MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Summer temperatures have reached scorching levels, especially in the last several weeks.
While you may be staying cool in your homes or at work, athletes are doing their best to train in the heat, but not without some adjustments.
Wednesday’s morning showers were a welcome relief for sports teams working out in otherwise brutal summer temperatures.
"We appreciate what God sends us, but we’ve been needing this rain. We want some more, but it is what it is. It’s summertime, it’s football, it’s hot and that’s just the way it is. Welcome to Memphis," said Brian Stewart, head football coach at Briarcrest Christian School.
It may be Memphis, but it’s hot even for the area. July 3-9 was the hottest week of the year. Temperatures touched 100 degrees five times. The Mid-South tied the record temperature high for July 7 (101) and broke July 8's record (103). The heat index or "feels like" temperatures are worse.
Football programs and other sports have to adjust and keep their athletes cool. Many, like Briarcrest, work out much earlier or later than the peak temperatures in the middle of the day.
"Generally we get out for about an hour, hour fifteen every day at this point until we go shoulder pads and helmets. We do it early enough or late enough where we take care of them and they got water by them all the time so it’s no problem," Stewart said.
The Tennessee Secondary School Athletics Association lays out clear guidelines on how long athletes can work out at certain heat indexes and what they can wear.
Athletic trainers like Emily Collier work closely with coaches and keep a close eye on the heat index and their athletes for signs of heat exhaustion or other heat related illness. Symptoms include excessive sweating, fatigue, low-energy, nausea and light-headedness.
"Obviously if they're outside, everyone is going to be hot. But it's the one that are lagging behind a little bit more than usual or even if they go down with cramps, that’s usually a pretty good sign of heat exhaustion or heat cramps," Collier said.
In cases where athletes do show signs of heat exhaustion, they can be submerged in the cold immersion tub full of ice cold water. It’ll lower their core body temperature in minutes.
Access to a cold tub is required during all warm weather practices and any competition, per TSSAA policy.
Of course, hydrate. Collier said the difference between which athletes hydrate properly on their own and which don't is often obvious.
"A lot of these times, kids don't realize that if you have a hot week like this coming up, you need to be hydrating days in advance before that," Collier said. "When it’s hot like this it’s too hard to play catch up, because you're just consistently sweating. Even when you're sitting inside, you can be sweating."