Trainers make it priority to keep high school athletes safe in heat

POINCIANA, Fla. — High school fall sports are ramping up, but the summer heat is showing no signs of easing.

Heat safety is not just a priority for these athletes — it’s the law, according to the Zachary Martin Act, which was implemented in 2020.

The latest guidelines for helping manage student-athletes’ workouts in the heat will be increasingly important as temperatures get warmer.

Before the first whistle blows and the cleats hit the grass at Poinciana High School, athletic trainer Chaquirah Mills is not just prepping for football practice, she’s preparing for the heat.

As she filled her hydration system with ice and water, she said, “This is our Waterboy. It’s our hydration system,” Mills said. “… I keep it pretty cold because it gets kind of hot outside.”

Hydration is Mills’ top priority. But beyond the training room, her responsibilities also include some weather analysis.

“We go by the Wet Bulb Globe chart,” Mills said. “So that kind of helps us follow and guide what we can do.”

Unlike a basic temperature reading, what’s known as the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) has become a standard part of outdoor sports, according to heat safety expert Dr. Rebecca Stearns at the University of Connecticut’s Korey Springer Institute, which was named after a Minnesota Vikings player who died from exertional heat stroke. 

“It accounts for not only the ambient temperature and the humidity, like heat index does, but then it goes an additional step, and it accounts for also the sun exposure, whether it’s cloudy or sunny, and also wind,” Stearns said.

Whether in the training room or on the sidelines, Mills monitors the WBGT constantly through an app to know what protocols kick in, including modified equipment and adjustment of water breaks.

“Then, of course, if the wet bulb gets too high, then it’s no outdoor practices at all,” Mills said. 

Florida requires not only WBGT monitoring but to have a cold tub on standby when temperatures are above 70 degrees. So if a heat emergency does happen, the coaches and training staff have the best treatment possible to help save them.

“We have data sets that show 100% survival in athletes that are treated appropriately, meaning that we believe that no athlete should die from an exertional heat stroke,” Stearns said. 

Mills said she feels hot days are becoming more common, and the student-athletes are feeling it, too. 

“We’re getting so many more days where it’s like, oh, temperature is black (on the WBGT chart), we can’t go outside. Oh, temperatures, like right now, it’s a red, and we’re, like, all right, cool, practice can only be an hour right now,” Mills said. 

That’s because, according to the latest climate data, Florida’s temperatures are heating up. On average, we’re seeing more summer days above average than we did in the 1970s, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

(Spectrum News graphic based upon NOAA climate data)

That heat is also pushing further into the fall, making student-athletes more exposed to dangerous heat levels, according to data from NOAA’s Regional Climate Centers.

(Spectrum News graphic based upon NOAA climate data)

At Poinciana, knowing how to practice safely in a hotter, more humid world is already the norm.

“Even the students know what the wet bulb is, so there are definitely days that they’re like, ‘Hey Ms. Mills, is it too hot for us to be out here? Is it too hot for helmets’?”

Experts say it’s all about adapting to keep future athletes safe and let them do what they love.

“We don’t want to cancel sports, but are we doing it in the most effective and safe way possible, right?” Stearns said.

And that playbook includes preparation, careful monitoring, and a whole lot of ice.