Temperature Rising! Pre-Season Practices: Proper Hydration

Pre-season practice means hot weather, which brings with it the risk of dehydration and heat illness. While many people function quite normally with mild dehydration in everyday life, fluid deficits and heat illness are no laughing matters in football. The National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injuries stated that 19 high school football players died of heat stroke on the playing field between 1995 and 2005.     We spoke to two experts about how to prevent serious dehydration and heat illness: Larry Kenney, Ph.D., professor of physiology and kinesiology at Penn State University, and Michael Bergeron, Ph.D., a professor at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. The pair discussed a handful of key themes for safety. * First, players should acclimate themselves gradually to the heat of late summer.     “Heat acclimation is the most important safeguard against heat illness in