Heat Deaths put pressure on Football Tradition
Madison Park reports for CNN, “before Friday night lights, there is summer suffering.” The football tradition of two-a-days in scorching August heat to get ready for the fall season has recently come under scrutiny. As the medical understanding of the risks of heat exertion expands, more teams are instituting water breaks and monitoring their athlete’s body temperatures.
Last year, six football players died of heatstroke, four of them were high school students including a fifteen-year-old football player collapsed at practice and later died because his body temperature reached 107 degrees. His coach now faces a criminal trial.
Now High School sports associations are not forcing the abandonment of two-a-days, but are considering invoking guidelines similar to those successfully implemented by the NCAA Division I. As a personal injury lawyer, I understand both the need to prepare for the season, and the more important need to protect the players. I support the implementation of consistent guidelines for summer practices, as heatstroke deaths are easily preventable and therefore inexcusable.
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