San Mateo County high school athletics responds to heatwave

As the Bay Area bakes in record-breaking temperatures, high school athletics have had to adjust their practice and game schedules. In some cases, practices are modified. In others, matches and games have been postponed.

And it’s only Wednesday.

“It’s going to be an interesting week,” said Aragon head football coach Steve Sell, who is also the school’s athletic director. He said the athletic deans at Aragon, Nettie Gennaro-Trimble and Linda Brown, made the decision to limit outdoor PE classes Tuesday.

“Kids were in the pool and kids were in the gym,” Sell said.

Sell said this week’s junior varsity football game against Lincoln in San Jose was moved to Thursday night from Friday afternoon, with the varsity game still scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday. He also added a second night time practice to the schedule this week, adding Wednesday night to the usual Tuesday night practice, in order to beat the heat.

For football, the actual field can impact the heat players endure. The proliferation of artificial turf at high school facilities has certainly cut down on the need for maintenance. But football fields can get toasty early in the high school football season.

“If a school has that first-generation turf, with the black (rubber fill) … you can see the heat coming off the top,” Sell said. “The newer fields, that are filled with cork, are a lot better. … You don’t have the escalation of heat like on the old turf fields.”

Aragon wasn’t the only making changes. Menlo School cancelled the school’s girls’ golf match with Castilleja, as well as girls’ tennis and cross country practice. The Knights football team started practice in the gym and when the temperature cooled down enough, spent an hour working on the field.

Notre Dame-Belmont also cancelled its girls’ tennis match with Mercy-Burlingame Tuesday.

“It was too hot to practice (football) at 3 o’clock,” said Menlo AD Earl Koberlein.

Koberlein said the school uses a “wet bulb thermometer,” which takes in several conditions, including temperature, humidity and the time it take for moisture to evaporate. A chart is then used to determine the level of activity that corresponds with the reading garnered from the thermometer.

Koberlein said heat safety is just another element to add to the rules of operation.

“It is now (standard operating procedure),” Koberlein said. “It’s like smoke days.”

The Notre Dame-Belmont-Mercy-Burlingame girls’ tennis match was also postponed Tuesday.

Burlingame girls’ tennis coach Bill Smith he was still intending on holding practice Tuesday afternoon — modified, of course.

“Coming from a holiday in Chico, where it was 110 (degrees), this isn’t so bad,” Smith joked. He said he had not received any directive from the Burlingame AD or school administration as of early Tuesday afternoon, but would not be surprised if he got to campus for practice and was told to alter his approach — something he had already planned on doing.

“I’ve been doing it the right way since the (19)70s,” Smith said. “Do you condition today? No. But they will do some stand and hits. … They’ll work up a sweat.”

Smith said the plan Tuesday was to hand out uniforms anyway, as the Panthers prepare the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division opener against Aragon.

Sell said schools in the San Mateo Union High School District currently follow CDC guidelines that says to limit physical activity between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. when temperatures move above 100 degrees. Otherwise, decisions to curtail athletic activity is left up to individual schools and school districts.

“When it comes to practices, these are school-site decisions,” Sell said. “When it comes to [games], that’s when higher powers might come in (to make decisions).”

And as far as coaches making the right decisions when it comes to practicing in the heat, they no longer have excuses about not knowing about the ramifications of the heat. Burlingame’s Smith’s coaching career spans “old school” and “new school.” He has seen how not to work in high heat conditions. Smith said every coach in the SMUHSD has required learning modules they must take to coach high school athletics. One is concussions. The other is about heat illness, Smith said.

“The average coach is much more aware (of the impact of heat on athletes),” Smith said. “We’ve been trained (to watch for the signs).”