Football: Beating the heat

Steve Virgen

A valuable memory helped Costa Mesa High football coach Dave

Perkins formulate his current practice methods. In 1994, his first year

at San Bernardino High, one of his players suffered from heatstroke and a

lawsuit against the school followed.

The San Bernardino player, who did not die, had existing physical

ailments that were amplified by the conditioning, Perkins said. Doctors

later told Perkins the safety procedures taken by coaches helped the

player recover.

With the recent deaths from heatstroke and asthma-related conditions

in the NFL and college football, a watchful eye will be on high school

practices beginning Aug. 20. Perkins and other local coaches say they

will maintain the safety precautions they have practiced throughout the

years.

“I remember it well,” Perkins said of the heatstroke incident. “It was

the very first part of the conditioning of the practice at around 6:30

p.m. It was 80 degrees. He was very close to dying, but he was able to

recover. Because of what the coaches did in the situation, the kid

survived. That made me very aware of the kids and what you have to do

when that situation arises.”

The recent tragedies on pro and college football fields have fueled

questions. Will the high school football coaches be extra cautious at

Corona del Mar, Newport Harbor, Estancia and Costa Mesa? What’s the plan

for this year’s conditioning?

Perkins says he will not have two-a-day sessions, a practice he has

maintained throughout his coaching career.

Said Perkins: “Coaching in the Inland Empire for 20 years, I have a

real good background on how to take care of kids. We just go through one

long practice (which begins at 2:45 p.m. and includes at least one

break). We do all of our conditioning at 6 p.m. We’re beating the heat by

going so late in the afternoon.”

Perkins also said that before the conditioning or running portion of

practice takes place, the players remove their helmets and shoulder pads.

Tents, with mist machines, will also be at Costa Mesa to provide

relief and shade.

Also, just as at CdM, Estancia and Newport Harbor, Costa Mesa will

have an athletic trainer on site for practices.

At Estancia, first-year coach Jay Noonan will be preparing his Eagles

just as he would any summer.

“It’s the exception and not the norm,” Noonan said of the recent

deaths of Korey Stringer of the Minnesota Vikings and Northwestern

University’s Rashidi Wheeler. “The safety of the kids always comes first.

We will always allow them ample water breaks and we start practice at 8

a.m. We try to take advantage of the morning and do our conditioning

then.”

Noonan also said the rapid movement from one drill station to the next

allows Eagle coaches to monitor the players.

Meanwhile, Newport Harbor Coach Jeff Brinkley said he has always been

overly cautious of his players and their dealings with the heat. The

recent deaths won’t factor into his approach.

“(Conditioning has) changed over the years,” Brinkley said. “I grew up

when they didn’t even have water on the field. Now, we have

port-o-cools.”

“We’ve always monitored them closely,” he continued. “I don’t think

we’ll change anything. We realize we have some precious possessions with

these kids. Their families love them like we do. We’ve taken every

precaution there is. Hopefully, we’ll be able to keep them safe.”

Brinkley also said there would be a coach at every conditioning

station as the Sailors will be moving from drill to drill.

If, by chance, the temperatures rise, Brinkley uses a huge fan,

similar to what the pros use, which blows out sprinklets of water in the

players’ direction.

Like Brinkley, CdM Coach Dick Freeman, who played football at Anaheim

High, remembers a day when water at practices was practically outlawed.

Freeman said those days are gone. Also, the cool breezes that come

through CdM help diffuse the risk of heatstroke.

Before the news of the recent deaths, Freeman said he planned to start

his morning practice earlier and his second practice later to avoid peak

midday temperatures.

He also said he would send the players home between practices. Last

year, the Sea Kings spent most of the day at the school, where they would

eat lunch and rest between practices.

“We just wanted to see if we could step up the intensity a bit,”

Freeman said of last year’s fall camp. “But the boredom set in. Now we’re

going to let them go home and have the second practice start at 4 p.m.”