As we approach the end of summer, kids are heading back to school and some kids are hitting the field. On Friday, temperatures soared to one hundred and nine degrees, and on the athletic fields even higher. Football season is upon us and coaches at the high school and college level are working in different ways to accommodate their players.
At Bishop Kelly High School, head football coach Tim Brennan makes sure that his athletes are given plenty of water breaks and time in the misters. Bishop Kelly’s athletic trainer, shares that in extreme heat, “we start practice with about one hundred and twenty gallons to get the players hydrated and ready for practice. I’ve got ice tubs filled up in there if we have to go and submerge them, just preventative stuff like that.”
Across town at the College of Idaho, head football coach, Mike Moroski has a variety of methods to work around the extreme heat. From rescheduling practices, holding practices earlier in the morning or even providing alternative workouts, Coach Moroski would rather be safe than sorry, “it’s a serious deal, I mean there’s heat-related injuries and deaths all around the country and I don’t want to be a part of that.”
In sweltering heat, hydration is crucial and not just during practice, it’s a critical preventive measure. Bishop Kelly senior, Jackson Lightner shares, “our coaches always tell us about how important it is for us to drink a lot of water beforehand”.
For more information on heat-related illnesses what to look for and what to do you can check out the Center of Disease Control and Prevention link below.
