High school football in Arizona has officially kicked off with practices already happening and games scheduled for later this month. At the same time, extreme heat is being forecasted for later this week. How one district keeping players heat safe.
If you played high school sports two or three decades ago, you probably played in the heat right after school.
That’s not the case anymore, at least in the Paradise Valley Unified School District. Corey Newland is director of athletics.
"They can't start stretching until 5.30 p.m. and officially start practice until 6 p.m. And that's pretty much this whole month of August," Newland said.
Newland is talking about their heat protocols for high school football. They also have to acclimatize to get ready for practice.
"You go three days in helmets, then the next three days, you can add shoulder pads, and then the next three days after that, then you can go full pad," he said.
Newland says at 4 p.m., trainers start checking the temperature to gauge whether players can safely practice outside or stay indoors.
And with temps expected to hit 118 by Thursday, "It’s going to be tough. We just got to work through it. So, just working together and doing what's best for everybody involved is all that we can do," Newland said.
