By Thad Brown.

The 83rd Mission Bouts looked just like the previous 82. From the outside.

Underneath the head gear of each fighter is a small headband containing an even smaller device. Its called the Linx Impact Assessment System.

“It tells you from what direction you’ve been hit. It tells you how hard you’ve been hit. How far your head moved. What speed your head moved. And the power of the punch,” said sophomore Tim McMahon.

The device was created by a local company called Black Box Biometrics. Data from each blow is fed almost instantaneously to a smartphone or tablet app. It’s accessbile by coaches, parents and the fighters themselves.

“It’s not gonna replace the coach’s eyes,” said longtime Aquinas coach Dom Arioli. “But it’s gonna help a coach to understand the number of impacts and the accumulation of blows. Then you start looking at trends with the kids and what kids need to sit out.”

“It made me feel a lot better,” said senior Chris Mack. “I already had trust in the coaches and the refs and paramedics were always on call when we were fighting. The headband was just an extra safety net.”

Creators stress the Linx IAS is not a medical device, but it does provide a brand new wealth of information about the amount of trauma being sustained by the head.

“It’s like a fore-warning,” McMahon said. “You got hit hard two times. Maybe you should watch out before you actually, seriously get hurt.”

“Sometimes, you might get interrupted. You don’t catch all the punches that get thrown,” Arioli said. “Then, I could look and I could say this young man or young lady has been getting hit a lot.”

It’s already improving the reputation of boxing, at least among students at Aquinas.

“Before we didn’t really have any evidence like ‘oh, it’s safe, you should try it, it’s a great program ‘,” said senior Sabrina Basile. “But, now we have something to back it up.”

The boxing looks the same, but it feels a whole lot different.

AQ Boxing Tracks Head Trauma With New Device | rochesterhomepage.net

By Jamiese Price.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Round for round, blow for blow, student boxers at Aquinas are leaving it all on the ring.

It’s the 83rd annual Mission Bouts and over the years the boxing competition has expanded to include girls and even seventh graders.

The long standing tradition also brings hundreds of spectators to the gym to watch students box it out.

“It makes a good competition because usually it’s someone you’ve been practicing with for a while, so you know how they fight, making it a really great competition when you get in there and fight for real,” said Sophomore Tim McMahon.

Student boxers have been duking it out in the ring since the early 1930’s.

But this year’s Mission Bouts have a modern twist…

Annual Boxing Competition Gets Modern Aid | twcnews.com

By Leo Roth.

The 83rd annual Aquinas Mission Bouts are Friday at the Wegman-Napier Gymnasium and this year’s event featuring one of the few high school boxing programs in the nation will be the safest on record.

New to the bouts is usage of the cutting-edge Linx Impact Assessment System that provides coaches, parents and athletes with real-time data and analysis related to potential head injuries. Each fighter’s head gear has been equipped with a band the size of a stick of gum that transmits impact data to a handheld tablet.

Linx IAS makes 83rd Aquinas Mission Bouts safter | democratandchronicle.com

By Peter Nowak

When we think of wearable gadgets, we tend to picture smartwatches that notify us of incoming e-mail or step counters that track our movements. The Linx IAS, however, is one wearable that goes beyond novelty or mild utility. It’s a potential life-saver.

The Linx IAS, or impact assessment system, monitors impacts to the wearer’s head via a small, USB key-shaped sensor that fits into a skullcap or headband. When it detects a significant blow or trauma to the head, it transmits the information to a phone or tablet app nearby, where it can be tracked.

The Linx IAS has its origins in military testing, but it’s now being developed for use in professional sports. Rochester, N.Y.-based Blackbox Biometrics Inc. hopes it will help reduce the number of concussions suffered, or limit the severity of injuries by giving players and coaches better advance warning.

“As a coach, it’s hard to tell when a kid’s taking too many punches,” boxing trainer Dominic Arioli told The Verge, a website that covers the future of technology, science, art and culture. “If they take a decisive blow, that’s obvious – but the accumulation of punches is another thing.”

Blackbox says the Linx IAS can help by tracking every blow and its severity, and by advising coaches on when to pull players. The company expects the $199 (U.S.) device to be available in April.

In Canada, more than 11,000 people die each year from traumatic brain injuries, according to the Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington. One in five sports injuries are head-related.

Linx IAS among gadgets that could “make our future healthier” | theglobeandmail.com

RIT SportsZone takes a look at the technology behind Linx IAS.

(Segment begins around 12:30)

On this week’s Tech Nation, Dr. Moira Gunn speaks with Dr. David Borkholder, Founder and CTO about BlackBox Biometrics’ wearable technology to measure concussive forces: The Blast Gauge System and Linx IAS.

(Segment begins around the 35 minute mark)

Linx IAS on Tech Nation Radio | NPR.org