High school football teams find ways to safely practice in the Kansas heat

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Temperatures aren't backing down during the first week of high school football practice, so teams are trying to prioritize safety while also preparing for the season.

If the heat rises ahead of practice time, the Kansas State High School Activities Association recommends adding water breaks or shortening practices. In extreme temperatures, teams may also be forced to cancel practice.

With a heat advisory in place for parts of south Kansas on Tuesday, schools in Wichita are looking for ways to work around the temperatures.

"Our coaches are trained that whenever there's a water break that's scheduled on their practice schedule that it's a non-negotiable," said Chris Asmussen, USD 259 Director of Athletics. "So, kids need to go get that get out of the heat when they notice things, and we try to keep as many eyeballs on kids as possible."

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Asmussen said several measures are in place, like weighing players before and after practice, to find out how much weight a player may lose. If they are losing too much, coaches can pull the player out of the next practice as a precaution.

"We do that for football, just especially since they're losing, obviously, probably sometimes more water weight because they're wearing a helmet and shoulder pads," Asmussen said. "So that's a big push on the football end."

If it is too hot after school to have practice, coaches still make sure players get their full reps, just at a different time.

"We made a decision on Sunday when we met as a staff to start going in the mornings," Todd Sacquitne, the Heights High School freshman head coach, said. "So we're going to start practice at 5:35, end at 7:10."

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About half an hour west of Wichita, Cheney High School head coach Shelby Wehrman is taking a similar route.

"I've thought about mornings, but tomorrow's the first day of school, and I didn't want to get in the way of moms and pictures and the first-day-of-school pictures," Wehrman said. "So that's why we're going to go in the evening tomorrow, but Wednesday morning — likely."

Wehrman also said these first couple of weeks are all about acclimating to the heat, easing into full-contact, and getting in the routine of consistent practice.

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