Michael Bradley isn”t alone.
Like most of his peers, the New Hope High School football coach was elated to start another season. Bradley has an extra bounce in his step because the Trojans are coming off an 11-win season in 2009 and have a team that has the potential to be even more successful this year.
But as eager as Bradley is to get this season started, he wasn”t very happy about when his team had to begin its preseason workouts.
“It”s too early,” Bradley said of the July 26 start date. “We don”t need to be starting practice July 26.”
Not only are football coaches dealing with an earlier start date for preseason practice, they also are working in even hotter conditions. With temperatures soaring into the 100s and heat indexes approaching 110 this week, coaches are doing everything they can to make sure the heat doesn”t harm their players.
“It isn”t really bothering us much,” Bradley said Monday. “We work our guys pretty hard in the summer. Those who don”t do what they need to do in the summer, (the heat) is bothering them a little bit. But it is not any hotter today than it was 25 years ago.”
Bradley said the way coaches handle heat-related issues is different than when he was a player. Back then, Bradley said it was frowned on for players to ask for water and to take multiple breaks to stay properly hydrated.
Today, Bradley said the Trojans take water breaks every 20 minutes at the most, and that his players know they are allowed to get water whenever they need it.
Still, keeping a player properly hydrated is just part of the battle when it is as hot as it has been the past few days. On Monday, temperatures eclipsed the 100-degree mark and the heat index climbed into the mid-100s. Today, temperatures are forecast to climb past 100, and the heat index is supposed to climb past 110. An excessive heat warning is in effect until 9 p.m. Wednesday.
The heat index combines air temperature and relative humidity in an attempt to determine the human-perceived equivalent temperature.
To combat the conditions, Bradley and several area coaches said their teams spent a lot of time conditioning and lifting weights in the offseason so they would be ready for the start of practice.
Bradley said he makes sure his players do “a lot more” offseason conditioning than he used to.
“We stress being in good physical condition,” Bradley said. “We are more worried about making sure our guys are ready.”
To that end, Bradley would like to see a better defined policy that balances the safety of the players and the preparations of teams before the start of the season. He said it is difficult to play in a jamboree, 11 or 12 regular-season games, and playoffs and avoid problems associated with the weather and injuries in such a long season.
Bradley said he would like to see the season pushed back “a couple of weeks” and have teams play 10 regular-season games (five home, five away) so everyone can have an equal opportunity to raise money for their programs.
“Coaches are going to have to step up and realize if something bad happens when a kid goes down with heat injury we”re going to be the ones held liable,” Bradley said. “That being said, if we”re going to be held liable we have to have more input on when the season starts and when practice starts.
“I haven”t talked to about a single coach who is fired up about the start of practice July 26. There may be one, but I haven”t talked to one.
“We as coaches have to get together and say, ”Hey, we”re not going to play until the last Friday night in August. Is it doable? I don”t know.”
Last week, District Seven administrators and football coaches voted for a proposal that would change the date football teams begin preseason practice. Players were allowed to practice in shorts and in helmets for the first three days last week. They were allowed to wear shoulder pads last Thursday and Friday.
This week, all teams were allowed to have players in pads.
The proposal approved by District Seven coaches would give schools the option of playing a jamboree or a classic game on the date now used for classic games (Aug. 20). This season, the jamboree date is Aug. 13, which forced the start of practice to be moved to July 26.
Members of the MHSAA Executive Committee would have to vote on and to approve a change twice for it to be instituted. If accepted, the change would eliminate the week of practice in July.
First-year Columbus High coach Tony Stanford said his team is trying to “work around” the heat by practicing later in the day. The Falcons practiced twice a day four times last week, once in the morning and once later in the day, to get their work in.
Like Bradley, Stanford said the Falcons made sure to do plenty of conditioning work in the offseason. They started with a “virgorous” training regimen two weeks before they opened preseason practice.
“It seems like we”re in prertty good shape,” Stanford said. “I think you just battle through (the heat), you don”t get used to it.”
Stanford said he wasn”t crazy about beginning practice July 26, but he said teams would have been in the same situation if they had started practice this week.
Brandon Johnson, a certified athletic trainer at Rehab at Work, a physical therapy clinic in Columbus, said Monday he has had only one problem with a player being dehydrated since the start of football practice. Johnson, who is about to start his sixth football season as a trainer, works with Columbus, New Hope, Heritage Academy, Caledonia, Noxubee County, Hamilton, Immanuel Christian, Victory Christian, and West Lowndes.
“It really hasn”t been that bad,” Johnson said. “A lot of coaches did really good with preseason conditioning. They”re taking the right measures. It hasn”t been as bad as it could be because I think the coaches are aware of it.”
Johnson said the key to staying properly hydrated is drinking enough water or sports drinks the night before a practice. He said players should avoid drinking carbonated beverages, energy drinks, teas, and juices when they are practicing because the carbonation and caffeine help to accelerate dehydration.
Johnson said water is the best beverage to drink during practice and that sports drinks work best after practice to replenish the body.
Johnson also encouraged players to make sure they eat before workouts. He said it is better to eat something and practice rather than to try to practice on an empty stomach.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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