KPLC 7 News, Lake Charles, Louisiana
Southwest Louisiana is hot. Cookies could be baked in cars, eggs fried on sidewalks. Advisories say to limit sun exposure, but hundreds of student-athletes are battling the heat every afternoon preparing for football season.
At Oakdale High School, cheerleaders are able to move their practices inside the auditorium. Chanting indoors is much preferred to standing in the 104 degree heat, but for Warrior Football that’s not an option.
Head Coach Randall Gordon not only has an athletic trainer on standby, but he says the real MVP’s are the student-trainers, who volunteer to spend their afternoons at practice handing out bottles of water.
“The student training staff, they go around to each drill bringing a little 6-pack of water so they can get water throughout the whole practice,” said Gordon.
Jessica Veillon is an athletic trainer with the Center for Orthopaedics. She serves four area schools and says keeping players safe isn’t an easy job in triple digit temperatures.
“Bring ice towels out and during water breaks put ice towels on their necks,” Veillon said is just one way to keep players’ body temperatures down.
Gordon also has some unconventional methods.
“We have a little sprinkler set up off the practice field,” said Gordon.
The make shift “cooling station” provides much needed relief during these hours-long practices.
“It’ll make you dizzy and confused,” said Veillon about the heat, “and if you start missing plays a lot, you kind of have to think that might be a reason.”
“What we do, too, is after practice we have some big tubs setup for ice baths, because what happens is when you start losing all your water and get dehydrated, the next day is really a tough day,” said Gordon.
Of course, “the next day” means another day of practice for the Oakdale Warriors, and for most high school football teams.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.kplctv.com/story/29755359/high-school-football-players-try-to-beat-the-heat