Better Preparation through Technology

I was with a group of other old fogies recently when the conversation turned to the internet. Now keep in mind that most people of my generation know only one way to fix a computer—turn it off then back on. And most of the time, we forget to do even that.

So we call on somebody younger. Somebody a whole lot younger. Want to fix your computer? Ask a 20-something. Want to know how to use your phone better? Ask a teenager.

But even us old folks know that if you want to know something, you hit that Google button (top left, on my phone) and seconds later, the answer appears.

Oh, sometimes you have to know what question to ask to get the information you need, but be assured, it’s in there. It really is amazing.

“Back in my day” is definitely a common starter to a conversation.  And once said, young minds start shutting down.  So, before I go there, let’s talk about how much information is at our fingertips these days. It’s amazing really.

Weather, ballgame scores, the latest research, the latest information. All immediately available.

With that being said, back in my day, our best information often came from the Encyclopedia Britannica. For those of you too young to know what that was, it was a set of books that came out every couple of years or so.

They were alphabetized and contained a lot of information. Pick a topic and it was likely in the Encyclopedia.  It was the source for a lot of information, and I can tell you that I studied it constantly. It’s probably why I have a head full of useless facts to this day.

A group of scholars worked constantly and the Encyclopedia was updated regularly, trying to keep up with changes in science and technology. If you wanted to know more about all the trees or snakes in America, it was in there.

That’s what books used to be for us—a source of information, not just a source of entertainment.  I don’t yearn for those days--we do have it better these days with information and technology available in an instant. There was something thrilling about opening up that massive volume and researching something new, something that you knew nothing about.

Now, you can push a button and find out what the weather is going to be the rest of the day. Our Athletic Trainers use an app that tells us how close lightning might be. That helps us be safer with our athletes.

We also have a phone app that tells us what the Heat Index might be at any moment. The Heat Index is a combination of temperature and humidity.  The higher the heat and/or humidity, the higher the Heat Index.

TSSAA has a protocol that dictates outdoor practice patterns depending on the Heat Index, helping us provide a safer environment.  For example, at a certain level on the Heat Index, breaks and other measures are mandated. At a high enough level, practices are cancelled.

All this just helps our Athletic Trainers do a better job in safeguarding the health of our athletes because, let’s face it, sports can be dangerous. Every year, some kid somewhere dies because of heat exhaustion.

Every year, somebody dies from being hit by lightning. Those old fogies might say that kids aren’t as tough as they used to be. That really isn’t the case at all. We just live in a very different world now.

When the old fogies were kids, nobody had air conditioning and learned to cope with the heat. Global warming has changed weather patterns, resulting in more frequent and more severe electrical storms.

So, we deal with it through better technology, better information, and data instantly available. I wouldn’t want to go back to those days when you looked at the sky and tried to guess what was about to happen.