



"As the official mouthguard of USA Football, Shock Doctor is committed to providing youth football players with mouthguards that provide the highest level of protection," said JAY TURKBAS, senior vice president of product development at Shock Doctor. "We support USA Football in providing training and education to players, coaches and officials. Shock Doctor was also honored to support USA Football's recent 'Team USA vs. The World' game and to provide our state-of-the-art mouthguards to all the players."

"Safe play leads to a fun and positive football experience, which is central to our mission," USA Football Executive Director SCOTT HALLENBECK said. "Our partnership with Shock Doctor contributes directly to player safety, which makes this an important relationship for us. We're proud to have Shock Doctor be part of the USA Football family."

About Shock Doctor
Shock Doctor is the market and technology leader in mouthguards. The company transformed and elevated the mouthguard industry by introducing innovative, shock absorbing, superior fitting self-custom mouthguards. In addition to a full line of patented, technologically advanced mouthguards, Shock Doctor offers a comprehensive line of sports protection products for hockey, football, baseball, basketball, soccer, martial arts and boxing, and lacrosse. Shock Doctor is headquartered near Minneapolis, Minn. For more information, go to www.shockdoctor.com <http://www.shockdoctor.com> .

About USA Football
USA Football, the sport's national governing body on youth and amateur levels, hosts more than 80 football training events annually offering education for coaches and game officials, skill development for players and resources for youth football league commissioners. The independent non-profit is the official youth football development partner of the NFL, its 32 teams and the NFL Players Association. USA Football manages U.S. national teams within the sport for international competitions and provides $1 million annually in equipment grants and youth league volunteer background check subsidies. Endowed by the NFL and NFLPA in 2002 through the NFL Youth Football Fund, USA Football (usafootball.com) is chaired by former NFL team executive Carl Peterson.