As Lake Country football teams begin fall camp, coaches and players have to be cautious with this summer’s blistering heat.
Programs will have to follow new Georgia High School Association (GHSA) protocols on heat and humidity.
It identifies three guidelines – the scheduling of practices at various heat/humidity levels, the ratio of workout time to time allotted for rest and hydration at various heat/ humidity levels, and the heat/ humidity levels that will result in practice being terminated.
Teams are able to determine safe practice conditions due to the GHSA’s addition of Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WGBT) technology that measures the temperature and humidity.
With training staffs in charge of checking readings every 30 minutes, coaches and players must take care of the rest on their own.
Morgan County head coach Clint Jenkins acknowledged the WGBT guidelines and told the Lake Oconee News that they tackle the issue of keeping the players hydrated the most.
“We’ve been having all of our guys carrying gallon jugs around and trying to get them on the Pedialyte to stay better hydrated,” Jenkins said. “The GHSA has us under the wet bulb, so we have our trainers monitoring that and notifying us when it gets too hot. We do a lot of stuff in shells to negate some of the heat, and hopefully, the clouds roll in soon enough.”
Greene County head coach Terrance Banks echoed Jenkins’ sentiment in his statements – monitoring players’ hydration habits as well as limiting the amount of equipment they have on when practicing during certain parts of the day.
“When it comes to the heat, we focus on three things,” Banks said. “Hydration before and during practices, weighing before and after practices to monitor that, and ask ourselves are the helmets needed during certain practice sections. We do everything we can to make sure we deal with the heat as best we can.”
The recent temperatures have been in the high-80s to low-90s, but with the humidity levels, the air has felt hotter, especially during the afternoon.
That’s why some programs, like Lake Oconee Academy, have also started trying to implement practicing before school.
Head coach Patrick Stewart acknowledged that it allows his players to go in pads more often, which will help them be more prepared for the season ahead.
“We have been mixing going early in the morning before school with practicing after school,” Stewart said. “These padded camps are vital before our season. The more volume of pads and intensity preseason creates less of a chance of injury later on in the year.”
With preseason scrimmages a week away, Lake Country teams are trying to efficiently utilize every bit of time they have before the first kickoff.