Two-a-day practices should be limited, coaches urged

Nebraska's high school football coaches are being urged to schedule no more than three two-a-day practices during the same week when preseason drills begin in August.

That recommendation is one of five issued in March by the Nebraska School Activities Association that it hopes will prevent heat-related illnesses during broiling summer workouts.

But the recommendations bother some coaches who have developed their own protocols on beating the heat. Those choosing not to follow the NSAA's advice can still work with their athletes as often as they want for the three weeks before their season opener.

Still ...

“Quite obviously it's a recommendation,” said Jim Tenopir, executive director of the NSAA. “But if a coach were to violate that and there were some catastrophic results — coaches need to understand that blatant disregard for the recommendations would have (consequences).”

It's all part of a larger debate going on nationally. Last week, the National Athletic Trainers Association called for high schools to adopt a 14-day heat acclimatization period of limited on-field activity.

Under its recommendations, football players wouldn't wear full equipment or initiate game-like contact until the sixth day of practice. Two-a-days couldn't be scheduled on back-to-back days for those two weeks.

The recommendations are an indication that heatstroke among football players is a growing concern across the nation, heightened by the death of a 15-year-old Kentucky boy last year who collapsed and died after the first day of practice.

At least 39 football players at all levels have died from heat-related causes dating to 1995. Most deaths happened in early August, according to the National Center for Catastrophic Injury Research at the University of North Carolina.

There was no serious heat-caused injury in Nebraska last year, Tenopir said, although his office heard reports of some teams resting for no more than 30 minutes between two-a-day sessions.

The NSAA now wants fewer two-a-days and at least three hours of recovery between the sessions. A one-day practice shouldn't exceed three hours and there shouldn't be more than six consecutive days of practice.

Uniform guidelines that sacrifice practice time aren't always welcomed by coaches who face a time crunch and believe they're prepared for medical emergencies.

For instance, Nebraska's preseason start date, Aug. 10, is within days of the start of school for most and less than three weeks before the season's first games.

Lincoln Southwest coach Mark King said he has proper prevention measures in place.

At his practices there's a trainer, an assistant trainer and about eight to 15 students, all of whom advise and assist the staff as it manages the sessions. They even have sideline equipment to monitor the heat index.

“We have emergency plans in case something does happen,” he said. “We're as safe as safe can be.”

King has 14 practices scheduled, including several two-a-day sessions during the opening week of the preseason and on through August. But he's now reviewing his plan.

“I just was a little disappointed by a blanket statement like this,” King said of the new NSAA guidelines. “The problem is, legally, sometimes if you go against those recommendations, you put yourself in trouble. ... I really think it's safe what we do.”

In Iowa, high school coaches aren't restricted on scheduling two-a-days. The Iowa High School Athletic Association urges them to keep close track of players' weight to make sure they are replacing fluids lost through sweat. They also take orders for $66 devices that measure heat and humidity and ask coaches to schedule practices early or in the evening on days the temperature tops 95 degrees or the heat index exceeds 100.

“Following the recommendations has definitely helped,” said Justin Kammrad, the coach at Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln. “It gives parents some relief, knowing that proper precautions are being taken.”

At Millard West, coach Kirk Peterson said his staff hasn't held two-a-days for several years. The Wildcats used to have two practices — one beginning around 6 a.m. and one late in the afternoon — wrapped around a daylong class schedule.

Now Peterson has just one daily practice, which will last about two hours and 45 minutes.

Omaha North coach Larry Martin schedules just one practice a day, too. He said he hopes the new NSAA recommendations will result in more consistency in the number of preseason practices from one school to the next. Schools that schedule two-a-days get to practice more often than Martin's team.

“As long as we're looking out for the safety of the kids and not taking away from the value of the game, anytime you can do those things, I think, is good,” Martin said.

The national athletic trainers group said its recommendations are not radical changes and closely mirror policies already in place at the Division I college level.

College players can't wear full pads until the fifth of 29 allotted preseason practices. Two-a-days can't take place until the sixth day, and no practice can exceed three hours.

Easing into August drills is important for football players, said Greg Rice, a trainer for Papillion-LaVista High School.

Even with the conditioning work and weight training that many high school athletes do in June and July, playing the violent game of football with 100 percent effort in hot and muggy conditions is sometimes shocking for the body, Rice said.

Rice would like to see organized practices begin earlier in the summer — maybe even mid-July — so the reintroduction to the game's true rigors is more gradual.

The players, especially freshmen, need time to adjust, he said.

“If you've got a kid just meeting you and your football team for the first time, you want to get them acclimated to the weather conditions,” Rice said. “There has to be an acclimation period, rather than having them just jump right into it.”

World-Herald staff writer Jacob Hainline contributed to this report, which includes material from the Associated Press.

Contact the writer:

402-473-9585, jon.nyatawa@owh.com

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