It's Here!!!

Here's your news flash:  The high school football season is upon us.  Really.

Wait!  What?  Football season?  It's the middle of July!

Yep.  Middle of July and it's here.  After a dead period that just ended.  Shorts and t-shirts this past week.  Add helmets this coming week.  Full pads the week after that.  Football Jamboree August 11th.   

Just like that, summer is over.  Oh, we've got plenty of hot weather to go yet.  August and September can both be real scorchers.  And that's part of what I'm going to talk about today.  Dealing with the heat.  It really isn't something that we can take lightly.

Helping your young athlete acclimatize to the heat is important.  The air conditioner set to the lowest setting isn't helping with that.  Adjust the temperature in your home and in your car up a bit.  It won't hurt you.

Fluids are essential.  If an athlete waits until they get to practice to hydrate, they are already behind.  Proper hydration is an all day thing.  Start drinking in the morning and don't quit until bedtime. 

Drink both water and sports drinks with emphasis on the latter.  All that makes you run to the bathroom too often?  Great!  That's what we want.  That means you are fully hydrated. 

You want to perform at your best?  Hydrate.  You hate cramps?  Then hydrate! 

In sports or in the real world, if you are overheated the best thing you can do is submerse in cold water.  We keep a watering trough at most of our schools that we fill with cold water and los of ice.  When your core temperature reaches critical levels, the best thing we can do for you at that point is to cool you off.

Last week I was talking to a physical therapist in another state.  He was conflicted after dealing with a young athlete with a serious concussion.  This father of four young boys asked "with all we know about concussions, how can you let someone play contact sports?"

He was asking as a father and as a physical therapist.

My answer?  First, I said, "active children become active adults."  It's true.  And anything that involves movement can mean a fall and an injury.  It doesn't have to be a contact sport.  I've seen concussions on a tennis court.

Second, "sports are life lessons."  Our playing fields are a living seminar on teamwork, effort, discipline, leadership, and on and on.  Sports may be the best place to learn those things.

Lastly, I said "our job is to enable people to pursue their passions, making sports as safe as possible because of our expertise."   Like I said last week, it's not my job to tell you what you can't do unless it negatively impacts your health.

I know that I am called on very often to make the final decision on whether or not someone that has experienced a concussion can return to their sport.  It is not a role that I take lightly.  We are talking life issues here.  You can count on me to be conservative and make a decision based on the long term, not the big game on Friday night.

It's what I do.