What every athlete's parents should know about 'Hell Week' and heat safety
By
Monica Danielle, AccuWeather Managing Editor
Updated Aug 17, 2021 1:37 PM EST
As millions of students go back to school, high school coaches gear up for practice time. There are a couple of things every parent of athletes needs to know to keep their kids safe.
As millions of students head back to school, high school teams are ramping up practice schedules. With regions in the Pacific Northwest forecast to experience triple-digit temperatures amid a scorching heat wave and heat and humidity in the Northeast, experts warn heat safety should be top of mind for coaches, athletes and parents.
"Heatstroke is 100% preventable," Dr. Robert Huggins told AccuWeather. "If you have cooling on site and someone who knows what they're doing, within 30 minutes, that person will not die."
Huggins is the president of research and athlete performance and safety at the Korey Stringer Institute at the University of Connecticut. His mission is to prevent sudden death in sports, and he regularly travels the United States trying to improve state policies when it comes to athlete safety.
According to the institute, the four leading causes of death in sport are, in descending order of frequency: cardiac issues, head injuries, heatstroke and exertional sickling (decreased blood flow upon exertion for athletes with the sickle-cell trait). Those four ailments make up more than 90 percent of deaths. With July and August being the hottest months of the year as back-to-school practices gear up, the risk of exertional heat illnesses increases.
So-called "Hell Week" generally occurs in August. In the past, two-a-day practices have been a staple of sports culture. However, while the NFL banned them in 2012 and the NCAA in 2017, some high schools still have them.
"High school still can have two-a-days but there's limits on the total amount of time that they can have in a day and the amount of time that the rest break is between those two individual practices," Huggins told AccuWeather his biggest concern is that schools that don't have medically-qualified athletic trainers on staff. He warns that's when preventable deaths may happen.
Dr. Robert Huggins, President of Research and Athlete Performance and Safety, Korey Stringer Institute. (AccuWeather)
"Why would you not have an athletic trainer [after school], when the nurse leaves at the end of the day when kids are actually exerting themselves to a very high level and are more at a greater risk for sudden death than when they're sitting in a classroom?” Huggins wondered.
The Korey Stringer Institute tracks every high school in the country. Out of 21,227 schools, about two-thirds of them have athletic training services. Huggins says that means around 7,000 schools have no athlete medical care on-site.
Although Hell Week is controlled in most states and many schools follow recommended heat-related safety procedures, other schools or coaches choose not to follow the procedures their state has put in place. When that happens at a school without an athletic trainer or other medically-trained staff on-site, Huggins says the risk to players dramatically increases.
"Unfortunately, many of these times are when there's no medical supervision of that team. The coaches are there to try and improve their team and get them ready and get them physically fit and may not always be looking out for the medical best interests of those athletes," Huggins explained.
Having qualified athletic trainers in schools along with making sure coaches, parents and players are educated on heat, heat illness and how to prevent it will save lives, Huggins explained.
"An agriculture stock tank or a kiddie pool or a tub of some kind, that's all that's needed to save their life. It's not some miracle drug or injection or anything that costs thousands and thousands of dollars. It's literally a cold tub, ice water and having an appropriate person who knows what they're doing at the time administer the treatment," Huggins told AccuWeather.
Cooling a player who has collapsed while an ambulance or help is called is absolutely critical, Huggins warned. He likens the effect of heat illness to putting an egg in a frying pan. "Your body goes into this massive state of inflammation, and things start shutting down and you usually die within 24 to 48 hours.”
You can look up your child's high school to see if they have athletic training services. Otherwise, Huggins advises every parent to visit practices and see what kind of emergency action plans coaches have in place. Every athlete "deserves to come home and have dinner" with parents and "deserves the safety," he said. "So we just have to get there as a society, and we're not there yet."
Click here for information about heat acclimatization and tips to help prepare for exertion in the heat.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier, Spectrum, FuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios.
