In enforcing the TSSAA heat policy, coaches and athletic trainers must see eye to eye.
Ever since the state association established a strict heat policy for high school sports less than a decade ago, the athletic trainers hold a lot of responsibility. With football season quickly approaching in the heart of summer, coaches and trainers increasingly are working together to ensure that the heat policy is followed precisely.
The TSSAA policy states that practice will be prohibited when the heat index (with humidity figured in with temperature) exceeds 104 degrees. There are separate restrictions for football that lays out when a team can wear full pads and how often it can participate in two-a-day practices.
Boyd-Buchanan coach Carter Cardwell and trainer Kristy Murray express confidence in each other on implementing the heat policy. They worked together at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga when Cardwell was an assistant coach and she was on the training staff for the Mocs.
“We know each other and we are on the same page about a whole lot of things, which makes it easy,” Cardwell said. “She has a good watchful eye on the kids and she knows I defer all decisions to her completely (regarding the heat). She trusts me and I trust her, and that is what makes it work well.”