Madison County Red Raiders

Reprinted from the Madison County Journal August 3, 2006, edition

BY BEN MUNRO
Practice fields are cooking this week with temperatures reaching the mid-to-upper 90s and with the recent death of a Rockdale County football player due to heat, athlete safety is again at the forefront of discussion. “With us, its always a primary- one concern,” Raider head football coach Randell Owens said. “Obviously, it makes you even more sensitive to it regarding the publicity around it.” On Monday, Rockdale County football player Tyler Davis, 15, collapsed after voluntary workouts and later died, the apparent cause of death being heat stroke. However, Owens said increased media attention won’t affect how he and coaches handle practice because its something that’s constantly on their mind to begin with. “Whether it happened or not, we’d be just as concerned about it,” Owens said. The third-year Raider coach said there’s a detailed plan in place to deal with the heat, one he’s confident puts the players’ safety in the highest regard. When Owens arrived in Danielsville, he started an athletic trainers’ program which sends MCHS students to the University of Georgia to train them to recognize heat illness. At football practice, Owens puts these trainers at each player station with water to hydrate players as they go. Between that and mandatory water breaks every 30 minutes, players are constantly receiving fluids. Owens also said the key is to watch constantly and check for signs of heat exhaustion. He said he’s always prepared to call an impromptu water break. “You make a plan and then adjust according to the conditions,” Owens explained. The Raider football team isn’t the only one dealing with summer heat. Madison County’s softball team is currently practicing now in the sweltering temperatures and coach Doug Kesler said it’s a major concern. “We’ve got girls out there and we’re trying to enforce the importance of not just waiting until you get there to take in fluids,” Kesler said. Again, plenty of hydration is a must. Kesler said water and Gatorade are plentiful at practice. “We take a lot more water breaks than we would on an 80-degree day,” Kesler said. He added that the players are stressed to notify the coaches of the first sign that anything might be wrong. “It’s nothing to fool around with,” Kesler said of the heat. Both Owens and Kesler (once a football coach) have been around hot practice fields in over two decades of coaching. Owens said experience is one of the best weapons in fighting heat problems. “You have to be aware of what constitutes dangerous and hazardous conditions,” Owens said. Kesler noted that some younger coaches might not realize the dangers at times, remembering a time when he said he was “gung-go” a coach at early season practices. “They’re out there pushing it a little harder than they maybe should be,” Kesler said. Keeping players safe and yet having an efficient practice is all about finding a happy medium Owens said. “You have to get as much as you can in without crossing the line and jeopardizing their health,” Owens said.