High school athletic departments across Garland County are preparing for hot weather as student-athletes ready for their respective seasons.
All coaches are required under Arkansas Activities Association rules to go through heat illness training at least every three years. The training covers ways to keep players safe in the heat of summer and how to cool them down if they get too hot, among other things.
"We're required by the AAA to make sure we receive training on heat illness and any related issues. ... We really focus on the heat illness," said Cutter Morning Star head football coach and athletic director Matt Kinsinger. "The first thing that we do is, you know, the AAA mandates that we have, you know, an acclimatization period."
That period restricts football coaches to the first two days of practice with just helmets and then three days with helmets and shoulder pads.
New Fountain Lake athletic director Danton Robertson said the Cobra football team is taking extended breaks and water breaks to deal with the heat.
"First off, they're really emphasizing practicing early before the sun gets over the trees that shade our field on that east side of our football field," Robertson said. "I just went up there, and it shades quite a bit of it. So if they're doing conditioning, they're trying to make sure that's happening in the shade for them."
Fountain Lake is not the only school moving practices to early in the morning. Lake Hamilton's football team is practicing in the morning as well, but the Wolves cross country team is taking a different approach to dealing with the heat.
"The cross country kids have been trying to run a little bit later in the evening time," said Lake Hamilton athletic director Rick Waters. "Most of their practices are at someone's house, and they have swimming pools, so they have cooldown parties, you know, right after so. You know, the coaches are real aware of all this."
The football teams at Mountain Pine and Jessieville will be taking the field in the evening instead of the morning, hoping that most of the heat of the day will be behind them.
"This week, we're going from 5-8 in the afternoons, and the first hour, from 5-6, we're going to be in the weight room," said Mountain Pine assistant athletic director Terry Blees. "We're backing our time up a little bit more to let the heat get off. We'll be taking plenty of water breaks. The kids are allowed to take water anytime they need, and we'll have an ice bath out there in case anything was to happen."
Heat is nothing new for coaches or athletes, but coaches are aware of the fact that sometimes athletes get lax when it comes to preparing for practice in the heat of summer.
"I'm seeing my coaches, they're putting out on their Facebook stuff and their Reminds and everything and telling kids, 'Hey, we've got a big run tomorrow. Hydrate today. Start hydrating right now.' Football coaches are telling those kids, 'Hey, hydrate everyday. Drink lots of water.' You know, so they're just staying on top of it from that perspective," Waters continued.
Most of the larger school districts in the county also have athletic trainers on staff that will be helping coaches monitor weather conditions and the athletes.
"We're fortunate, too, with our size school, we have an athletic trainer, Kellye O'Neal," said Jessieville athletic director Jamie Saveall. "We're able to have her, you know, if we do have issues. She's gonna be able to help us out. So from that standpoint, that's a plus."
New Lakeside athletic director Darin Landry said that athletes are weighed before and during practices to make sure they have not lost too much water. With two certified athletic trainers and five student interns, Lakeside's athletes are able to be closely monitored.
"Our sports medicine staff, they oversee all of our athletes' weigh ins and outs for especially outdoor sports," he said. "They have to have a certain weight when they weigh in, and if they've dropped a significant amount of water, they have to weigh in at a certain weight before they're allowed to practice again."
Most schools are also using a wet bulb globe temperature meter. According to the National Weather Service website, wet bulb globe temperature "is a measure of heat stress in direct sunlight, which takes into account temperature, humidity, wind speed, sun angle and cloud cover."
"We have a heat bulb that tells us when it's that hot, and if we do that, we just go back inside the weight room, and we'll do some agilities inside and work there," said Blees.
Most schools also have air conditioned weight rooms, so athletes will not spend their entire day out in the heat training.
"We're gonna take all the precautions that we can to make sure we're doing a good job with that," Saveall said. "You know, and I think, too, we've had kids showing up in summer working out and doing things as well. You know, that helps. You know, getting the kids out and getting them acclimated on their own, you know, helps a ton."
Waters agrees, noting that coaches and trainers are encouraged to take athletes inside to cool off.
"We've tried to tell everybody, 'Take the extra mile. It's OK if you have to take them and cool them off in the arena for 20 minutes, if that's what it takes,'" he said. "You know, we're fortunate to have that right there by the fieldhouse. It's air conditioned, and so it's a place to cool down real quick. So that's what we're gonna be doing. You know, just reminding kids to take care of yourself, you know. It's not just what you're doing in practice that affects you, it's what you do at home, too. Make sure you eat right, sleep right. Encourage kids not to drink carbonated drinks and stuff during this time because it is hard on your body, processing carbonated drinks and things."
Although Robertson just took over the AD role about a month ago, he's familiar with the Arkansas heat.
"Arkansas has always been hot during the summer so this isn't exactly anything new for us you know," he said. "As far as me, I just trust our coaches. They've been doing it for a long time. They've got experience. I trust their judgement on it. I think my role is more just checking in with them, touching base, making sure they do have a plan in place."
Landry also noted that this was a challenge he expected as a new athletic director.
"Being a former athlete I knew those were challenges that our coaches and athletic trainers will be facing," Landry said. "They face this every year. I really feel we've got a strong handle on it because we've got so many people monitoring our athletes."
Kinsinger said that making sure the athletes are safe is the most important thing.
"That's what we're gonna do, you know, just make sure we watch our kids really close," he said. "You know, the ones that may be struggling a little bit, try to take them out and give them a little extra break.
"You know, I'm not mad about air conditioning at all because I love it myself. But, you know, we have to give the kids a chance to get used to being in the heat, because ... you just don't spend as much time in the heat because there's other options now. You've just got to use a lot of common sense, you know. We all want to get after it, and we all want to try to win a state championship and set the tone for the season, but, you know, we can't do it at the expense of the safety of our kids."
Hot Springs athletic director Rodney Echols was unavailable for comment at presstime.