At Blessed Trinity’s football practices, a man dressed in regular clothes is waving around something that looks like a TV remote.
It’s an unusual scene at a football workout for new onlookers, but the players and coaches don’t even appear to notice.
It’s just another day at the office for Preston Bazemore, Blessed Trinity’s certified athletic trainer. The device he is using is a Wet Bulb Globe Temperature Meter.
The wet bulb is one of the two methods recommended by the Georgia High School Association for determining heat risks for athletic activities, with the other being heat-index readings.
On Tuesday, amid extremely warm temperatures, football players at two Georgia high schools died after performing at football practices, although the cause of death is still being determined. Coaches, players and fans are still reeling from the news.
“I’ve been coaching football for 41 years. It’s Georgia, it’s August, and it’s always hot. It always has been, and it always will be,” Johns Creek coach Mike Cloy said.
“You try to take all the precautions. Knock on wood, I’ve been very fortunate that I’ve never lost anyone to heat exhaustion or a heat stroke. I would hate to. It would have to be traumatic on a coach. We all want to do whatever we can to keep our kids safe.”
Since Johns Creek opened its doors in 2009, the Fulton County school has had a trainer outfitted with a wet bulb before and during practices. Steve Jones, the athletic director for Cobb County Schools, said his athletic programs have been using wet bulbs for more than a decade.
The wet bulb measures the dry-air temperature, the humidity, the ground radiant heat, and the wind speed to compute a number between 1-100. That number is then compared to a medical chart, which sets guidelines for such things as being able to practice in full pads or shorts, having the usual amount of water and rest breaks or increasing them, or canceling football practice.
The wet bulb helps determine a player’s health risks in hot weather. The danger is to become so hot and sweaty in humid conditions that perspiration is unable to escape the body’s skin surface, creating an extra layer of unwanted insulation in the blistering days of summer.
“If the sweat is not evaporating fast enough because of extreme heat and humidity, then your body may not be able to cool down quick enough,” Bazemore said.
About 30 minutes before an athletic practice, Bazemore or another staff member reports to an exact location to begin taking measurements every 15 minutes. If Blessed Trinity’s football team is on one part of the campus, and the school’s softball team is working out elsewhere, Bazemore will travel between both locations because the wet-bulb readings will differentiate such factors as elevation, wind speed and type of surface.
Jones said he has athletic trainers or coaches taking wet-bulb readings at regular intervals of every 15 to 20 minutes at every practice, and the information is logged and submitted to him.
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