<p>I live in an area that isn’t super hot and isn’t football obsessed, but a high school student died during football practice today. This seems to happen every year and I always wonder why. Football isn’t a hot weather sport, so what’s the purpose of making summer practice a time of torture and danger? Why do the kids need to do such strenuous workouts wearing pads, helmets, etc. in the extreme heat of th summer? Leave aside the fact that it’s just a game, but what possible benefit exists?</p>
<p>zoosermom, it’s unfortunate that another kid has died. Really, one of the most unfortunate things about it is that heat illness and especially heat deaths are 100% preventable. </p>
<p>Football is kind of a hot-weather sport. And they need to practice in the summer since it leads up to the beginning of the season…</p>
<p>Would you mind sending me a link? Either here or via PM whichever you’d prefer… this is in my line of work…</p>
<p>Ugh. Just ugh. There are SO many ways around this. It is absolutely not necessary to practice in this kind of heat. Yes, players need to get used to the heat, but there’s a way to do that and it’s not like this. I played summer sports. I coached summer sports. You have to take care of the health of your players. </p>
<p>I am so sorry for this player’s family and friends. Completely preventable. Completely inexcusable.</p>
<p>hops, I would appreciate a link sent however you see fit. I’m trying to figure out why a woman will be burying her 15 year old this week. (I have a 13 year old of my own.)</p>
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<p>^^^^My daughters played serious soccer in the heat of the summer in Texas. The coaches who were involved with my kids had summer conditioning down to an art. Whenever there was an ambulance at a soccer tournament, it was almost always there to handle the heat issues of a referee or a parent, rarely a player.</p>
<p>I think the pads and helmets used in football certainly might contribute to the problem, as well as possibly the failure of coaches to use proper heat conditioning tactics. It is tragic, that is for sure.</p>
<p>If it’s the boy in Staten Island (found via google), it says it was the first practice of the season, with a non contact drill and no pads, he collapsed around 9pm last night with temp outside around 80 degrees. But had “skyrocketing” body temp. So sad. Not sure if there has been any autopsy yet showing what happened and can’t find a way to link the article. Tragic.</p>
<p>This is from a friend of mine. As you all likely know, the St. Louis area (and most of the Midwest) is experience EXTREME heat…</p>
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<p>That’s just scary…</p>
<p>It’s tragic, but it’s not just football. Plenty of kids play sports all summer in the heat. There is a lot more awareness about concussions now, it’s a shame some coaches still don’t know how to handle working out in the heat. Kids need to be allowed to stop when they are feeling badly, to listen to their bodies and not just press on. The playing through the pain culture has always bothered me. I sent my daughter to a sports camp last week in 100º temperatures, but I am comfortable if she was feeling ill effects she would stop and tell someone.</p>
<p>hops_scout, does it make a difference if the kids are in good shape and have been playing all along, versus just starting out in the heat?</p>
<p>I agree mama. </p>
<p>I had my varsity basketball coach tell me to “suck it up” when I started having an asthma attack during practice. It was the first asthma issue I had EVER had playing sports (and I’d played for 11 years at that point and had already gone halfway through the season). I put myself first and ignored her. I also told the administrators at school. She must have had numerous other complaints because she was asked not to return the next year. </p>
<p>One of the very first thing I told my softball kids was “Tell me when something is wrong. There is NOTHING more important than your health. Period.” I rarely had a coach tell me ANYTHING along those lines. </p>
<p>I agree that heat problems need to get as much attention as head injuries.</p>
<p>So sorry for your community’s grief, ZM. Also keep an eye out for whether this might have been HCM (hypocardiomyopethy) - a congenital thickness of muscle heart, often not diagnosed in otherwise healthy youth. It can be a sudden, surprise killer of youths on athletic fields in any season. They just drop and they’re gone. It’s rare but awful.</p>
<p>zoosermom,
So sorry to hear about this young man on SI. I was at our high school fitness center today working out and a number of football players were there. A coach was working with two guys at a time and having them sprint uphill on a treadmill for a period of time, then slow down, then sprint again. I was nearby on an elliptical, watching (out of the corner of my eye) while a heavy set young man (a “lineman,” in football parlance) was attempting to do this. He was out of breath very quickly and the coach kept pushing him. Finally, the young man said he needed water and the coach said, “I’ll get you water after you finish this one.” The kid again said he needed water and finally the coach must have realized that this was a serious request and he helped the kid off the treadmill and had him sit down. I was watching the kid carefully, frankly to see whether he was going to pass out, because that’s what I was worried about. Fortunately, he did not, but I was so annoyed listening to the coach exhort them to keep pushing and not to let him “beat them.” After they were done inside, they were headed outside to practice. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>So sorry ZM; parents should never have to bury their children, especially for something like this. But it’s not just sports that have brutal summer practice schedules. Marching bands do too. Much longer practice times than sports do, and we’re currently under heat advisories.</p>
