Bills Trainers Show How to Handle the Heat

By Lary Bump, NFLHS.com

Photo by Rick Stewart Getty Images

Tucked away from the VIP and vendors' tents at the Buffalo Bills' training camp is another tent, much closer to the practice fields at St. John Fisher College.

That tent's purpose is to cool off players in heat-related emergencies. On a hot, humid afternoon, the south and west sides are down to provide shade while allowing air circulation through the other two sides. Inside, a bench sits below a fan that can spray mist on overheated players. There's also a hose to pour water on them directly, a chest with ice bags and iced towels, and bottles of sports drinks.

But the outstanding feature in the tent is...a kiddie pool.

It's a big pool by such standards, peanut shaped and long enough for a man over 6 feet tall to lie down in with his arms over the sides and cool water covering his torso and legs. Best of all, points out Bills head athletic trainer Bud Carpenter, the pool cost $29.99 at Toys 'R Us.

"At the professional level, we can have more. We have a staff doctor on hand at all times, IVs and complete first-aid facilities. High schools have water, but they don't have money for anything else," says Carpenter, whose team has a shed at his training camp piled high with case after case of Gatorade and another indoor facility to help cool overheated players. But a high school could find $30 for a pool that could help prevent a heat-stroke tragedy.

These are important points as high school football teams across the U.S. embark on double and triple sessions in summer heat.

Carpenter and Buffalo's strength and conditioning coordinator, Rusty Jones, are trying to get across the point that even high schools with limited budgets can implement procedures to prevent and counteract heat stroke.

"They could have a shaded area where they could put some of these things," Carpenter says, "and a simple hose to mist water over overheated players."

Photo by Rick Stewart Getty Images

Water breaks during practices are important to help replace fluid losses. But water alone cannot replace electrolytes, such as salts, that help retain fluids or the carbohydrates that fuel the muscles.

High school teams can have players weigh in and out before and after practice. The Bills figure that each pound lost means 16 fluid ounces lost, and tell their players to replace that lost weight with 125-150 percent of that amount, or 20-24 fluid ounces per pound lost. Players who lose more than 2 percent of their body weight are not allowed on the practice field for the next session.

Prominent along the sidelines at Buffalo's practices are "Meals on Wheels" carts stocked with water, cups of Gatorade and packets of GatorLytes that add more electrolytes to players' on-field drinks. With interns and college athletes supplementing their staff, the Bills can have two people with each position group to monitor and provide water.

The Bills' pair stresses how important it is for high school players, coaches and parents to do what they can, from the time a player eats breakfast until the time he has his last snack that evening.

Points Jones makes with pro football players also apply to high schoolers:

Sometimes players fail to heed instructions. Carpenter recalls Ben Williams, a defensive end from Mississippi, who didn't think western New York heat could stop him and disdained the trainers' warnings about hydration. "After we had to give Ben four IV bags of liquid one day, he told me, 'Bud, I'll never argue with you again.' "

Coaches and trainers can give their players frequent water breaks, keep water available and set up shaded areas such as the Bills' tent. The staff should be aware of heat stroke symptoms - nausea, a rapid pulse, pale or flushed skin, glassy eyes. At that point, they need to remove players from the practice field and implement measures to hydrate them and cool their body temperature.

Parents can make sure their student-athletes eat a carbohydrate-rich breakfast--cereal, bagels and jam instead of bacon and eggs. They can pack a high-carb lunch including a couple of bottles of sports drinks and snack foods such as pretzels, Rice Krispies Treats, Pop Tarts, Fig Newtons and Snackwells cookies.

Jones practices what he preaches. "If my son doesn't eat breakfast, he's not going to practice."

Story courtesy Red Line Editorial, Inc.