How Much Is Too Much Practice? : Prep football: Echevarria’s death had an impact on area programs, coaches’ plans for conditioning.

The Loyola High football coaching staff met one morning last month to discuss the importance of players having plenty of water available during two-a-day practice sessions.

Later that day, a football player at San Fernando High collapsed after a conditioning practice in which he ran sprints for an hour. Sergio Echevarria, a 17-year-old senior, died two days later as a result of heatstroke.

“When we arrived at school the next morning, there was an eerie feeling,” said Jon Dawson, Loyola’s defensive coordinator. “We had just been talking with our trainer about the importance of making sure our kids had plenty of fluids in their bodies while they practiced. Then we hear about a player who died from heatstroke. It really hit close to home.”

Echevarria died on Aug. 20 as football teams throughout the Southland were beginning drills. In preparation for last weekend’s openers, coaches have spent the last three weeks devising game plans and conditioning players. Many schools held two practice sessions a day.

But there was not a coach or player who did not think about Echevarria’s death. Safety conscious staffs added water breaks and started morning practices earlier and afternoon practices later.

Hal Rose, coach at Palm Desert, said his players are used to dealing with the heat. It is not uncommon for temperatures to rise to 110 degrees or more in August and September in the desert. Rose said his team practices as much as any other school, and precautions are taken.

Practices start as early as 7 a.m. and as late at 7:30 p.m. to avoid the hottest temperatures. Late-night practices are possible because Palm Desert’s field has lights. Every player has a marked water jug he carries to every drill, and he is allowed to drink from it whenever he wants. Designated water breaks are held every 15-20 minutes.

In seven years of coaching, Rose said, he has had two cases of heat prostration, and neither were serious.

“When I played high school football, I can remember practicing two hours in the heat of the day without a water break,” Rose said. “It is a wonder they didn’t kill us. I think coaches today are much more worried about safety.”

San Fernando players were not practicing in pads the day Echevarria collapsed, but they were running early in the afternoon. Because the temperature reached 102 degrees, Coach Tom Hernandez cut practice short.

Echevarria, a senior who was trying out for the team for the first time, collapsed at 1:45 p.m., about 30 minutes after the end of practice. He suffered three seizures in the hospital emergency room and lapsed into a coma. He regained consciousness the next day and spoke to relatives. He died early the next morning.

Hernandez, in his 11th season at the school, said he and two assistants were watching the 65 players, and that no one appeared overly fatigued.

“I don’t understand what happened,” he said. “I thought we were being real careful.”

The National Center for the Study of Sudden Death in Athletes, based in Indianapolis, surveyed 411 sports-related deaths between 1989 and 1991 and found 76 were football-related. At least 10 of those were caused by heatstroke.

Harry Welch, the coach at Canyon Country Canyon, is known for working players hard. Since summer temperatures often soar at the Santa Clarita Valley school, Welch said he worries about how much practice is too much.

He said players spend seven hours a day on the field during two-a-day practices. He said water bottles are supplied for each player, and breaks are scheduled every 15 minutes. When someone gets too hot, they often will be hosed down.

But is practicing seven hours a day asking too much of a high school athlete?

“I’ve never seen a study done on this, but I really don’t know how much is too much,” Welch said. “If a kid ends up in the hospital, then you’ve definitely gone too far. Luckily, that has never happened to me.”

Welch said Southern Section coaches may be working their players harder this year because of a new section rule this season. For the first three weeks of August, coaches were not allowed to have conditioning sessions with their players.

Bill Clark, the Southern Section administrator for football, said the rule was devised so athletes would have a few free weeks in the summer.

But Welch said the dead period should be held earlier, so coaches could condition their players before football practice begins.

Loyola’s Dawson said his players met three times a week during summer vacation to lift weights and run sprints. Even with the new dead period, he said most players are well conditioned by the start of the season.

“Most good programs have their kids in shape by the time they put on the pads,” Dawson said. “This is important, so that you just don’t start running them like crazy when practice begins and have it be a shock to their system.”