Football High Documentary

[ft bronc]

Lots of good points made here. There's no doubt that today's kids aren't acclimated to the heat like they were before central air conditioning & video games became commonplace. There's also no doubt that kids today are bigger, stronger & faster that the kids of yesteryear. Don't believe me, dig out your game films from '74. You won't believe how slow you were.

 

The bottom line for me, however, is parents don't send their kids to school to die of heat strokes. You can lay the blame wherever you like, right or wrong, but schools will always take the brunt of any deaths that happen on their watch. We can talk all day about the role the kid played, the responsibility that lies with the parents, but ultimately the school created and was in control of the situation, and the school must take into account the condition of the raw materials (the kids) they are working with. There's just no way around it. Society expects their kids to be safe in school, and that will never change.

[Clyde]

Is it irrelevant? Really? Why? So, that the parents and players can't place any of the blame on themselves? Maybe we should discontinue the fact that the players and parents aren't making sure they are following through with the proper directions when taking medications that are susceptible to causing dehydration, too? Maybe we should count their diets, along with lack of overall excersise as irrelevant? If a 5'8 extremely overweight young boy/man has a heart attack and it's found out that their cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar, etc. was off the charts high, then those reasons are relevant and responsibility/blame is placed on the individual to make changes in their lifestyle(s). However, let that same 5'8 overweight individual with the same health problems have a heat stroke or die on the field, then lets count their reasons as irrelevant and place all of the blame on the coach(es).

 

No joke air conditioning isn't going away, it was alive and well when I played, but I sure didn't sit around on my tail in it all summer long. 1) I didn't want to and 2) Even if I did, my parents dang sure wouldn't have allowed me too.

 

Your arguments still do not change the fact that coaches have to be given limits by the state on when they can and cannot have their team practice. It doesn't matter if the players are more susceptible today. It doesn't matter WHY they are more susceptible.

 

The state HAS to have rules. You heard the coach in Arkansas talking about how how it gets and then asked what he does when it is 104 or 105 and he said "Oh we still practice. You have to get better each day." That's unhealthy and possibly dangerous. THAT is the guy that the kids need to be protected from.

[Ram]

The reason that players are susceptible is irrelevant. Air conditioning is not going away.

 

Coaches are not qualified to make such decisions. The state has to set rules in order to protect the kids.

 

I guess in this day and time, there has to be a number put up for when practice can't take place, but to be honest, you can have a heat stroke in 80 degree weather. In all seriousness, the heat stroke has less to do with the weather, and more to do with the person that has it. That is why you can have 50 players practicing and only one of them has a heat stroke. It's the players body that causes the heat stroke, not the weather.

 

But, I understand your point and it is probably a bad idea in 2011 to let the coaches decide.

[75center]

One last note while we are discussing prevention of head and heat related injuries, the group of people whom I never hear brought up in these conversations? Doctors. Any of you been to a school wide physical day lately? Maybe our kids should be more thoroughly checked out instead of these assembly line type physicals, from all aspects of their health and lifestyles before they are turned loose? Height, weight, blood pressure, turn your head and cough; "Ok, you're good!"

 

Is it me, or have any of you ever heard of heat related illness/death in high school golf? If you think football practice in 100 degree temps is hot, try toting around a 40 lb golf bag on your shoulders for 4 hours and 3-5 miles in length during July and August. Ironically, and it goes back to my whole theory of properly acclimating yourself, these golfers play all summer long. Sometimes they ride in carts, but most of the time they are walking, especially as their season draws near, nonetheless, they spend their summers outside and not indoors.

 

Not seeing it. I would say the fewer numbers playing golf and the fact that they're walking and not wearing the shoulder pads and helmets has more to do with it than their being more acclimated to the heat. Many of these football players have also spent the summer out in the heat for several hours each day.

[Harry Doyle]

Not seeing it. I would say the fewer numbers playing golf and the fact that they're walking and not wearing the shoulder pads and helmets has more to do with it than their being more acclimated to the heat. Many of these football players have also spent the summer out in the heat for several hours each day.

