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Schools

Johns Creek's Football Teams Deal with Heat

Varsity programs exercising precautions while practicing on hot days.

A scorching summer heat wave that earlier this week is believed to have caused the deaths of two South Georgia high school football players has prompted Johns Creek prep football coaches to make changes in their practice schedules. 

Daytime temperatures here and throughout most of the Southeast during July held steady in the mid to high 90s – and in some cases broke true 100.  
 
So far in August the previous month’s super-heated air continues to smother much of the Southeast and the rest of the nation, creating record high temperatures Wednesday in neighboring Little Rock, Ark., (114 degrees) and Fort Smith, Ark., (115 degrees), according to The Weather Channel.
 
Johns Creek’s prep football coaching contingent is on high alert for signs of heat exhaustion and dehydration in its players.
 
And a collective and preemptive practice rescheduling strike follows Tuesday’s deaths of Forest Jones, 16, a Locust Grove High School offensive lineman, and Fitzgerald High School defensive lineman DJ Searcy, also 16, who was found unresponsive in his cabin after participating in a voluntary practice camp in northern Florida the following day, according to reports. The official causes of death are still under investigation.
 
But extended days of high temperatures are proving a greater opponent than any team Johns Creek Gladiators head high school football coach Mike Cloy has faced in his 41 years on the gridiron.

“We’re really keeping an eye on our guys to make sure they stay hydrated and healthy,” Cloy said. “These temperatures and their affects are just scary.”

Cloy has called off two-a-day practices, where players typically run drills in the morning and report back to practice later the same day for strength training or strategy sessions.

The Gladiators' 50-strong squad now hits the practice field once daily by 6 a.m. and drill until around 9 a.m., when temperatures are at their lowest, Cloy said.

With approximately 60 players on his varsity Titans squad, Northview High School athletic director and head football coach Chad Davenport has pushed practices out from mid afternoons to late evenings, taking the field between 6 and 7 p.m. and running drills until 9 p.m. with several breaks in between.

“My No. 1 priority is the safety of the kids,” Davenport said. “I wouldn’t put my players through anything that I wouldn’t expect of my own son.”  

Mount Pisgah Christian School head football coach Doug Dixon is also running evening drills.   

Dixon, like the other coaches, places emphasis on hydration for his approximate 40-player Patriots squad while closely monitoring “wet bulb” temperatures that take into account the air’s humidity levels – commonly referred to as “heat index” by how hot the air feels rather than a flat temperature reading.

“The mix of this heat and humidity is a major, major concern,” said Dixon Thursday night from Mount Pisgah’s Patriot Athletic Campus off Brumbelow Road.

There, Dixon’s second set of eyes comes from Patriots athletic trainer and coach John Messinger, whose credentials include working with the 1992 and 1996 Marshall University national championship teams.

“Hydration is the key,” Messinger said. “It’s critical.”

Rounding out Johns Creek’s prep athletic contingent is Chattahoochee High School head coach Terry Crowder.

Crowder’s 2010 AAAA state champion Cougars report to practice at 5 a.m. and drill until around 8 a.m., Crowder said.

Like the other Johns Creek squads, Crowder’s staff weighs players before and after practice to monitor hydration levels.

And for players to be eligible for practice the following day, they also must meet a weight percentage based on their last reading.

“Staying hydrated on and off the field and getting plenty of rest, we can’t emphasize that enough,” Crowder said.

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While coaches are expected to use their best judgement, the Georgia High School Association has specific guidelines in place to protect players from excessive exposure, including the time of day the practices are to be scheduled at various heat/humidity levels; ratio of workout time to time allotted for rest and hydration at various level of heat and humidity; and measure of heat/humidity levels that will result in outdoor practices being terminated. 

Chattahoochee Cougars Gridiron Club board member and football mom Stephanie Hillman has full faith and confidence in Crowder's staff.

“Coach Crowder’s been preaching that message of nutrition and rest to make sure the boys are well take care of,” said Hillman, whose eldest son Trey is a sophomore linebacker. Her middle son Jordan is a rising freshman and wide receiver. And Tillman’s youngest, daughter, Sydney, is a cheerleader and rising fifth grader at Lake Windward Elementary.

“It’s better to be safe than sorry,” said Nicholas Verch, a rising Johns Creek High School sophomore and linebacker on the junior varsity Gladiators squad. “And I really appreciate the coaches looking out for us.

"Because we’re giving them our all.”

For more information about GHSA heat policies, visit www.ghsa.net.

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