NAERA is an association of athletic equipment reconditioners whose mission is to increase awareness and acceptance of high quality athletic equipment reconditioning / recertification (where appropriate). Particular emphasis is directed towards reducing the risk of injury for athletic event participants. Members are licensed by NOCSAE to recertify football, lacrosse, softball/baseball helmets, and face guards..

What are the NOCSAE Standards?

They are voluntary performance standards that have been industry accepted and developed to reduce the risk of head injury. This is accomplished by establishing requirements including impact attenuation for football helmets/face guards, baseball/softball batting helmets, hockey helmets, baseballs and softballs, and lacrosse helmets/face guards. Various regulatory bodies for sports, including the NCAA NFSHSA, NFL and other governing bodies, have adopted these standards.

Football Helmets

A large part of NAERA's work has become the recertification of football helmets. Each NAERA member is licensed by NOCSAE (National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment) to recertify football helmets.

The recertification process includes cleaning, sanitizing, replacement of worn parts, shell inspection and NOCSAE testing. After the equipment is tested, we replace warning and size labels as per helmet manufacturers recommendations. When a helmet is recertified, a NOCSAE recertification label is placed on the inside of the helmet with the current years' recertification date.

Many helmets may need painting and faceguard, jaw pad and chin strap replacement. A NAERA member can provide these services.

Other football protective equipment including shoulder pads and other body padding are also inspected, cleaned and repaired by NAERA members. This is part of our service to keep athletes in clean functional equipment. 

Many NAERA members repair other types of athletic equipment as well. These include equipment used for Hockey, Lacrosse, Track & Field, Baseball and Softball and other sports.