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<p>Sorry, but nothing you stated there sounds out of line to me…</p>
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<p>Yeah, I know a lady who is an athletic trainer with one of those travelling summer bands. She’s got a hard job each summer!</p>
<p>I saw a cheerleader today who told me that they are currently going through 2-a-days for two weeks! Then they’ll have about a week off and likely start again for some more 2-a-days during the preseason…</p>
<p>Not saying this practice is/was the cause, but I see young teens guzzling those energy drinks(red bull monster etc.) prior to practices, on top of the gatorade/powerade drinks. Marketing ploys telling them it improves performance. Not only that, they drink gatorade as if it was an everyday drink, it is not. Can cause serious electrolyte imbalances in excess.</p>
<p>They are under the impression if it is sold to them it is safe. Many of the ingredients add to the caffeine already in these drinks, add to it 90 minutes of running, diuretic effect of caffeine, fluid losses etc.</p>
<p>During lacrosse games in this heat, there are mandatory game stops every 10 minutes for water, girls HS level at least.</p>
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<p>Energy drinks should be banned. They try to sell these drinks as if they are just like Gatorade/Powerade and they absolutely are not. Energy drinks are dangerous.</p>
<p>For whatever it’s worth, here are the CDC guidelines on summer heat for athletes. </p>
<p>[CDC</a> - Extreme Heat Media Toolkit: Heat and Athletes](<a href=“http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/extremeheat/athletes.html]CDC”>CDC - Extreme Heat Media Toolkit: Heat and Athletes - REDIRECT)</p>
<p>If I had children who were doing summer training, I would advise them to feel free to say NO to their coach. I would teach them the signs and symptoms of heat illness and what to do if they saw those signs in themselves or others.</p>
<p>In the last couple of years there have been several deaths, including one young man who was closely connected to my family through my kids, but it always seems to be football. Maybe it’s just a quirk of fate or something, but I haven’t seen anything similar with other high school sports.</p>
<p>So sad.</p>
<p>Summer practices should be held indoors AS MUCH as possible. </p>
<p>I don’t know if it’s possible, but can astroturf be rolled out and secured on a gym floor??? I realize that High schools can’t afford “football only indoor practice facilities.” </p>
<p>and, when outdoors, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate with minimal pads, etc on and “no tackle” rules.</p>
<p>Zoosermom, it hurt to read of a child hurt or dying for any reason, but at a sports practice from lack of water, it is particular needless. But I will tell you that my young men are very foolish and do not take care of themselves. They have been dehydrated, frozen, burned, despite my constant haranguing and being pretty well supervised. My youngest has the top of he’s feet badly burned at this time, because he did not put sun screen there and was out in the sun all day. Sigh. One was wearing sandals in Buffalo in the winter. A wonder he has toes and fingers left. And I won’t even going into the truly self destructive modes they have gone in. </p>
<p>Sometimes those football teams have a disgusting source of water. They have to squirt it in their mouths from these tubes looking like hospital iv tubes, and the water is none too cold. You get a picky kid, and he wants no part of it and he forgets to bring his private source. I spoiled all of mine with their own cold but not ice cold water bottles and orange slices and Gatorade.</p>
<p>Agree that there have been way too many tragic injuries and deaths in recreational activities (sports, cheerleading, marching band, etc) as has been mentioned. Its perhaps in the areas of the country that are less familiar with this incredible heat/humidity whose coaches may not be adequately trained as to how to work out in these conditions. And its also possible that the areas where the intensity of these sports competitions may be less that the coaches are also again not as adequately trained. This has become a very high priority here, after several students were unnecessarily lost a few years ago.</p>
<p>The heat also took its toll on an attendee at a Scout Jamboree and also a Summer Governors Honors Camp a few years ago. So sadly the heat is non discriminatory.</p>
<p>And as others have mentioned, undiagnosed medical conditions (heart conditions, Marfans syndrome, etc) can strike without warning.</p>