Mizzou football ensures safety during practice amid extreme heat
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Mizzou football is just three practices into its 2024 fall camp and with just 14 practices remaining in fall camp, the Tigers are tuning up for another successful season.
But, they first have to make sure to stay healthy. With extreme temperatures in Mid-Missouri this week, the coaching staff has to balance getting players acclimated to the heat while reducing the risk of heat-related illness.
Due to NCAA rules, the Tigers are not allowed to practice in full pads until their sixth practice. The first two days of practice were with helmets. The next three days after that, the team is allowed to practice in shoulder pads and helmets, before finally being allowed to practice in full pads on the sixth day. Thursday was a scheduled off day for the team.
Zach Parker -- who is entering his third season with the University of Missouri as the director of sports medicine and head athletic trainer -- said the coaching staff is in constant communication with members of strength and conditioning, sports medicine and nutritional staff to make the best decisions for players.
“The weather and the forecast can kind of change constantly in Columbia so we're taking that into consideration the night before and adjusting practice groups and adjusting schedules,” Parker said. “It really just goes on a day-by-day basis and what we feel like is best for the players, based on a multitude of data that we take.”
Parker said that includes looking at GPS data from practice, checking players' weights pre- and post-practice and monitoring hydration scores.
“When we first kind of got into this profession, that used to be all septic or testing urine, we didn't have to do that anymore. We use a machine to actually take saliva samples from the players and that gives us an accurate, specific gravity of what their hydration is. So, we take that every morning pre-practice during breakfast,” Parker said. “We have a lot of players that we test and we have that data we can look at and we can also judge kind of hydration based on what their weight is and how much weight they lost pre and post-practice. Our nutrition staff does a great job of handling that stuff and communicating between all departments in the building.”
According to the American Council on Science and Health, at least 30 college football players died from heatstroke between 2000-18. A more recent example was 19-year-old Jordain McNair who died in June 2018 after suffering a heat stroke during a University of Maryland football practice. McNair’s family reached a $3.5 million settlement with the university after an independent investigation found that Maryland’s medical staff failed to identify and properly treat symptoms that contributed to his death, the Associated Press reported.
Parker says that player safety is always a top priority for MU's staff.
“Days and weeks when it's as hot as it has been this week, we're going to take everything, whether it's added breaks, whether it's different things we do nutritionally,” Parker said. “Whether we need to start in and do the first half of practice and or in a more climate-controlled setting and a second half of practice outside to get guys acclimated to the heat.”
