Football Coaches Exercise Safety Precautions

As teenage football players across Ventura County undergo the annual preseason rush to get in shape this week, coaches say they are taking extra care to ensure kids’ safety in light of recent fatalities on the field.

In recent weeks, three teenagers have died--two in Texas and one in Georgia--during or shortly after practice. Those deaths came after the heat-related death of Minnesota Viking Korey Stringer earlier this month.

The football-related death toll this year stands at 11, ranging from school-age kids to professionals.

“It’s always been a concern,” said Tim Lins, Moorpark High School’s varsity coach. “But obviously the awareness is heightened now.”

Although heat exhaustion can hit anywhere, attention is more focused on those schools in Ventura County’s sweltering inland cities--Moorpark, Ojai, Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley.

Coaches are making sure that plenty of water is available at practice, that players take breaks when they need them and that no one is losing weight too rapidly.

“At our first meeting we spent time talking about hydration, proper food and proper clothing,” said Cliff Farrar, head coach at Ojai’s Nordhoff High School. “There has to be trust between the player and coach. We’re going to make him work . . . but he has to tell us when he’s in trouble.”

Varsity coach Gene Uebelhardt, who described the recent deaths as “every coach’s worst nightmare,” said he gives the same talk every summer to his players at Royal High School in Simi Valley.

“Maybe in the past it fell on deaf ears,” he said. “This year everyone was very attentive.”

To avoid excessive heat, practices are scheduled for early mornings and late afternoons. Coaches get the more difficult conditioning done during the morning practice, when it’s usually cooler.

Still, Moorpark High School freshman Chris Sierra was confronted with the rigors of the sport not long after the junior varsity team’s first practice started Monday.

“I puked after the third drill,” said the 14-year-old. “Coach made me sit out, and I felt better.”

Conditioning involves running--long-distance, sprints and relays--as well as jumping jacks, push-ups and other drills. Afternoon sessions typically focus on practicing specific plays and game strategies.

Some Players Not Fit After Lazy Summer

Local coaches said they are aware of the problems that can occur when teenagers--many of whom have spent the summer watching television and eating junk food--are thrown into rigorous, twice-a-day practices under the August sun.

The increased awareness about potential health hazards prompted Lins to start a program this year at Moorpark to weigh his varsity players before and after each practice to make sure no one is losing too much water weight.

A weigh-in policy has been in effect at Newbury Park High School for the last decade, said Coach George Hurley, ever since a boy got sick after losing 40 pounds in two weeks.

“A bigger kid could lose eight to 10 pounds of water in one day,” Hurley said. “If he’s not putting the same amount back on, there could be trouble. You really have to keep an an eye on it.”

Although much of the concern has focused on heat-related illness, two of the teenage football players who died this month suffered from heart problems, autopsy reports showed.

Schools usually require players to pass a physical before beginning the season, but the medical report wouldn’t necessarily reveal all problems, Uebelhardt said.

That is why parent involvement is important, coaches said. Parents should watch that players are eating nutritious meals, drinking lots of water and getting a good night’s sleep before practice.

Frank Akrey, whose 15-year-old son, Jimmy, is playing on Newbury Park High School’s team this year, said he knows exactly what his son can handle, which is why the recent deaths don’t worry him.

“It always comes down to a parent’s responsibility,” he said as he watched the team practice this week. “If you’re a good parent, you’re on it.”

Most coaches said they urge players to avoid dietary supplements--used by many smaller kids to bulk up. They say the same results can be achieved naturally in time.

“Those powder drinks scare me a lot,” Hurley said. “The high school level is no place for those kinds of things. Their bodies just aren’t ready for it.”

Ventura County coaches and players said that for the most part, the weather is not as bad as it may seem. Temperatures in Ojai and Simi Valley often top 100 degrees, but there isn’t the humidity that plagues the Midwest and the South.

“It’s hot, but it’s not unbearable,” said 16-year-old Moorpark High varsity player Jaime Barrera said during a break between practices.

He and teammate Frankie Mendez, also 16, said Stringer’s and the other deaths are reminders that bad things can happen on the field.

“You have to stay strong mentally,” Jaime said. “You know this is hard, and you prepare yourself.”