9/5/2024

The 2024-25 High School sports season officially kicks off tonight with several football games along with soccer, volleyball and the other Fall sports either with jamborees. non-league games and events or league match-ups. The Summer weather is also giving all of Washington state another round of brutal hear with temperatures hitting the upper 80’s to mid 90’s around the state.

The majority of the football games this weekend will be played Friday and that is also when the hottest temperatures of this mini heat wave are expected to hit. Mid 90’s to low 100’s all around the state and depending on where you are some additional air quality issues could also be in play.

ESN talked with WIAA Executive Director Mick Hoffman who says the WIAA doesn’t have any required policies for schools to follow but they provide information and encoourage each school to have their policies in place. Hoffman says he doesn’t know of any school through their own risk management that doesn’t have safeguards in place for situations like this with the high heat.

Hoffman says, they encourage both teams and their trainers, team doctors, assistant coaches to closely monitor their players in condition like this week. He says also working with officials who may have a better view of an athlete suffering from heat related illness to stop and alert the bench.

Hoffman says it is difficult to institute a single policy for the entire state. He says, for example an 85 degree day with high hunidity is more dangerous than 95 degrees in a drier climate. Additionally, with triple digits being the norm for Eastern Washington during the summer the players are more used and have adapted to those conditions so it really does come down to each team knowing their own players and what to watch for in conditions like we have for opening weekend.

Schools have been challenged the past few years with heat and air conditions much from the large forest fires both in state and out of state smoke that has blown into our state from outside our borders.

Hoffman says the NFHS provides free courses and they have a link to a heat index calculator to allow teams to see the danger range they are in. Teams could agree prior to the game for several protocols such as a mandatory hydration break that is common in soccer. Hoffman says he is confident each team has their plans in place and there are enough eyes on the players from their sideline to the officials to spot any early warnings of heat issues. He added he hopes players that are feeling not right, so to speak, speak up and make sure they get a break or a chance to cool down before getting back into the game. 

We also talked with referee and league assigner for Tacoma and Thurston county Terry Simmonds who confirmed the officials approach to conditions like this weekend. Simmonds says prior to the game they have a manditory safety meeting with the AD’s, coaches and trainers. Simmonds they will discuss with both teams how they would like to handle such issues.

Simmonds says they can agree to a water break midway thorugh each quarter at a natural break like after a punt or a score. he says they won’t stop a drive to take a break but a natural pause time somewhere in mid-quarter. He also says if a coach on the sideline alerts an official to a player that looks to be struggling they will stop play and not charge a time-out so they can make sure the players safety comes first.

Simmonds says it’s really common sense that we’re talking about and it doesn’t matter if it’s an official, a sideline staff member or the player himself that says hey I don’t feel right we’re going to stop and make sure they are taken care of in a safe manner.

Don’t be surprised if you see some games suddenly stopped and everyone taking a water break including the officials and coaches. Whilke we’re at it folks that may not be in a shaded area also need to make sure they are hydrated and can get cooled off as well. 

It is an exciting time kicking off the entire sports season with the excitement of the new year the last thing anyone wants is to take unecessary risks and it’s far better to be safe than sorry.

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