What a Foothills football team is doing to protect players from heat-related illness

CATALINA FOOTHILLS, Ariz. (KGUN) — As they ran drills at practice, the varsity football team at Catalina Foothills High School was sweating under the hot summer sun.

Chaz Bennett, a senior on the team, and a full back on the defensive line, took periodic breaks and was staying hydrated in order not to pass out.

“It’s hot. When you have adrenaline though you don’t really feel it but early on like right now, it’s pretty hot,” Bennett said.

Player Jackson Golseth has felt the impact of the heat in the past, feeling like he almost needed to faint.

“My vision just started going blurry and black and I thought I was going to pass out,” Golseth said.

NPR said a few weeks ago a 16-year-old in Baltimore, Maryland died while playing football and the heat could have been a factor. They said another 14-year-old collapsed on a day where the high was 96 degrees.

The National Center For Catastrophic Sport Injury Research said the intensity of the exercise is a leading factor that can increase core body temperature higher and faster than any other.

From 1996 to 2023, they said 72 football players died from exertional heat stroke and out of those players, 52 of them were in high school.

Players at CFHS said coaches usually give them water breaks about every 15 minutes. Players like Henry Nentl drink water throughout the day so they can have enough water in their system to last practices and games.

“In school days just making sure I’m chugging water, making sure it gets in my system so my body stays to the best it can be,” he said.

The team also said every Saturday they study film of the game that week and that gives them an opportunity to stay inside. They also said sometimes they stretch and do workouts inside the gym.

Players like Golseth also find it convenient to wet a towel and put it on his head while Bennett said it’s important to wear the right clothes.

“A lot of times we wear mesh shirts, like compression shirts. It soaks up all the sweat, kind of keeps the heat away. We’ll wear white instead of black,” Bennett said.