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News / Sports
What every athlete's parents should know about 'Hell Week' and heat safety
By Monica Danielle, AccuWeather Managing Editor
Updated Aug 17, 2021 1:37 PM EST
As millions of students go back to school, high school coaches gear up for practice time. There are a couple of things every parent of athletes needs to know to keep their kids safe.
As millions of students head back to school, high school teams are ramping up practice schedules. With regions in the Pacific Northwest forecast to experience triple-digit temperatures amid a scorching heat wave and heat and humidity in the Northeast, experts warn heat safety should be top of mind for coaches, athletes and parents.
"Heatstroke is 100% preventable," Dr. Robert Huggins told AccuWeather. "If you have cooling on site and someone who knows what they're doing, within 30 minutes, that person will not die."
Huggins is the president of research and athlete performance and safety at the Korey Stringer Institute at the University of Connecticut. His mission is to prevent sudden death in sports, and he regularly travels the United States trying to improve state policies when it comes to athlete safety.
(USA Football)
According to the institute, the four leading causes of death in sport are, in descending order of frequency: cardiac issues, head injuries, heatstroke and exertional sickling (decreased blood flow upon exertion for athletes with the sickle-cell trait). Those four ailments make up more than 90 percent of deaths. With July and August being the hottest months of the year as back-to-school practices gear up, the risk of exertional heat illnesses increases.
So-called "Hell Week" generally occurs in August. In the past, two-a-day practices have been a staple of sports culture. However, while the NFL banned them in 2012 and the NCAA in 2017, some high schools still have them.
"High school still can have two-a-days but there's limits on the total amount of time that they can have in a day and the amount of time that the rest break is between those two individual practices," Huggins told AccuWeather his biggest concern is that schools that don't have medically-qualified athletic trainers on staff. He warns that's when preventable deaths may happen.
Dr. Robert Huggins, President of Research and Athlete Performance and Safety, Korey Stringer Institute. (AccuWeather)
"Why would you not have an athletic trainer [after school], when the nurse leaves at the end of the day when kids are actually exerting themselves to a very high level and are more at a greater risk for sudden death than when they're sitting in a classroom?” Huggins wondered.
The Korey Stringer Institute tracks every high school in the country. Out of 21,227 schools, about two-thirds of them have athletic training services. Huggins says that means around 7,000 schools have no athlete medical care on-site.
Although Hell Week is controlled in most states and many schools follow recommended heat-related safety procedures, other schools or coaches choose not to follow the procedures their state has put in place. When that happens at a school without an athletic trainer or other medically-trained staff on-site, Huggins says the risk to players dramatically increases.
"Unfortunately, many of these times are when there's no medical supervision of that team. The coaches are there to try and improve their team and get them ready and get them physically fit and may not always be looking out for the medical best interests of those athletes," Huggins explained.
(USA Football)
Having qualified athletic trainers in schools along with making sure coaches, parents and players are educated on heat, heat illness and how to prevent it will save lives, Huggins explained.
"An agriculture stock tank or a kiddie pool or a tub of some kind, that's all that's needed to save their life. It's not some miracle drug or injection or anything that costs thousands and thousands of dollars. It's literally a cold tub, ice water and having an appropriate person who knows what they're doing at the time administer the treatment," Huggins told AccuWeather.
(USA Football)
Cooling a player who has collapsed while an ambulance or help is called is absolutely critical, Huggins warned. He likens the effect of heat illness to putting an egg in a frying pan. "Your body goes into this massive state of inflammation, and things start shutting down and you usually die within 24 to 48 hours.”
You can look up your child's high school to see if they have athletic training services. Otherwise, Huggins advises every parent to visit practices and see what kind of emergency action plans coaches have in place. Every athlete "deserves to come home and have dinner" with parents and "deserves the safety," he said. "So we just have to get there as a society, and we're not there yet."
Click here for information about heat acclimatization and tips to help prepare for exertion in the heat.
SEE ALSO:
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier, Spectrum, FuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios.
Report a Typo