 

And I bet the ones out in the heat all summer aren't having the heat strokes either. I

[Harry Doyle]

The fact of the matter is, 99% of the young men playing aren't having any heat related injurie, yet we focus on the 1% that does.

[Clyde]

The fact of the matter is, 99% of the young men playing aren't having any heat related injurie, yet we focus on the 1% that does.

 

 

Your point?

[Harry Doyle]

Your point?

 

About right.

[Ram]

I have to side with Harry here, heat acclamation has a lot to do with it. That is why players have to have five non padded practices and five padded practices before they can play. That is basically the only reason for the ten practices - heat acclamation.

 

Lack of heat acclamation and presence of congenital defects lead to almost all the deaths you hear about.

[Clyde]

I have to side with Harry here, heat acclamation has a lot to do with it. That is why players have to have five non padded practices and five padded practices before they can play. That is basically the only reason for the ten practices - heat acclamation.

 

Lack of heat acclamation and presence of congenital defects lead to almost all the deaths you hear about.

 

The "why" is irrelevant . How do we deal with it today? You HAVE to have trainers onsite and you have to have rules about when teams have to shut it down due to heat.

[Ram]

The "why" is irrelevant . How do we deal with it today? You HAVE to have trainers on site and you have to have rules about when teams have to shut it down due to heat.

 

The "why" is why we have the rules. We have to look at what causes the deaths in order to apply a solution. For example: we as a people shouldn't try to apply a rule about heat in Texas the same as we apply the rule in Kentucky. It is not the same situation.

 

It's not so much the heat in which we practice, it's the way we practice in the heat.

 

But, I do agree we should have trainers on site at all practices and games. I also think we need to have "real" physicals for all players. When I say "real" I mean physicals that go more in depth instead of the simple turn your head and cough, and checking reflexes. Most of these players have warning signs of possible problems that go unnoticed due to writing it off as "they are young and healthy".

[All Tell]

The "why" is irrelevant . How do we deal with it today? You HAVE to have trainers onsite and you have to have rules about when teams have to shut it down due to heat.

 

We're in agreement on most points but you realize that the heat rules in KY are way more stringent then anywhere else in the country correct? If states like Florida, Alabama and Texas had the same rules there are areas that wouldn't play or practice until December. I would really love some investigation into the "why" of the recent deaths in Kentucky and make rules based on those findings rather then the knee jerk response we have seen from lawmakers that want to make a name for themselves by "protecting" football players.

[Clyde]

We're in agreement on most points but you realize that the heat rules in KY are way more stringent then anywhere else in the country correct? If states like Florida, Alabama and Texas had the same rules there are areas that wouldn't play or practice until December. I would really love some investigation into the "why" of the recent deaths in Kentucky and make rules based on those findings rather then the knee jerk response we have seen from lawmakers that want to make a name for themselves by "protecting" football players.

 

You and Ram raise an interesting point. How do states that actually have rules determine the cutoff point?

[All Tell]

I've looked and I have yet to find ANY OTHER STATE that has a hard and fast cut-off like we do in Kentucky. Should there be guidelines in place, absolutely, but Kentucky's rules are Draconian. Are you aware that if the heat index reaches 100 you have to allow players to take off ALL PROTECTIVE PADDING or cancel practice? That includes shin guards in soccer and now catchers gear in baseball and softball. A temp of 90 (which is hot but hardly unbearable) and a relative humidity of 60 will postpone football, soccer and baseball games because you can't play without protective gear. I really, really hope that we have a nice hot first week of June for the state baseball and softball tournaments because with the number of games they play in both delays due to heat issues will maybe make the powers that be realize just how unreasonable our guidelines are.

[Ram]

You and Ram raise an interesting point. How do states that actually have rules determine the cutoff point?

 

Like All Tell said, I don't know of any state that has stricter rules on heat then the state of Kentucky. That alone should point to a problem, because I would say Kentucky is probably in the bottom half of the other states as far as heat goes. If we have so many heat related deaths, why doesn't the other 25 hotter states? That alone would make most intelligent people think that the deaths in this state are not heat related.