Athletes take on the heat

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Athletes take on the heat

This summer’s increasing temperatures have been taking a toll on the health and safety of student athletes in Miami

BY RAFAEL J. SANS, JR., BUSINESS MANAGER

INCREASING AT AN ALARMING rate, temperatures in Miami this past summer reached record highs for the year exceeding 90°F, according to the National Weather Service. With this in mind, the state of health for student athletes can be at risk if proper measures are not taken to ensure their safety when practicing outdoors in extreme heat conditions.

Many heat-related injuries, such as hyperthermia, occur more frequently in Miami compared to other parts of the state. According to the Institute of Food and Agricultural Science of the University of Florida, Miami- Dade County made up 7% of the heat-related deaths from 2010-2020, compared to Lee County’s 3%.

“This year has probably been the hottest I’ve experienced while playing at Gables,” senior varsity football player Reynaldo Gimenez said. “The younger guys feel it [the heat] more than veterans because they haven’t trained in the heat, so conditioning is crucial for them to play during the year.”

The training and practice of the school’s athletes during the summer is used to fortify the skills necessary to perform on the field during the school year. However, players need to take the proper precautions to ensure their safety in the intense heat conditions they endure. Though conditioning is paramount to accustom players to extreme conditions, proper resources and protocols need to be prepared to prevent athletes from having a heat related emergency.

According to Alexia Clark, the school’s head athletic trainer, athletes, specifically football players, are most prone to heat stroke in extreme temperatures. Because of this being the leading cause of death in high school athletics, the state of Florida passed the Zachary Martin Act which requires high schools part of the Florida High School Athletic Association to establish protocols that protect players from experiencing heat illness and potential lasting effects from it. Because of the act, the school’s athletics use WetBulb Globe Temperature, a chart created as a part of the Zachary Martin Act, that measures heat stress, as a means of gauging the flow of practices and determining the rules all athletes should follow.

“This summer has been more intense with the heat than previous summers,” Clark said. “We have normally been told the time to avoid heat is between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Our practices start at 9:30 a.m. and along with other schools, we had to cancel or set a onehour limit for practice because of how hot it has been.”

Beyond the bounds of Gables, other institutions with athletic programs including the University of Miami (UM) also have to focus on the health and safety of their players. According to the Associate Athletic Director for

Athletic Training of UM, Vincent “Vinny” Scavo, the university has onsite staff in their athletics department to treat students. In addition to nutritionists and other health professionals that monitor players physical health, they also have staff in charge of assessing the conditions of where they are playing to determine if practices should go on and for how long.

The staff practice what is known as an emergency action plan to coordinate with paramedics and health staff on where to go in the event of an emergency. Most high schools do not have this extent of resources to monitor athletes, but the precautions these larger institutions take can serve as an example on what is necessary to ensure athletes practice in a safe environment.

“We always have the heat index to check and if the temperature is too high, coaches are alerted to give breaks, hydrate players and make sure they’re safe,” Scavo said. “At the high school level, you need to be careful that players don’t overheat. If someone shows signs of heat exhaustion, you need to get them off the field immediately and monitor them.”

Because of these increased temperatures, those at the high school and university level of athletics have made efforts to acclimate to and operate in extreme heat while minimizing the risk of injury. While athletes cannot change the abnormal weather, their safety can still be improved and fortified with proper health monitoring and safety practices. h