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Texas high school football programs are adjusting how and when they practice after the state made heat-safety protocols mandatory on Aug. 1.
The University Interscholastic League (UIL) now requires every public school in the state to use Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) readings to determine whether conditions are safe enough to practice outdoors. The policy, which also applies to other outdoor sports and marching band activities, had been recommended by the UIL for the past three years, though it was never mandated.
“We basically base our practice, our water breaks, all those things off of that,” Andra McDougall, an athletic trainer at McCallum High School in Austin, told Front Office Sports.
WBGT estimates environmental heat stress by accounting for temperature, humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation. Unlike the heat index, WBGT is designed to account for all of the conditions athletes experience while exercising outside.
The UIL uses different WBGT thresholds based on regional climate. In Class 3 areas, which cover much of Texas, any reading of 82 degrees or higher triggers practice modifications. Class 2 schools begin making modifications at 79.7 degrees.
Modifications can include additional rest and hydration breaks, limits on equipment, shorter practices, and mandatory rapid-cooling stations.
At an early-morning practice in Katy on Monday, the WBGT reading reached 86.2, requiring additional safety measures. Among the rapid-cooling options near the field was a “taco,” a tarp opened on the sideline so an athlete can lie inside and be doused with ice water.
McDougall said making sure coaches understand how the readers work and what each level requires is an important first step. Every Austin Independent School District coach receives heat-safety training during an annual meeting, she said. McCallum places its WBGT monitor on the football field and is required to take a new reading every 30 minutes.
McCallum has also structured its schedule so players can shift between outdoor practice, the weight room, and film sessions. During afternoon practices, McDougall and another trainer can remain outside to monitor the conditions while the team is indoors.
“Even if that’s practicing until like 9 p.m., we have to do what we have to do,” McDougall said. “We want to make sure the athletes are still able to condition in the heat safely.”
The UIL also uses a gradual acclimation period at the beginning of the season. Players begin practices in helmets without full pads before adding the rest of their equipment later in the week.
That process is particularly important for athletes who did not participate in summer strength and conditioning programs, McDougall said. It allows them to adjust to exercising in the heat without immediately adding the weight and insulation of full football equipment.
“We try to use the indoor at a minimum so we can be somewhat acclimated to the heat,” Bullard High School head coach Colton Bradford told FOS.
These new modifications have also raised questions about whether limits on equipment and outdoor practices could negatively impact players once the season ramps up. Kenedy head coach Mike Jackson said he is watching whether spending less time in full pads affects conditioning, injuries, or the quality of play.
“I’m curious to see if that’s going to affect kids’ conditioning, if it’s going to affect the level of play, if it’s going to affect injuries, because kids aren’t carrying pads as much,” Jackson told the Karnes Countywide.
Other schools are already used to moving practices due to extreme heat. Karnes City head coach Michael Enriquez said his team sometimes moved indoors last year before the mandate had even taken effect.
“It’s just something we’re going to have to deal with,” Enriquez said.
The new mandate may be easier to manage for schools with indoor facilities and multiple athletic trainers, but smaller programs have fewer ways to adapt.
“For programs without an indoor [facility] I really feel for them because of the hoops they will have to go through just to have practice,” Bradford said.
McDougall said some schools have only one athletic trainer responsible for more than 1,000 athletes. Austin ISD is currently short several trainers, forcing staff members to move between campuses to help provide coverage.
“The big thing right now is just pay discrepancies,” McDougall said. “We’re overworked, underpaid.”
Athletic trainers also consider factors that go beyond the WBGT reading.
Yearly physicals can identify athletes with medical conditions that make them more vulnerable to heat illness. They also pay attention to the playing surface, as turf fields can become particularly hot because the dark infill absorbs sunlight and radiates heat.
“You just have to think about all those small, little nitpicky factors that may not seem significant in the moment,” McDougall said, “but in the long run, they actually can.”
