Heat Control

I saw 94 on the thermometer yesterday.  I'm afraid that is an indicator of things to come in the next few weeks.

And we've got teams practicing all over the area.  Football is a bit more difficult with regards to dealing with the heat because of the pads and the helmet that you have to wear.

By the way, those face shields that too many football players like to add to their helmet don't help at all with dealing with the heat.  They actually trap heat inside your helmet.  In my book, they're pretty worthless.

Kids wear them to look like the pro's.  They don't realize that the a player in the pro's plays fewer snaps than most high school players.  They NEVER go both ways (something that a lot of high school players do).   Starters never play special teams.

All that means that they get more rest time.  More time to cool off.  And in hot weather, pro teams have all kinds of cooling devices for their players, including individual air conditioner-type devices that they can hook up to on the bench.

It seems like most of the players that I see wearing these shields are receivers, which makes no sense.  The one legitimate reason for wearing the shield is to protect your eyes from gouging but the only place in football that happens is in the lineman scrum in the middle of the field.

Dealing with the heat is hard enough.   The two keys to successfully dealing with the heat are hydration and being smart.

Back in the day (you've heard that one before), we got salt pills before practice and one small cup of water during.    We had fewer problems dealing with the heat but we didn't have air conditioners everywhere.  My house wasn't air-conditioned and only my parents' vehicle had a rarely used AC (it burned up too much gas).

We worked outside all summer so were much more acclimatized to the heat. 

All of our high schools have student athletic trainers whose #1 job is to make sure that our players are hydrated.  There are no limits on how much they can drink.  Our coaches adjust practice to accommodate warmer weather and we are constantly monitoring the heat index.  TSSAA has clear rules on what is an acceptable heat index.

One piece of advice that I've given for years that has been almost universally ignored is that if you have an athlete who is going to be fighting the heat, turn off the air conditioner.  Not many families are willing to make that sacrifice.

This year, I have already dealt with athletes with terrible sunburn that I'm pretty sure wasn't a part of their heat acclimatization process, athletes that have avoided the heat of the day for their workouts all summer, and players that limit their fluid intake because they didn't want to become "waterlogged."

Reminds me of that old movie Dumb and Dumber.

Anyway...yes, it's hot but if you hydrate properly (both water and sports drinks) and are smart, you should be fine. 

If not, well then we've got that watering trough full of ice water (full immersion) waiting for you which is, by the way, the absolute best way to deal with it when the heat gets to be too much.