News article reports that 6 Rowan County players were sent to the hospital with minor heat exhaustion.

 

There have been something like 31 deaths in the country from heat exhaustion in like the last 10 years. 5 of them are from Kentucky.

 

What the heck are we doing wrong in Kentucky? Whatever it is, it has to stop before we lose anymore boys.

 

Link to article:

http://nky.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20100804/SPT0302/308040074/

There's no excuse for this. The responsible coaches need to be fired.

There's no excuse for this. The responsible coaches need to be fired.

It's not always an issue with the coach. It's an unfortunate aspect of practicing and playing in the heat. There could be other contributing factors besides a lack of water for hydration.

 

If it's evident that coaches aren't allowing players to hydrate, then sure.....discipline the coach (and everyone involved) to the fullest extent, but....like I said before, it doesn't ALWAYS boil down to the coach.

 

Later.

I hate hearing these stories.

 

Maybe practice way early in the am, or later at night.

They were practicing in the am and channel 27 reported the coaches were doing what they were suppose to. Checking the heat index and it was way below what is acceptable. Just very unfortunate.

Heard a coach the other night say that there have been 30 someodd deaths in the us for football due to heat, and in Kentucky we have 5 of those. Like someone else said-we need to change our methods. (I am not pointing fingers at anyone-and hope all the Vikings players will fully recover.)

People need to refrain from passing fast judgment in these situations. To begin with, hydration has to begin well before practice, not during practice. Most coaches preach this fact to their players. Secondly, many of these situations are precipitated by pre-existing medical problems that are unknown at the time. Thirdly, the heat index was in an expectable range. And fourthly, heat exhaustion can happen in virtually any temperature for a multitude of different reasons and can not always be predicted.

People need to refrain from passing fast judgment in these situations. To begin with, hydration has to begin well before practice, not during practice. Most coaches preach this fact to their players. Secondly, many of these situations are precipitated by pre-existing medical problems that are unknown at the time. Thirdly, the heat index was in an expectable range. And fourthly, heat exhaustion can happen in virtually any temperature for a multitude of different reasons and can not always be predicted.

 

So, the fact that Kentucky is responsible for 16% of these deaths; are you saying that in your opinion, that is just a coincidence? I'm not sure I'm biting on that one......

With this many kids suffering heat exhaustion in one practice, it's hard for me to believe that there weren't some warning signs before it got to this point.

 

I've seen too many coaches, including some college coaches at camps this summer, who mistakenly think that pushing kids to the limit in the heat makes the kids tough. There's more to it than hydration and fololwing some guidelines. Observation and intelligent judgement should play a larger role than guidelines. Guidelines provide an excuse for someone who doesn't want to pay attention and practice good judgement.

Parents need to make sure their kid does not sit in the AC all day then go to practice. Keep and get your kid acclimated to the heat, do some outdoor activity. Blaming the coaches get old. Ram hit a lot of the situations head on.

So, the fact that Kentucky is responsible for 16% of these deaths; are you saying that in your opinion, that is just a coincidence? I'm not sure I'm biting on that one......

 

I'm stating fact, many of the young men who have died nationally have had congenital defects that they were unaware of, and some of which, could not have diagnosed prior to their death. Fact, many heat related emergencies are put into motion well prior to the actual exposure. And fact, heat related emergencies can happen in ambient temperatures well below what most people would consider dangerous.

With this many kids suffering heat exhaustion in one practice, it's hard for me to believe that there weren't some warning signs before it got to this point.

 

Just food for thought.

 

I'm not saying this happened in this situation or not, but, there have been research done where one person becoming sick causes others who prior the the first person becoming sick had no signs of being sick. For instance one person throws up, then other start experiencing the same symptoms. Not fake sickness, but a very real response. The same has been proven with headaches. One person begins begins complaining of a headache and other around them begin experiencing the same symptoms.

With this many kids suffering heat exhaustion in one practice, it's hard for me to believe that there weren't some warning signs before it got to this point.

 

I've seen too many coaches, including some college coaches at camps this summer, who mistakenly think that pushing kids to the limit in the heat makes the kids tough. There's more to it than hydration and fololwing some guidelines. Observation and intelligent judgement should play a larger role than guidelines. Guidelines provide an excuse for someone who doesn't want to pay attention and practice good judgement.

That is a valid point. However, the responsibility can't all rest on the coach or the coaching staff.

 

When our son passed away last year due to complications from heat stroke, he wasn't feeling well that day. He didn't say anything to my or my wife in the morning about it. He barely ate any lunch during practice that day.....and the humidity (the heat wasn't very high) from the rain earlier in the day got to him. Do I like to think that him being stubborn about not speaking to us about not feeling well is what could have lead to his death? No...but something made him fall out on the practice field and it wasn't an illegal substance, weight or anything else that some members of the media wanted to say it was. I just know that his body got too hot and he couldn't recover.

 

Later.

Parents need to make sure their kid does not sit in the AC all day then go to practice. Keep and get your kid acclimated to the heat, do some outdoor activity. Blaming the coaches get old. Ram hit a lot of the situations head on.

 

You're exactly right. It makes me sick that others on here and in society are so quick to blame the coaches for these heat related illness' and deaths that occur. More times than not it's because kids either sit inside all summer long, getting used to the AC, don't drink near enough water/gatorade, etc., then come out in the July/August heat and they can't handle it. Of course, you can't say that b/c after all, there has to be blame somewhere, right?! What a crock.

 

Shadon Brown and his stafff did nothing wrong. Followed the rules. Practiced at 8:00 am. The temperature was in the high 80's that morning. Sometimes, things just happen; fortunately the young men are ok.

They're coaches, not doctors. Hydration takes place 24 hours prior to a practice/game. While water breaks and such help quench thirst, they only keep you hydrated slightly at that particular time. And if you think any coach would jeopardize a child, his career, his family, by not following the new, more strict, KHSAA guidelines on practicing in the heat...you don't know very many coaches.

 

As 3wishes said. Kids in our area aren't acclimated. Think about it. If you are south of us you are used to hot weather because it's hot most of the year. If you are north of us it usually doesn't get that hot. Not only does it get hot here, like it does in the south, but the humidity is much worse. On top of that, it's only really hot 3-4 months out of the year. It only makes sense that kids aren't as acclimated as they could be. Part of that is on them and part is out of their control.