‘It’s been blazin’: South Florida high school football teams preparing for extreme heat

Miami has experienced its hottest summer on record in 2023 with temperatures topping 100 degrees every afternoon for 46 days straight (June 11 to July 27) – breaking the previous record of 32 days set in 2020. The sweltering heat has posed a significant challenge to South Floridians, particularly high school football athletes who practice and play outdoors and are vulnerable to extreme heat.

While practices began Monday for all high schools in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, the need to prepare for the heat is at an all time high.

But for context, how might a general high school football practice look like?

Head coach of the Miami Southridge football team Pierre Senatus told the Herald that he mimics college and NFL practices, which consist of 12 to 15 periods, beginning with flex stretches, followed by competition and specialty periods, and finishing with conditioning.

“We do so much running and movement,” Senatus said. “One of our philosophies and mantras is to be the best conditioned team on the field. We want to be able to play for four quarters.”

But working out in these extreme conditions highlights the urgent need for better protection against the heat and prevention strategies for high school football athletes.

Governor Ron DeSantis signed a new law in 2020, dubbed the Zachary Martin Act, which requires high schools in Florida to take additional measures to combat heat-related illnesses by mandating schools to have the proper equipment and training.

One piece of equipment that is required for all schools to have on hand is a Wet Bulb Globe Thermometer (WBGT), which assesses the effects of heat stress under direct sunlight while accounting for temperature, humidity, wind speed, sun angle, and cloud cover (solar radiation).

Schools are also required to have an athletic trainer present, who, according to Broward County Athletic Association athletic director Patty Brown, is “extremely well trained” and hired from the U18 sports medicine program through Joe DiMaggio.

“Every athletic trainer has a wet bulb globe thermometer that they utilize,” Brown said. “We provide those for the athletic trainers for the schools, and also a tripod. They are constantly monitoring the heat index and every aspect of what the heat will do.”

The number of breaks and rest periods are increased in accordance with what the WBGT indicates.

It is safe to engage in routine outdoor activities if the WBGT reading is less than 82.0, but the practice would necessitate at least three separate water break intervals with a minimum duration of three minutes per hour. If the reading is between 82.2 and 86.9, the rest period increases to four minutes.

The maximum practice time is set at two hours, and players are limited to wearing a helmet, shoulder pads, and shorts during practice when the reading is between 87.1 and 90.0. They are also permitted to continue working out in football pants rather than switching to shorts.

The maximum practice time is lowered to one hour at a reading of 90.1-91.9. No conditioning exercises are permitted at this time, and no protective equipment may be used during practice. Outdoor exercises are not allowed when the WBGT is higher than 92.1, and practice must be postponed until a lower WBGT is reached or moved to an indoor, air-conditioned space.

“It would have to be due to lightning or if that wet bulb thermometer has a certain reading that we’re not allowed to be out there or allowed to be on full go out there,” Miami Palmetto football head coach Mike Manasco told the Herald. “We’ve never had to call off a practice at this point. But we have had to take off our helmets and our shoulder pads and finish the practice without those on.”

Given the temperature’s record-breaking highs this year, not delaying or moving a practice indoors due to heat might change.

Manasco said that this summer in particular has been notably warmer than previous ones and has been “one of the hottest that I can remember as a football coach.”

Miami Palmetto senior wide receiver Jacory Barney, a four-star University of Nebraska commit, told the Herald that Manasco and his staff constantly emphasize to their players the value of staying hydrated each day.

“It’s like we’ve been breaking records lately with the heat index out here,” Barney said. “It’s been blazin’. But it’ll be good, we’re used to it.

He added: “We have a lot of water breaks. They have the heat index thing out there, so they make sure we’re good… our coach and trainers make sure we know to drink plenty of water because it’s going to be hot.”

Although hydration during practice and workouts is extremely crucial, continuous hydration and the importance of drinking water the day before practice has also been stressed to student athletes.

“Even though they’re doing the frequent water breaks, we’re also working with the coaches, with the help of the athletic trainers, and impressing upon them the need for the athletes to hydrate the day before,” Brown said.

Because of this, coaches, including Senatus, held a required parent meeting that emphasized the significance of keeping an eye on their student athlete’s hydration the day before practice.

“You can’t just hydrate directly before practice,” Senatus said. “A lot of our students used to come with Gatorade, water, and Powerade 30 minutes before practice and scarf it down. It’s about the quality of rest and the quality of consistently hydrating throughout the course of the day to be able to execute the exercises and the activities in this extreme climate that we’re in.”

Some of the other preventive measures include schools being prohibited from practicing outside between the hours of 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. until the start of the school year. Schools are also required to have ice bath tubs on the field, which are provided to them by the county, for players who need rapid assistance with heat exhaustion.

Protective measures have also been implemented at games as the 2023 high school football season draws near.

In addition to athletic trainers, first responder ambulances and physicians through Joe DiMaggio’s program are also present at each football game for immediate response, according to Brown.

“They are there monitoring and watching,” Brown said. “Nobody is standing there waiting for a kid to go down. They’re watching for students that are fumbling as they’re running, and not just fumbling because they get tripped up, but they watch for athletes that are not behaving in their normal capacity.”

Everyone on the field has a responsibility to ensure the safety of each player, according to Brown. And while the days have been seemingly hotter this summer than previous years, the effort of keeping players hydrated and healthy is ongoing to lessen the likelihood of a tragedy.

“Everybody has a role,” Brown said. “Every school has to have their emergency response plan because nobody wants to have to deal with a tragedy.”