DALLAS — Before the sun is fully up, high schoolers across Texas are already starting practices.
With dangerously high, record-setting temperatures, though, school districts are having to take special measures to keep kids safe.
Dallas ISD demonstrated its summer practice routine Tuesday at Hillcrest High School. Fall practices started back for smaller schools Sunday.
“We have plenty of water out. We have towels,” Corey Eaton, Dallas ISD’s assistant director of athletic sports medicine said. “We have water bottles. They’re taking breaks.”
Hillcrest High School football coach Jacob Ramon says Dallas ISD goes beyond UIL requirements for handling the heat.
“We just finished one practice today,” he said at about 9 a.m. Tuesday. “We’ve got the kids in the AC laying down and getting ready for that second practice.”
Teams can’t practice from noon to 6 p.m. to avoid heat issues. They also take a wet bulb, globe temperature (WBGT) index reading that combines temperature, humidity, wind and cloud cover.
Above 92.1, practice stops. 92.1 isn’t the outdoor temperature or heat index, though.
“It’s tough but it’s adversity,” Hillcrest senior Ford Morris said. “You always got to overcome it.”
Morris said offseason training helped the team prepare for the return of practices this week during the ongoing heat wave.
“We’re in great shape,” Morris said. “We’re ready to go for the season, so I think that helped a lot with the heat.”
Schools also weigh players before each practice. A movement of 3 percent or more in weight from the day before can get a kid held out of practice. Hillcrest had two players already need to be held back after one day.
“If there’s some kind of huge gap then that throws a red flag,” he said. “That’s something Dallas ISD does and I’m sure it’s throughout the state of Texas and it’s to make sure these kids are safe.”
Not only are temperatures at record highs, but Ramon says turf makes it feel even hotter.
“On turf, it’s 20 degrees hotter,” he said. “When you’re standing here, I mean, their feet are burning. I’m telling you right now. Those feet – I see the kids in those cleats, they are burning.”
Coaches look for warning signs in addition to all the district measures in place.
“If it’s this hot and they’re not sweating, number one they’re not getting enough water,” Ramon said. “And number two we need to get them off the field.”
For now, teams are just in helmets, but the hotter full pads start Friday.
"It’s a team effort to make sure that these kids are safe at the end of the day,” Ramon said.