With some of the most extreme temperatures of the summer occurring this week, there is a lot of concern for the student body’s health. The heat is getting to everyone, including the student athletes and even the staff.
“This week of cross country was definitely a test of endurance and it pushed us to work even harder than usual because of the conditions,” junior Erin Friesen said.
Friesen is in the same boat as a majority of the athletes this week. With temperatures reaching 95 degrees every day this week and the heat index being even worse, a heat advisory has been put in place for the entire week. This makes outdoor sports have to work through challenging conditions both physically and mentally.
Junior Carly Beck, a member of the tennis team, is also outside a lot and needs to drink a lot of water throughout practice to stay hydrated.
“You feel like you can never get enough water,” Beck said.
While the athletes are hard at work on the playing field, people like athletic director Mr. Roth and Mr. Markelz, the trainer, are hard at work behind the scenes to make things run smoothly.
“We always worry about our athletes health, especially in heat like this,” said Roth. “In football, they might practice without pads if it is too hot. We have practice inside if the heat index exceeds 105 degrees and, of course, athletes need extra water breaks.”
In order to give the athletes more water breaks, however, there needs to be water. That is where Markelz comes in and begins delivering water to all the teams.
“Sometimes it’s difficult balancing injuries and getting water out. If the athletes take care of their bodies before and after practices by eating healthy, drinking plenty of fluids, and managing their bumps and bruises, it makes the heat not as much of a factor,” said Markelz.
Everyone has their reasons for being frustrated with the heat. However, Markelz isn’t asking for much. All he needs is a little help from the athletes to make things easier in this heat. The simple use of teamwork might be all anybody needs to beat the heat.