With Pigskin Preps Underway, High School Coaches Must Find Ways to Beat the Heat
By: Aaron Nolan
Updated: July 10, 2012
Football season is still several weeks away, but a few NWA prep teams are gearing up, despite the warm temperatures.
Monday at Rogers High School, Rogers, Fayetteville, Lincoln, and Elkins battled in several 7 on 7 games.
As the season preparations are starting earlier and earlier, coaches, parents, and players must take notice of the summer heat.
Fayetteville senior, Austin Berry said, "It really makes it kind of hard to do everything."
Fayetteville head coach, Daryl Patton added, "You know the number one thing is safety for our kids."
"We want them to be here tomorrow, and the parents put a lot of trust into us as coaches, to make sure their kids are safe and that they return home each night, and we wanna make sure we do the right things."
He said two ways to help beat the heat is plenty of H2O and getting used to the warmer temperatures, "Having water readily available, and like I said, getting them out in June and July, like we are doing, like all of these coaches are doing, getting them acclimated to the heat, getting them used to it, get them off the couch, quit playing Xbox."
Rogers head coach Shawn Flannigan agreed, "You know we are fortunate today that its not as hot as it has been, but we know next week it will probably be 105 again, and we have to do all the little things to make sure our kids are safe."
"Our kids know they don't even have to ask to get a drink, they can just go get it, then we have built in water breaks just to make sure, in case they are not drinking enough."
The National High School Federation (NFHS) is reminding schools that heat stroke is the leading cause of preventable death in high school athletics.
That's why the NFHS offers the free online course "A Guide to Heat Acclimatization and Heat Illness Prevention." The course provides critical information designed to minimize the risk of activity-related heat stroke among high school athletes. It can be accessed on mobile devices, including iPads and tablets. Click here to view.
"Heat stroke results in thousands of emergency room visits and hospitalizations throughout the nation each year. Many times, deaths from heat strokes are preventable, and we believe this course can be just the tool that players, coaches and parents need to guard against serious illness or death," says Tim Flannery, NFHS director of coach education.
It recommends coaches give students 10 to 14 days to get used to the heat, starting with short, low-intensity workouts, and working up.
"We are very pleased to be able to offer this important course on heat illness free of charge," Flannery said. "With more than 7.6 million participants in high school sports, minimizing the risk of serious illness and injury is a top priority, and we believe this course will help prevent unnecessary deaths from heat illness and heat stroke."
The National Athletic Trainers Association says, in the last decade, half of all college football players who died during conditioning were on the first or second day of workouts.
Berry said his coaches have taught him well, he said the keys are, "Water, water, water, shade, water."
Monday at Rogers High School, Rogers, Fayetteville, Lincoln, and Elkins battled in several 7 on 7 games.
As the season preparations are starting earlier and earlier, coaches, parents, and players must take notice of the summer heat.
Fayetteville senior, Austin Berry said, "It really makes it kind of hard to do everything."
Fayetteville head coach, Daryl Patton added, "You know the number one thing is safety for our kids."
"We want them to be here tomorrow, and the parents put a lot of trust into us as coaches, to make sure their kids are safe and that they return home each night, and we wanna make sure we do the right things."
He said two ways to help beat the heat is plenty of H2O and getting used to the warmer temperatures, "Having water readily available, and like I said, getting them out in June and July, like we are doing, like all of these coaches are doing, getting them acclimated to the heat, getting them used to it, get them off the couch, quit playing Xbox."
Rogers head coach Shawn Flannigan agreed, "You know we are fortunate today that its not as hot as it has been, but we know next week it will probably be 105 again, and we have to do all the little things to make sure our kids are safe."
"Our kids know they don't even have to ask to get a drink, they can just go get it, then we have built in water breaks just to make sure, in case they are not drinking enough."
The National High School Federation (NFHS) is reminding schools that heat stroke is the leading cause of preventable death in high school athletics.
That's why the NFHS offers the free online course "A Guide to Heat Acclimatization and Heat Illness Prevention." The course provides critical information designed to minimize the risk of activity-related heat stroke among high school athletes. It can be accessed on mobile devices, including iPads and tablets. Click here to view.
"Heat stroke results in thousands of emergency room visits and hospitalizations throughout the nation each year. Many times, deaths from heat strokes are preventable, and we believe this course can be just the tool that players, coaches and parents need to guard against serious illness or death," says Tim Flannery, NFHS director of coach education.
It recommends coaches give students 10 to 14 days to get used to the heat, starting with short, low-intensity workouts, and working up.
"We are very pleased to be able to offer this important course on heat illness free of charge," Flannery said. "With more than 7.6 million participants in high school sports, minimizing the risk of serious illness and injury is a top priority, and we believe this course will help prevent unnecessary deaths from heat illness and heat stroke."
The National Athletic Trainers Association says, in the last decade, half of all college football players who died during conditioning were on the first or second day of workouts.
Berry said his coaches have taught him well, he said the keys are, "Water, water, water, shade, water."
