St Gerald’s gumshields a hit at Young Scientist awards

INNOVATORS ?Pictured are Ulster Rugby players Stephen Ferris and Stuart Olding with Evan Heneghan, Conor Gillardy and Calum Kyne from St Gerald’s College Mayo with their project ‘Gumshield communication device for sports managers and players’ at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition.?Pic: Chris Bellew / Copyright Fennell Photography 2014

St Gerald’s gumshields prove a hit at Young Scientist awards


Ciara Galvin

STUDENTS from St Gerald’s College, Castlebar, took second place at this year’s BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition. Conor Gillardy (15), Evan Heneghan (16) and Calum Kyne (16) received an award for group runner-up at the ceremony, which was held at the BT Arena at Dublin’s RDS last Friday.
The Transition Year students received the award for their project ‘Gumshield Gommunication Device for Managers and Players’, which was entered in the Technology category at intermediate level.
The high-tech device allows sports players on the field hear instructions from their manager on the sideline when they bite down on the gumshield. The standard gumshield is fitted with a tiny built-in power supply, electronic circuits and a vibration motor. The motor rests safely against the back teeth, conducting sounds to the ear through the jaw.
The group tested the gumshield on players involved in GAA and rugby, sports in which gumshields are obligatory. The components in the shield are safe and fitted, so that they do not have any negative impact on the player.
The BT Young Scientist Awards judges were impressed, and the students received a BT trophy and €1,200.
Speaking to The Mayo News yesterday (Monday) Conor Gillardy said the group got the idea for the gumshield after last year’s All-Ireland Final between Mayo and Dublin.
“After the final, we thought if managers could communicate with players they could give advice on possible threats from the other team,” explained Gillardy.
The group has sourced all the components for the shield and is now looking into producing a feasible prototype with a Chinese manufacturer. Gillardy, Heneghan and Kyne hope that the shield – now patent pending – will be used in professional games one day.
Almost 1,165 students from all 32 counties took part in the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, where 550 projects in all were shown.
Mayo was well represented, with five schools receiving awards. Students from Mount St Michael Secondary School Claremorris won a Highly Commended award for their ‘Haemoglobin and Blood Transfusion’ project. St Gerald’s College were celebrating on the double, as a second group from the school received a Highly Commended award for its ‘Automobile Thermo-Acoustic Refrigeration Unit’.
Kirrell O’Dowd, a member of the second St Gerald’s group, explained that the project involved powering a refrigerator in a car using the excess energy omitted by the engine.
Students from Davitt College Castlebar also received a Highly Commended award for their  ‘USB Key’ project. St Joseph’s Secondary School, Charlestown, received an award for its project entitled ‘The Tetrahedron Effect’, while ColΡiste Pobail Acla won the National Children’s Research Centre Special Award for its project, which looked at the effects of school chairs on teenagers’ backs and posture.