Heat, student safety at forefront for local schools

A scorching heat wave that blistered the region with near record-high temperatures also brought safety to the forefront for the local high schools and college.

Some games were postponed while practices were toned down or canceled Monday and Tuesday because of concern over the heat.

One such postponement took place at Flintridge Prep, where the girls’ tennis showdown between the Rebels and defending league champion Westridge of Pasadena was moved from Monday to Friday at Scholl Canyon Tennis Center at 3:30 p.m.

Temperatures reached 105 degrees on Monday and are expected to be around a high of 81 on Friday, according to weather.com.

“I made a point to my coaches that they had to be aware of the heat and the dangers,” Flintridge Prep first-year athletic director Garret Ohara said. “It’s not like I needed to because I’m sure the coaches are mindful of what’s going on, but you still want to make sure everyone is on the same page.”

While the tennis match appears to be the only contest affected, practice is another issue as football and tennis practices were toned down, while cross-country ran in the morning.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have the luxury to move all our practices back to evening,” said Ohara, who was preparing Tuesday afternoon for a school barbecue scheduled to take place on the football field. “Some practices will have to be changed and others curtailed. That’s just the unfortunate part.”

Flintridge Prep wasn’t the only program to have to adjust on the fly in regards to tennis.

Both of Tuesday’s local Pacific League matches — Glendale at Crescenta Valley and Burroughs at Hoover — were postponed.

The Nitros-Falcons matchup was moved forward to Wednesday, while the Indians and Tornadoes will face each other Monday.

“You just want to make sure you’re doing what’s best for the athletes,” Hoover Athletic Director Jack Van Patton said. “It just made sense not to take a risk.”

Like Ohara, Glendale Athletic Director Pat Lancaster found that the bigger challenge this week was accommodating practice schedules that were heavy with afternoon start times.

“You have to be smart and modify your practices,” Lancaster said as temperatures hit 104 degrees Tuesday in Glendale. “They have to be shorter and involve a lot more water. We moved our football practice back to 5 p.m.

“Today is an excellent day for instructional video sessions and putting the kids in an air-conditioned classroom watching film.”

Lancaster said he also received an advisory from the Glendale Unified School District encouraging proper hydration.

“I appreciate the advisory and I also saw one from the [CIF] Los Angeles City Section,” Lancaster said. “I trust that my coaches have the common sense to know what’s right, but you still have to have those.”

While the Los Angeles City Section issued an advisory suggesting coaches and administrators “modify practice, reduce activity, hydrate [and] move practice to a cooler time,” the 581-member CIF Southern Section, the governing body for the local high schools that spans from San Luis Obispo to San Clemente, did not offer any such advisory.

“Due to the large nature of the section, a blanket statement encompassing schools in the desert, Mammoth and the beaches doesn’t make much sense,” CIF-SS Director of Communications Thom Simmons emailed. “Local schools and school districts are the best barometers for the health and safety of their student-athletes.”

Certain schools, such as Crescenta Valley and Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, may have caught scheduling breaks this week.

“Outside of tennis, we didn’t have anything get canceled,” Crescenta Valley co-athletic director Dave Mendoza said. “We don’t do anything strenuous until later in the week, when it cools down. As far as practices goes, we’re just going to taper things down.”

Flintridge Sacred Heart has no varsity activities scheduled through Friday as the junior class is on retreat at Catalina Island.

“We’ve had to cancel golf and tennis practices and a junior varsity tennis match was canceled, but fortunately varsity games haven’t been affected,” said Flintridge Sacred Heart Athletic Director Stephanie Contreras, who had the misfortune of working in an office without air conditioning.

As for Glendale Community College, there were minimal changes due to the heat.

The only adjustment was made to the men’s Western State Conference soccer match at Glendora Citrus College on Tuesday.

The contest was originally scheduled for 4 p.m., but was postponed to 6:30 because of the heat.

According to weather.com, the temperature in Glendora was 101 degrees at the slated 4 p.m. start time and dropped six degrees by 6:30.

“We were informed by Citrus College that they were moving back the game a couple of hours for safety reasons,” GCC athletic director John Cicuto said. “I walked into my office yesterday and it was 108 degrees, so I understand the concern.”

While the women’s soccer team moved up its practices to 7 a.m., the men continued to practice in the afternoon.

“You just have to mix in water breaks and put the athletes first,” Cicuto said. “What’s really been tough for a lot of the athletes have been the weight-lifting workouts because the rooms are hot.”

Perhaps the big advantage that GCC has over high schools, though, is the presence of athletic trainers on site.

“You just have to be smart,” Cicuto said. “If you put the best interests of the athletes first, you’ll be fine.”