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<p>If the coaches are making them practice in the heat of the day in their pads and helmets, I guess I could see how that would result in a higher incidence of problems when compared to other sports where they are not wearing clothes/equipment which is more likely to interfere with the body’s natural cooling mechanisms.</p>
<p>[Staten</a> Island boy, 15, dies after collapsing at high school football practice - NY Daily News](<a href=“Staten Island boy, 15, dies after collapsing at high school football practice ”>Staten Island boy, 15, dies after collapsing at high school football practice )</p>
<p>Very sad…And the boy’s father died ten years ago from cancer.</p>
<p>Heat is a big deal. But when it comes to football, I’m even more concerned about traumatic brain injuries, the impacts of which may not show up until years later.</p>
<p>hops_scout-I guess I wasn’t descriptive enough. I’m a coach and an athlete and I knew this young man was in trouble before the coach did. I’m all for motivational speeches and have given my own, but this coach was only watching two kids, and took too long to acknowledge that one young man was really having a problem.</p>
<p>I did marching band camp in past summers from 8 am to 10 pm for a month in Texas heat. Our director would regularly use water breaks as a reward, rather than a need. I did okay, but a few of the heavier kids would routinely pass out and no one thought anything of it. Seems insane to me, but no one else ever saw a problem. Something about “being tough and dedicated”.</p>
<p>My son is a musician and we had encouraged him to do marching band, but he was having absolutely none of that. I hadn’t realized about marching in the heat. I’m very glad he made the choice he did.</p>
<p>I play high school football in Texas where it can get up to 100+ any day of the week. I had practice at 5PM 5 days a week. There was never any heat related problems though mainly because our coaches told us multiple times to drink lots of water(Not just before practice or during practice but 24 hours in advance)</p>
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<p>Point taken, but also consider that if you are conditioned properly to work out in the heat, it will be relatively easy for you compared to an athlete who normally does not have to work out in those conditions. In situations where normally cooler temperatures prevail, a heat wave can turn out to be lethal if the coaches approach things with a “business as usual” attitude.</p>
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<p>Yikes. I marched in Texas as well, and we never had anyone faint. I do remember that they used to give us “salt tablets” so that we wouldn’t have adverse effects from drinking so much water (always made very available). That is not done any longer.</p>
<p>We were never chided for asking for help in the name of being “tough and dedicated.” Then again, my marching band really wasn’t very good. We had a lot of fun, but winning contests was not in the cards for us. :o</p>
<h1>1 Water should NOT be withheld at any time by a coach for any reason. The coaches I work with only give a few water breaks each practice BUT it is understood that if you need water you go get water. That’s the way it should be. Now, if it’s this hot out, those coaches are going to send the kids for water every 10 minutes.</h1>
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<p>I don’t know specific high school numbers, but let me put it to you this way… There have been ~21 players die in college football over the last either 10 or 20 years. Not a single one of them was due to game-play. They were all due to practice and conditioning!</p>
<p>What I have seen with my two girls and HS sports, the coaches send ENDLESS emails from end of school up to the start of practice season, to PLEASE be working on conditioning yourselves for the start of the season. The rigors of conditioning as a team at the start of the preseason should NOT be the first time the kid has run/exercised since the last day of practice last fall.</p>
<p>Watching the tryouts begin, you can bet your bottom dollar not even a third prepared adequately. </p>
<p>I know one of my girls paid attention one did not.</p>
<p>Did OP actually say “ITS JUST A GAME”?</p>
<p>Yes I did and there is no way I would every allow my Precious Baby King to play football.</p>
<p>Its okay zoosermom, we have my 3 boys to make up for your son!! All 3 of mine played Pop Warner football since they were 7, played all through high school and then on to D1 college ball.</p>
<p>But their sis had them beat hands down, a level “elite” gymnast until she started diving and swimming. She also continued through high school winning state championships in 2 different states (we moved) in both sports and continuing both (also a platform diver) as a recruited athlete in college. That wasn’t quite scary enough, took up cliff diving for that little “extra” rush. She also loves snow boarding and upon hearing her bro wanted to go “fast”, she immediately thought an Apache. Or maybe a rescue swimmer for the coast guard.</p>
<p>Throw in her big sis who earned her way as a “horse whisperer” through college and grad school for “rehabilitated” thorough breds and a breeding and foaling program and she probably had her sister beat for scaring her mom to death. Nothing like a mad mama horse rearing up and letting you know not to touch her baby.</p>
<p>So football was no biggie. They have known since they were little to pre-hydrate days before practice beginnings and keep it up throughout the pre-season and season. Then again they did spend some time in Vegas heat, for 2 a days. Takes education, patience and practice. Staying in shape all through the year is also the other key. As 3 season varsity athletes in high school, that actually made it easier. Went from one sport to the next.</p>
<p>'Just a game" hmpf. I can hear my boys from half a country away!</p>
<p>kat</p>
<p>Kat, you should have bubble-wrapped all of them!</p>
<p>My son had two high school classmates (2 different schools) die from football injuries. I am a football fan, but I’ve never felt the same. It was pretty awful. One (soph year) returned too soon after a concussion (before there was as much education about this issue) and just started feeling “off” in a game, went down and never woke up again. The other one (senior year) took a legal but hard hit which caused a brain stem injury and he never woke up.</p>
<p>It is over 100 degrees in most of Texas and football practice will go on. There is little way to explain any of this. </p>
<p>The Allen (Texas) Independent School District (public school) HS football stadium that opens in a few weeks cost $60 million (seats 18,000) and was part of a $120 million bond package that provided $60 million to construct an auditorium complex for the fine arts.</p>
<p>Have you ever seen the commercial where the mom sneaks into the gym and deflects all the balls hit at her son to protect him? </p>
<p>That’s me.</p>
<p>07Dad, why can’t they just practice in air conditioning. Skills are skills, aren’t they? And isn’t football an autumn or winter sport?</p>
<p>A hundred years from now (maybe sooner), with what we now know (and will know) about TBI, do you think any parent is going to allow their kid to play football as we now know it? I have my doubts.</p>
<p>Football in Texas generally starts the last week in August. It remains HOT in Texas all through September, sometimes into early October. Night games help, though. The temps generally remain 80s or lower at these night games, and even get chilly as time goes on. But it’s not the same “football season” as in the northeast. Quite a bit warmer, but the kids are used to that if they have been conditioned properly.</p>