With high school and college football season less than a month away, student athletes are back on the practice field toiling away in the august sun. There is great attention this year on the issue of heat illness and even heat-related deaths on the football field. What are coaches doing differently, if anything?

There has already been one heat-related death on a college football practice field this year. The questions is, are players being pushed too hard? Are they being given sufficient access to the liquids their bodies need to literally stay alive in the hot summer sun? No doubt football players are some of the toughest guys you’ll meet, but without the right precautions against heat illness, they are extremely vulnerable to heat-related deaths.

“I know people who are very prone to heat illness. They play in the sun and then they start feeling sick and throwing up. Coach lets us sit down though.” For Mike Milanesi and the rest of the Shoreham-Wading River High School varsity football team, getting ready for fall Saturdays on the gridiron means hot days on the practice field in August.

Fortunately, their coaches know the risks of heat-related deaths and take the appropriate precautions. “We’ll do an offensive, then take a break and drink some water. Then we’ll do defense, and take another break. Coach makes sure that we do not get sick out there,” says Mike Galligan, a senior on the team.

Unfortunately, it’s not the case in every high school and college.

Dr. Roert Gotlin, a sports medicine specialist at Beth Israel Medical Center, says, “We’ve had too many heat-related deaths. There not a lot as far as raw numbers but even one heat-related death is too much, because they are completely preventable.”

In 2004 there were three deaths from heatstroke among football players in the U.S. Overall, 24 players have died from heatstroke since 1995. These heat-related deaths are a true tragedy, because players can sense the heat illness coming on. It usually starts with cramps, followed by fatigue, lightheadedness, severe sweating, disorientation, and then, heat stroke.

“During heat illness the body gets very hot and very red. You’re disorientated and your core temperature rises. Heat illness can cause cardiac arrest and lung failure,” says Dr. Gotlin. The problem is that players often don’t admit when they sense heat illness coming on. “Players themselves have to speak up. It’s important that they let the coaches know when they start feeling the effects of heat illness. The problem is that’s perceived by some coaches as a lack of enthusiasm. So while the players should make a point to let the coaches know if they feel heat illness coming on, the coaches also need to understand that they can’t always wait for kids to complain about heat illness, because often they won’t,” Gotlin says.

Dr. Gotlin also advises that if it’s over 80 degrees and 80 percent humidity, practice should occur before 10am and after 3pm.

Wading River’s practicing at 5:30. “We don’t ever want someone to go down. It doesn’t help the team, and it doesn’t help me,” says Head Coach Bill Ashton.

The liquids still flow strong, even at this late hour. “I drink a lot of water, I would say about 2 gallons,” says Galligan. Good thing, because there’s nothing to laugh about when it comes to heat-related deaths of healthy young men on a football practice field.

Dr. Gotlin emphasizes that it’s not just the heavy athletes who can fall victim to heat illnesses, even the trim, muscular players are susceptible.
This means that everyone needs to drink water regularly. Also, when it gets ferociously hot, a no-pad, no-helmet practice should be called. It’s necessary to cover the head to retain heat when it’s cold, so taking off the helmet is an effective measure against heat illness.

For more information on heat illness and heat-related deaths, go to http://www.nata.org/newsrelease/archives/000281.html

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