High school athletic teams ramping up practices for the start of the season, but teams are taking extra precautions in beating the heat.
White County Athletic Trainer Brent Ryan said his team makes sure athletes stay hydrated, fed, and rested before coming to practice. Ryan said teams at White County have had to adjust training periods to help the students stay healthy.
“We’ve just really encouraged a lot of breaks,” Ryan said. “We’ve had to modify practices. We’ve started out in inside in the cooler temperatures in the gym and the facility, and then we’ve worked our way outside later on when the heat index and humidity’s kind of gotten a little bit better.”
Ryan said heat acclimation is still important, especially for football, because it will be hot during games. Ryan said it can be safer when done in cooler temperatures, and tools like ice towels are on hand to keep the athletes from getting too hot.
At Stone Memorial High School, coaches and players have adapted to the heat with morning practices and other cooling mechanisms. Athletic Director Nathan Brown said everyone is always aware of the forecast so they can plan ahead.
“Here on the Cumberland Plateau, the humidity gets rough and it feels a lot hotter than it is sometimes,” Brown said. “So it makes things difficult, but it’s nothing that we can’t overcome. We’re proactive in applying our processes. We look at the weather days in advance, we look at it before practices begin. And we have safety measures in place to keep student athletes safe.”
Brown said cooling tubs and shady spots are available at each practice throughout the season so there are opportunities to prevent heat related issues.
Brown said this has been a challenging year for implementing the safety protocols because the school system recently lost their athletic trainers. Brown said his coaches have stepped up and took on those responsibilities.
Brown said his coaches have been properly trained on the same situations the trainers have been trained on, and they are well equipped to ensure the safety of student athletes. A lack of trainers, however, has forced the students to be accountable for their health.
“We preach self advocacy here,” Brown said. “We want our athletes to be strong, to be independent, to be thinkers, be able to be successful when they leave the school. And part of that is being individuals and having autonomy. The expectation is that you do take care of your body. They have to listen to their bodies, and if their body’s telling them they’re too hot or that they’re too tired or stressed, then they have to take a break. And our coaches have to trust that their bodies are telling them what they need to do.”
Ryan said early in the season, there are injuries that start to pop up. He said he does not know if there is a correlation between injuries and heat, but external issues could contribute to the amount of injuries.
“Some factors play into conditioning and you know, the kids being ready for their sport,” Ryan said. “Some things are just unfortunate accidents. Those things happen sometimes, you know? And I’ve seen a lot of that here lately as well. So, hopefully that’s the trend and we can keep not having very many injuries.”