Marble Falls Education Foundation grant buys Guardian caps

CAPTION: Marble Falls Independent School District strength and conditioning coordinator and the football program’s defensive line coach Karl “Beef” Bielfeldt holds Guardian caps and the Grants for Great Ideas check to buy 40 of them for the football program. Courtesy photo

Thanks to a grant from the Marble Falls Education Foundation, the Marble Falls High School football players will don more protection in 2026.

That’s because the grant, which totaled $4,800, has allowed the purchase of 40 Guardian caps.

“They’re not the 7-on-7 (hats) that you see the kids wearing,” strength and conditioning coordinator and defensive line coach Karl “Beef” Bielfeldt said. “These are specifically made to go on top of our actual football helmets.”

Coaches have identified which positions will receive the caps.

“What we’re looking at doing is our high contact players across all levels I think is the plan,” Bielfeldt said. “Your linemen and your linebackers, running backs, so pretty much all your players that live in the box – that’s who we’re going to put it on first and then go from there. Once they’re issued, then it is going to be a mandate and expectation that Monday through Thursday or Monday through Wednesday when we’re practicing, it’s on the helmet and there’s no questions asked – you’re wearing it.”

Bielfeldt noted that he and athletic director and football head coach Keri Timmerman were introduced to the Guardian caps when the two worked for Leander Independent School District. At that time, Bielfeldt was at Leander High and Timmerman was at Leander Vandegrift. That was right before they joined Marble Falls Independent School District in 2024.

So months ago, when the education foundation let MFISD staff members know it was time to apply for grants, Bielfeldt and Timmerman “co-authored” the request.

“Guardian had reached out to some of us in the past,” the coordinator said. “As much as we try and the techniques we teach nowadays — we’re really trying to pull the head out of a lot of blocking or tackling — but in the trenches, those guys are still going to have lots of contact. So really the Guardian caps just give us another layer to take some of that away during the practice week. The UIL, the NCAA and even the NFL have even ruled now that if you want to wear it during game, it’s allowable in the game, so some have done it, though it’s not very widespread.”

Players will decide if they want to wear the caps during the ball games, and if they choose to, the caps’ colors must match the helmets. Having logos on them aren’t necessary.

Part of the decision process and research included contacting football coaches at other places to find out what the Guardian Caps did for their players. Bielfeldt said that one coach pointed out he and his staff members “don’t coach head-to-head (contact).”

“But as soon as we put those Guardian caps on top of one, all of a sudden, practice got real quiet,” he recalled being told, “so you didn’t hear a lot of the helmet smacking anymore.”

Bielfeldt indicated conversations on equipment happen all the time in the field house, especially during the offseason when coaches are taking inventory and getting gear checked or “reconditioned.” He added that the community, like the coaches, take those commitments seriously, so it made sense to add the Guardian caps.

“And so it’s nothing new,” the coordinator said. “It always has been a financial (endeavor) — is it something we can do? — and so thankfully, the Marble Falls Education Foundation (said yes), and they’ve been great this year, I think, with all the applications that we’ve put in.”

He added that the Mustangs’ reward for all the preparation during the week is at the end.

“Friday is the big day,” he said. “And if we can do what we can to make practices more efficient and remove a degree of potential injury, then that’s the thing we’re going to look at and do.”