Teams adjust to new heat stress safety law
All schools must always be prepared to quickly lower body temperature
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
Cool the body first, then transport an athlete suffering from heat stroke to a nearby hospital.
Those are the instructions all Florida high school sports teams have been given in a state law signed Tuesday by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The Zachary Martin Act, named in memory of a Fort Myers Riverdale High football player who collapsed after running sprints in a summer football workout in 2017, requires schools to have cooling tubs or other means to quickly lower the body temperature of athletes experiencing heat trauma.
Martin was rushed to the hospital but died 11 days later at age 16.
“It’s common knowledge that he was not put in a cold-water immersion tub or cooled off with ice,” said Laurie Giordano, Martin’s mother.
She created a foundation that has purchased and donated cooling tubs for schools and campaigned for passage of the law, which takes effect on Wednesday.
It also requires schools to have defibrillators, which can save victims of sudden cardiac arrest.
According to a legislative analysis produced for the bill, Florida led the country in heat-related deaths among student-athletes, with at least four since 2011. More than 460 student-athletes in Florida were treated for exertional heatstroke during the 2017-18 school year.
The Florida High School Athletic Association, which governs sports for all state public high schools and most private schools, expected passage of the law and amended its heat safety policies to meet the Martin Act requirements by vote of its board of directors on June 9. The FHSAA policy also requires schools to use heat stress instruments to measure weather conditions and adjust outdoor activities accordingly.
Most Orlando area high schools are ready with cooling methods, defibrillators and Wet Bulb Globe
Temperature heat stress gauges or the like.
Lake Highland Prep recently purchased two WBGT instruments that have been used in its ongoing summer workouts. The Orlando private school has two cooling tubs and plans to add an additional ice machine and more cooling tubs.
Ryan Adams, the coordinator of athletics for Osceola County public schools, said his district has its equipment and plans in place.
“We are using the [past] two weeks of conditioning to ensure our coaches know the system prior to the law taking full affect,” he said.
Adams said Osceola schools will be prepared to treat heat sickness with either cold water tubs, ice bags or a “TACO” setup in which coaches and trainers can fill a tarp with ice water and wrap it around an athlete to lower internal body temperature.
Quickly cooling an athlete’s vital organs is the goal.
The Centers for Disease Control defines heat stroke as a body temperature of 103 degrees or higher. Experts recommend cooling procedures for 10-15 minutes before transporting a player to a medical facility. That could cut core temperature by three to five degrees.
“Cool first, transport second” is the mantra expressed by health officials.
Orange County Public Schools media relations manager Michael Ollendorff said the district “already has the various devices, procedures and training in place that meet the requirements of the Zachary Martin Act.”
Mike Gaudreau, who oversees athletics for Seminole County Public Schools, said the same.
“Anything we don’t have is ordered,” Gaudreau said.
The WBGT tools can cost $300 to $480 according to coaches, but there is another alternative.
Hagerty High athletic director Jay Getty said his school has a weather sentry phone app subscription that allows him, along with coaches and directors of the school’s band and ROTC program, to get lightning alerts and heat stress numbers for any given location. That provides a solution for teams that practice and compete off-campus, such as cross country and golf.
Getty said he purchased four $150 cooling tubs this summer to provide stations at the football stadium, baseball field, softball field and a second practice field that the band uses. Hagerty also has defibrillators and the tarp cooling gear that can be taken to off-campus events.
Orange City University A.D. Matt Weaver said Volusia County schools had the required equipment donated to them by Advent Health last year.
Eustis athletic director Harry Tomlinson said his school has used a metal tub for several years and has purchased a lighter 150-gallon tub that can more easily be moved for games or practices.
Bishop Moore has four ice tubs on campus.
“When it comes to safety, we must find a way to purchase what is necessary,” said Foundation Academy A.D. Lisa Eaves.
She said the school has defibrillators, a cooling tub and WBGT devices. Wet bulb instruments factor in ambient temperature, humidity, wind speed, sun angle and cloud cover to produce heat stress measurements.
If the reading is 82.1 to 87.0 the FHSAA standard requires three separate four-minute rest periods for each hour of activity. A heat stress measurement of 87.1 to 90.0 means a maximum of two hours of activity time with four separate four-minute rest periods per hour. And football players would be restricted to helmets, shoulder pads and shorts, with no other gear.
A 90.1 to 92.0 read drops the time allowance to one hour of activity with five separate four-minute rest periods. And no protective equipment or conditioning work (running, intense drills, etc.).
At 92.1 all activities must be moved indoors. Beginning June 1 of next year the FHSAA policy says an employee or volunteer trained in CPR must be present at all athletic activities.