High School Athletics Taking Into Account Heat Index For Athlete Safety

The hottest weather of the year is causing changes to keep high school athletes safe this week.

White County Athletic Director Terry Crain said a high heat index can cause dehydration while wearing heavy equipment.

“We’ve rescheduled our practices, we make them later in the day,” Crain said. “We actually take the players indoors for the first maybe hour or so, and then our trainer Mr. Brent Ryan, he keeps a check on the heat index.”

Crain said his team uses several different methods of checking the heat index in order to ensure the temperature is safe for players. Crain said, one tool to measure heat index, the Wet Bulb Globe, was sent to him by the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association.

Crain said several youth athletic games have already been delayed one or more hours out of concern regarding athlete safety. To combat heat-related problems athletes are being granted more breaks and encouraged to hydrate before practice, Crain said. When an athlete is facing negative health effects from the heat, there are several tell-tale signs to watch for Crain said.

“Sweating, you look for players that normally are doing things and then there all of the sudden doing them a different way like they’re confused,” Crain said. “Or they’re not-, maybe they’re not paying attention to instructions by the coaches. These are all signs that there could be some possible heat issues.”

Crain said that as the years progressed, the heat index steadily became more severe and of concern for players. He said that one explanation he’s heard explaining the rising seasonal temperatures is global warming. Hot temperatures coupled with players spending most of their days inside air conditioning can also shock the bodies of athletes, Crain said.