EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — The University Interscholastic League (UIL), the governing body of high school athletics and educational contests across the State of Texas, has adopted new guidelines for outdoor athletic and marching band activities, as the State continues to experience record-breaking heat year after year.
“The rules are put in place to make the games a little bit safer, especially with the heat (rising) across the State of Texas,” said Coronado High School Athletic Coordinator and Head Football Coach Mike Pry.
“Every year the UIL is looking for ways to improve safety for the kids,” he added.
The new guidelines are part of the UIL’s Heat Stress and Athletic Participation Plan, which has encouraged schools to use the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) measurement to monitor the environmental conditions ahead of any outdoor physical activities for students.
“The (WBGT thermometer) takes a measurement of the humidity, wind, and the temperature. It takes those three factors and then calculates a number that we have guidelines for, and based on that we can determine how much we should limit practices,” said Coronado High School Athletic Trainer Emilio Araujo.
According to the UIL’s website, WBGT measurements provide guidelines based on a chart and recommendations from the American College of Sports Medicine.
Araujo explained that they measure and record these measurements on a daily basis, and are used for all outdoor activities and sports.
Beyond these efforts, schools must also have emergency action plans and procedures in place in the event a student is experiencing heat exhaustion and to prevent heat stroke.
“When and if we get to the point that it gets really hot and humid, we also need to have a contingency plan in terms of taking the kids to a cold tub or cooling zones that we need to have set up as well,” Araujo explained.
Pry said the football team did have to limit and shorten practices this offseason during the summer, with extreme temperatures, but said it has not impacted them as much as it would schools in East Texas.
“Luckily in El Paso, we don’t have a lot of humidity so it doesn’t affect us as much. But on the days where it’s over 100 degrees, and on the turf it’s about 120-125 degrees, it limits how much time you can practice,” Pry said.
Pry added that these guidelines for the most part have impacted sports with outdoor activities during the summer, but as temperatures cool down they will have less of an impact on how athletes train.
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