SHAWNEE, Kan. — With heat indexes breaking records, Kansas City-area schools moved sports and extracurricular activity practices indoors or to a cooler time of the day.
Maranatha Christian Academy in Shawnee, Kansas, moved its middle and high school football workouts to start before sunrise.
“We have a beautiful indoor facility, so that's been pretty easy to keep our kids in the gym and then in the weight room,” Maranatha athletic director Jack Allen said. “We just get started at 5:45 to 6:00 a.m. every day with football, and they're out of here by about 8 a.m..”
Senior football player Peter Heddings was out on the field Friday morning. He said it is important that he stays hydrated and eats plenty of food to avoid getting dizzy.
“Usually, you've just got to be aware if you’re lightheaded at all, woozy, dizzy — that is not good and you need to tell the coach about that,” Heddings said.
Allen said the school had to push soccer camp to next week due to the heat.
“We have a monitor that we can put on the field to kind of gauge what the heat index is on the field because, as you know, it's hotter on the field or the track compared to just walking around.," Allen said. "Usually, that guideline keeps us within the healthy range for kids and I just communicate with the coach about, 'Hey, this is what it looks like.'"
Allen said the school has an athletic trainer keeping an eye on students out in the heat. They take water breaks every 15 to 20 minutes.
