There aren’t a lot of coaches locally that were pleased when football season in the state of Tennessee was moved up. Games will start on Aug. 20, meaning that with official practice starting this past Monday, teams are left practicing in pads with temperatures that have peaked at 99 degrees this week.
As a result, coaches know there is no sure-fire way to “beat the heat,” so they do everything they can to at least acclimate the players to the weather before practice begins.
“In the month of June, we make sure we condition in it,” Bradley Central coach Damon Floyd said. “We went in the heat a lot in June, but in July, there’s a lot of times we can’t because of the heat index.”
In 2009, the TSSAA set a rule that if the heat index reaches 104 degrees on the field, practice must be halted. Between 100 and 104 degrees, outdoor activities are stopped, as well as indoor activities if there is no air conditioner. Water breaks are required every 30 minutes if the heat index is between 95 and 99 degrees.
The rule makes sense, especially after a couple of North Jackson players died in preseason practice from heat in 2002.
“Regardless of the preparation, you have to be concerned for the kids’ safety,” Ridgeland coach Mark Mariakis said.
Panther football players are required to drink a jug of water every day at school.
“We’re just trying to condition the football players so that come official practice, the heat is not so much a shock to the players,” Mariakis said.
All coaches have their preventative measures. Floyd practices twice a day – from 8-10 in the morning, then again from 6-8 in the evening.
“We’re missing the heat in the morning, then in the afternoon we do the best we can to avoid it,” he said. “We play football games at 7:30 in the evening, so we try not to prepare too much for heat that, for the most part, we won’t encounter in games.”
Polk County coach Derrick Davis has had his Wildcats practicing once a day – at 6 in the evening – so his biggest fear will be when school starts and practice is moved up to 2:30.
“We’ve been going only once because we have so many kids working,” Davis said, “so we haven’t had that problem. But when school starts next week, it could get frustrating because we’ll be going at 2:30.”
No coach wants to have a bad practice, but after a bad drill, no coach wants to see practice stopped for anything – including heat.
“We’re always thinking about it in the back of our heads,” Floyd mentioned, “and it would definitely be frustrating to have to stop after a bad drill.”
Both Floyd and Davis wish games would move back to September, starting the Friday after Labor Day like things used to be.
“I really don’t know why they pushed it up, but I wish they would go back to starting that week,” Davis said.
“We can complain about the heat all we want to now, but there’s going to come a time when we wish it was hot.”
The players know it’s going to be hot, but the dedicated ones are wise enough not to worry about it.
“It’s going to be hot, but you have to overcome it,” Bradley Central senior fullback Dewaun Massengill said. “You’re out there for two hours, then you can go jump in a pool and relax. If you can’t take it, you can’t take it – you can’t make yourself want to be out there in the heat.
“But if you can’t take it, you don’t need to be out there.”