Kids' lifestyles
The ten warmest consecutive 12-month periods in recorded history for the United States have occurred since 2000, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. August 2011 to July 2012 was the warmest 12-month period that the contiguous United States has ever experienced; July registered as the warmest month the nation has ever seen, eclipsing a record set in the Dust Bowl, according to NOAA.
Might there come a time when the climate in the South is just too oppressive for summer football workouts?
"I think you can do it safely, but you have to really monitor," Grundstein said. "I do think it's really important to have a policy in place because you're only going to get more days that are really oppressive."
Coach Herron, however, says the real problem today isn't the heat, but the kids' lifestyles.
"It's not any different," Herron said of the heat these days. "The difference is that when we were kids, we were out playing all summer. We were outside, we weren't laying in the air conditioning."
So that kids don't jump from the air conditioning into the oven, Georgia's new heat rules require an acclimatization period of five days – practice in helmets only – before players are allowed to suit up in full pads on Aug. 1.
Georgia's rules were based on a study by athletic trainers at the University of Georgia, who presented their unpublished work at the annual meeting of the National Athletic Trainers' Association last summer and to the Georgia High School Association's football subcommittee in January.
The researchers say they found that the first weeks of preseason practice are when the risk of heat related illness is greatest.
To lessen the risk, Georgia's high school football overseers this year adopted heat guidelines similar to those published by the National Athletic Trainers' Association [PDF] in 2009. Three-a-day practices are now banned. Teams cannot have two practices per day on consecutive days. Because many teams lift weights in tin sheds that lack air conditioning, weight training now counts as practice time.
Every team in Georgia is now required to have a "wet bulb globe temperature" meter on the practice field. The metric incorporates air temperature, humidity and radiant temperature. The reading tells the athletic trainer or coach what the weather feels like down on the field; if the reading passes certain cutoff points, practices must be shortened or equipment shed.
"The more equipment that you have on, the body's ability to remain in a cool, safe temperature becomes impacted," said athletic trainer Bud Cooper of the University of Georgia and a study co-author. "As that (wet bulb globe temperature) goes higher and higher, in order to allow the athlete to continue to participate, modifications need to be made to allow him to stay cool."
At a wet bulb globe temperature reading of 92, equivalent to a heat index of about 105, outdoor practice must be cancelled.
No helmets or pads
Before Georgia's heat rules began, the Marietta High School Blue Devils in metro Atlanta, one of the teams studied by Cooper and colleagues, practiced under stricter standards than the state now requires. For years, they used a wet bulb globe temperature reading of 88 as their cut-off point for practice. But by using flexible practice times and creative practice schemes, they never missed a practice, said Marietta High's athletic trainer Jeff Hopp, who is also president of the Georgia Athletic Trainers' Association.
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16 Comments
Add Comment"Some grumble that South Georgia's trademark football might lose its punch", much better to send a couple kids to the lord than lose a game. If Jesus needs a blood sacrific to ensure a winning season then who are we to disagree?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTexas football has always been hot...SciAm is nuts...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGod I hope so! Finally a good side effect of climate change. I say get rid of the college and professional crap too.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMaybe they should do a study to see if being spoiled with A/C can make you more susceptible to stroke.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDoes the military suffer from any of these same problems when they send their 'maggots' out on drills?
By the way, a 95 degree day will still be 95 degrees even with climate change; so, how can it make it worse? They've already got advisories not to play when the temperature exceeds a certain degree.
No need to use pejoratives; you're making the article writer look better and without contributing anything substantial to the topic. Why not point out what makes it unintelligent?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPosting rational comments dissecting the vapidity of ignorant illogical articles is unnecessary.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm with pokerplayer on this one.
I think that they need to ban lattes and triple shot americanos also. The coffee growers are deforesting the jungle and this is creating mad-made climate change.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAlso outlaw bio-fuels as it is causing starvation.
And outlaw windmills as they kill birds.
What say you?
Rude foolish comments does nothing to help solve a very serious problem.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat DO we really do about the climate getting so hot?
There's no easy fix.
Use solar to clean more water.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisClean water is subsidized MORE than gasoline. and it's cost a lot more per gallon!!!
We have created life styles that will not be sustained in the future...look at all impulsive advertising, it's not just grandiose, it's foolish nonsense.
Marketing has stuped to a false of feeling good to sell wasteful junk that should not have been make in the first place..
How many people live like that, no one I know?
Let's think about reality.
Find ways to enjoy life with less pollution.
There's a thousand things going unreported in physics, chemistry, astronomy, etc. and we get another 'fluff' article from 'Unscientific American'.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCurious...if temperatures are not as hot next summer will it be cooling? No...it will dismissed as 'weather'.
By the way...summer in Western Canada is slightly below average temperature. Global warming is not based on a season in the USA in an region that is less than 1% of the world's surfac,
The title should be "New Rule Restricts Football Practice".
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOr ... "Hot Weather In Southern Georgia In August? Who Woulda Thunk It?
Dump the helmets, dump the pads, and stop scrambling brains. And since high school football is merely a sport, and not a war, don't risk lives by practicing in the heat.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis change has nothing to do with climate change but a change in the understanding of health w.r.t workouts in the heat. Basically competitiveness has risen between sports programs over the past 40 years and the result has been tougher and longer training sessions for athletes. This then resulted in deaths which made people (and then coaches) finally realize that it was a bad idea to overdue it in the heat. A shocking revelation... don't ride a horse to hard or it will die.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNot everything is about climate change and dubious connections doesn't help the argument.
I wasn't going to post a comment. But this article is absurd.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI thought Scientific Anerican was supposed to be about Science. Real, honest to goodness, objective, factually based science. Years ago I actually respected this magazine.
What's happened to my Scientific American? Has it been taken over by an escaped gang of renegade elves from the North Pole?
Look at:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/temp-and-precip/time-series/index.php?parameter=tmp&month=8&year=2011&filter=1&state=9&div=0
Is the issue really temperature? Perhaps we are just getting less acclimated to heat and/or more aware of the dangers.
This article doesn't belong in a scientific journal. Maybe a political journal or a comic book.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this