Dr. Karissa Niehoff from the National Federation of State High School Associations explains the challenges heat provides for student activities such as sports and band during the summer.
00:00It is going to be a hot day. It's going to be a stormy day.
00:04And schools, many schools will be starting class soon before even school starts.
00:09Many student athletes are already practicing in the extreme summer heat and that could put them at risk.
00:16Joining us is Carissa Niehoff, CEO of the National Federation of State High School Associations.
00:22And first I want to ask, how big a risk is heat stroke and other illnesses
00:25for those high school athletes practicing in July and August?
00:30Well, good morning. It's a huge risk, not just the heat illness, but air quality issues that we're seeing across the country as well.
00:38And heat and air quality combined present tremendous challenges for our student athletes.
00:44And we think of football players in the heat, but what about other student athletes and school groups are at risk for heat related issues?
00:54Well, sure. Really, it's anybody who's outside engaging in any kind of activity.
00:59So certainly football when they're covered with helmets and pads and such.
01:02But cross country, field sports like soccer and field hockey, anybody who's outside moving in the heat.
01:09And then, of course, band.
01:11We forget that along with sports preseason wise, we have our kids out there in parking lots and hot surfaces practicing, getting ready for band season.
01:20So we're watching very carefully any of our students that are outside.
01:25So I know people want to know what they can do.
01:27So what specific heat safety guidelines does NFHS recommend?
01:31And do state rules vary widely across the country?
01:34Well, we recommend a number of things and we offer resources in the form of multiple courses dealing with heat illness, air quality, cardiac arrests, collapse students, emergency action planning.
01:46All of that can be found in our learning center.
01:50But we also have guidelines that we recommend all states follow that pertain to time of day for practices, number of practices, contact, hydration and education about what to do should a student athlete go down.
02:05So all of those resources can be found on our website.
02:09And we, in fact, just put out position statements for reminding our schools to be aware and be ready.
02:15But across the country, all of our state associations and schools take this very seriously.
02:20We don't see tremendous variation in how kids are practicing now compared to when we grew up, for example.
02:28So there isn't a ton of difference.
02:30But we still have those catastrophic situations and we've even had one fatality that we know of so far due to heat.
02:38So we take it very seriously.
02:41And what should coaches and staff be trained to recognize and do if an athlete shows signs of heat illnesses?
02:49We recommend that our schools use what's called a wet bulb globe thermometer, which is a device that measures combination of temperature, humidity, time of day, location.
02:58And it will actually trigger a warning to coaches and school administrators about when you need to get kids off the field.
03:07So we recommend using the technology devices we have available, watching students for signs of exhaustion, maybe being a little bit out of sync, out of sorts, making sure that they're taking regular water breaks, getting inside for cooling breaks and making sure they have cool tubs.
03:25It can be as simple as a plastic tub with cool water and towels available and having those measures ready for those kids on the sideline.
03:35Kristen Niehoff, CEO of the National Federation of State High School Associations.
