In light of the record temperatures many parts of the country are seeing, it brings up a question. Most leagues will leave the cancellation of practices up to individual coaches, except in the case of severe weather (lightning, snow/ice, etc.) where the league will cancel everything. But is there a point where it’s too hot to practice that you would cancel all practices for your league? If so, what is it? NOAA Heat Advisories (Heat Index 105-114) or an Excessive Heat Warning? (Heat Index of 115+)? Some other set temperature or forecast Heat Index? If so, what’s your threshold? We don’t have a hard and fast temperature scale for canceling practices and haven’t ever discussed the implementation of one for high temperatures. But with temperatures that seem to go higher and higher every year – is there a point where you just have to keep everyone home indoors? Even after dusk we’ve seen temperatures well above 95 – even through 8PM. So the sun may have set, but the heat is still hanging around.
For now we’re leaving it up to the coaches and making sure they take frequent water breaks. So far they’ve done very well with that and the kids have been fine. But heat stress is cumulative, so the second practices in a week may be more critical than the first, especially if this is the first week of practice. We’ll definitely be keeping a close eye on things.
August 8th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
This is what I sent to my parents this morning. We are practicing.
Hi Everyone,
Just an FYI – we are all very aware of how hot it is for practices. The players, if thirsty, will be able to get water ANYTIME they need it and we shall have frequent water breaks. The bottom line is if a player needs water – they’ll get it right away – to make sure they do not get overheated. Make sure your son wears loose fitting, light colored clothing too. They should bring plenty of water but I’ll have a water cooler available FULL of ice water that players can get to whenever they would like, as well. Thank you!
August 8th, 2007 at 10:06 pm
That’s pretty much what our kids are told. I bring a huge 5 gallon cooler of ice water since I’ve got two teams practicing in a row and we go through most of it.
The field thermometer (its in the shade) hit 104 today – little elevated due to the nearby parking lot, but local weather stations were showing 101-102. Tomorrow is going to be interesting!
Sold lots of cold drinks at the concession stand! 🙂
August 9th, 2007 at 7:39 am
If you are practicing with two teams in a row – you muust be exhausted after it’s all done. Or maybe I am thinking I would be exhausted.
August 10th, 2007 at 10:51 pm
Definitely can be exhausting – first practice is my U10 Rec team – just getting started, so they’ll pick up a bit in a few weeks (we didn’t work them too hard this week with the heat). Then the U11 girls – much more intense practice. So yeah, I’m dragging by 9PM on practice days. Yet I still can’t lose weight 🙂
It definitely was hot Thursday. But we didn’t run them much – lots of passing drills. Lots of water. Everyone did fine.
I’ll be happy for the ‘cooler’ 90 degree temps next week!