The latest heat wave to strike Delaware has come just as high school sports practices began their second week on Monday.
That not only puts added pressure on the conditioning of football, soccer, field hockey, cross country, and volleyball athletes as they get ready for next month’s regular season, but also on the coaches and athletic trainers tasked with keeping them healthy.
Vinnie Ranalli is the athletic trainer at William Penn, and in addition to dealing with the injuries that invariably crop up in preseason practice, he’s keeping an eye on his phone, making sure the weather is suitable to continue activities.
“We go by what’s known as a ‘150 rule.’ The temperature and the humidity, add them together. If that equals 150, you have to kind of start downsizing your practice.”
The Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association’s policy is to use the Weather Channel’s app and check the current conditions for your zip code.
You take the temperature and relative humidity, plus if you’re practicing on an artificial turf field, that adds another 5 points to the equation.
If that adds up to 150, there are mandatory water breaks every 15 minutes, segments can only be 15 minutes, the allotted practice time in the heat is shrunk from 3 to 2 hours, and football players can’t be in full pads, going with helmets and shoulder pads as the maximum gear.
If that number goes to 160, then total play is shrunk to 1.5 hours, and the football players will also shed the shoulder pads.
At 170, practices must be suspended until the temperature or humidity takes a break.
Using Monday as an example at the New Castle County airport, just a mile or so from William Penn, At 1:51 p.m. it was 86 degrees with 75% humidity, that 161 total would have created the second level of restrictions.
By 3:51, the air temperature was up to 93, but the humidity dropped to 50%, meaning the restrictions were lifted, but that doesn’t mean athletic trainers like Ranalli are letting their guards down.
“Pretty much all of the coaches here know that if I say not to do something, that really means Vinny doesn’t want you do to that.”
Ranailli said he works in concert with coaches, including his football coach Matt Sabol, who happens to also be William Penn’s Athletic Director.
Sabol said he’s focusing on the football aspects, but also their body reactions to the heat stress.
“You see that look in the kids, you can get them in the shade. Get them some ice water, maybe even some bags of ice. It’s time to settle down, but you can see in their eyes when it’s time to throttle down, safety first.”
As for what works best to rehydrate in hot weather, Ranalli said while there’s plenty of marketing about sports drinks, the best sports drink is pure, simple, water.
“Gatorades have a lot of sugar, too. You don’t want to drink a lot of those while you’re working out. Maybe after you’re done, replenish your electrolytes, but while you’re working out, choose water.”
In addition to the heat bylaws, schools are required to create an Emergency Action Plan for heat illness and other emergencies, and must be performed annually. Schools are also recommended to have cold water immersion tubs available in case of heat injuries.
Sabol said the heat just creates another stress as coaches try to chase the elusive success in November.
“You know, you’re trying to have that balance where you have all of your teams competitive and get enough practice and be ready, but at the end of the day, the athlete’s safety is number one.”
