Are H.S. Two-a-Days History?

(AP) SAN ANTONIO - A report by a leading athletic trainers' group suggests ending two-a-day practices for high school football teams during the first week of August, as well as other precautions that should be taken to prevent heat-related illnesses. Texas prep coaches, however, say they are already cautious with their players.

The National Athletic Trainers' Association released its recommendations Thursday, which include longer breaks between practice and more time for players to ease into contact drills. They are not radical changes and closely mirror policies in place at the Division I college level.

The group also pointed to the case of 15-year-old Max Gilpin of Kentucky, who died last August after collapsing during practice.

"Things aren't going very well at the high school level. We've had a couple of very bad years," said Douglas Casa, director of athletic training education at the University of Connecticut and co-author of the report for the Dallas-based association. "This wasn't done for the convenience of coaches."

Since 1995, at least 39 football players across all levels have died from heat-related causes and most of those cases happened in early August, said Dr. Frederick Mueller, director of the National Center for Catastrophic Injury Research at the University of North Carolina.

Also Thursday, a Georgia-based company unveiled a tiny heat sensor that can be placed inside a football helmet to monitor a player's body temperature.

Jay Buckalew, founder of Hothead Technologies Inc., said the system warns coaches and athletic trainers when an athlete is becoming dangerously overheated. But at about $99 each, the price is likely to be prohibitive to many school districts.

Helmets alone usually cost about $140.

"I don't foresee any high school wanting to pay something like that regardless of what their budget is," Conn said. "I don't see that being a necessity. There's other ways to monitor the heat."

Date of Article: Sat Jun 20, 2009 6:28 pm