Albemarle High tackles heat safety for summer football practice

ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Va. (WVIR) - The Patriots are one of a handful of local teams already getting practice in.

Players are hitting the football field at Albemarle High School early to try to avoid the worst of the summer heat.

“We just talk about getting acclimated to the heat, just working on making sure they’re drinking a lot of water. We do a lot of talking to the parents before the season about making sure the kids are having food in their belly and properly hydrated, that’s the first tip,” Coach Brandon Isaiah said.

“I’m feeling great. A couple days ago we got some rain,” Isaiah Grevious said. “It’s all about mental toughness for us right now.”

Trainers are on site, looking for any type of problems as temperatures are expected to get into the 90′s the first week of August.

“My job is I focus on the kids’ hydration. We do weigh-ins every morning, just to use that to calculate their body adjustment. I’m here for first aid care, I’m here to make sure everyone is ok,” Sequoyah Portee said.

“Need to stay hydrated so you can get the work done. Your body is not going to work as well as it should if you’re not hydrated,” Koran Mosby said.

“I think we’re now just so much more aware of it. You see a kid getting heat stroke or he gets sick at practice. When you have those situations and experiences you try to learn from them and just make sure you do everything you can to keep these kids in a safe place,” the coach said.

The high school football season gets underway three weeks from Friday.

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