Heat waves bounce off the road, making it look like there are puddles 100 feet away on the drive to school. A layer of sweat glistens atop every student’s forehead as he or she walks through the courtyard. Hands are sticky, hair is sweaty, and hallways are smelly as students desperately try to survive the excessive heat. 

But as bad as it is for students, it’s 10 times worse for athletes. Due to the dangerously high heat index, the football, swim, and cross-country teams have been forced to rearrange their practice times, with football now practicing from 6:00 a.m. to 6:40 a.m., swim now practicing from 5:45 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., and cross-country now practicing from 5:30 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. 

Before the decision to shift practice times was made, athletes were uncomfortable at best and endangered at worst. Evelyn Deroche (11) of the ZHS swim team said, “Hot water makes you swim slower and overheat easier, so practice was very tiring.” And she’s right; if the temperature of the pool water is the same as your body temperature (98 degrees), you will overheat and could lose consciousness.

Additionally, cross-country athletes had difficulty training before the practice time was changed. Cross-country runner Quinn Langley (9) said, “It was kind of hard to breathe, and I felt like I was going to pass out at practice.” Running in such hot and humid conditions can make getting oxygen extremely difficult, causing runners to exhaust quickly. Runner Landon Deignan (10) describes his experience getting sick from practicing in the heat: “Even though I do hydrate a lot… I became sick from pushing myself too hard or just from the heat.”

Now that practice times have been shifted, some athletes are happier than others. Kellen Conachen (12) of the football team said, “I appreciate having the opportunity to get my practices done earlier in the morning. That way it frees up time for me later in the day… to get my homework done.” While it is a sound point, others feel differently.

 

Deroche expresses the hassle that is completing her homework now that her swim practice is pushed back: “I don’t have access to a computer before practice. All my homework has to be done after practice [after 7:00 p.m.], and with morning practice starting at 5:00 [a.m.] on Fridays, I don’t want to stay up very late.” Furthermore, the cross-country team doesn’t have the time to give every runner the opportunity to shower after practice, so runners like Langley and Deignan feel sweaty and uncomfortable throughout the day. “I’m very tired during school and super sweaty… I feel like it makes [me] less motivated to do schoolwork,” said Langley.

While the shift in practice times was necessary for the health and safety of these teams, it is also considerably inconvenient for many athletes. Hopefully, temperatures return to normal in the next few weeks and practice times can resume as normal.