Wednesday, August 22, 2001
Teams take precautions to prevent heat stroke
By Nathan Loewen
wire coordinator

In light of the recent death of Minnesota Viking offensive lineman Korey Stringer, TCU coaches are being cautious during team workouts.

“You see it happening a lot and everybody wants to be a little more careful,” freshman-redshirt quarterback Brandon Hassell said.

Erin Munger/photo editor With temperatures nearing triple digits, coaches and trainers are taking extra precautions to safeguard against dehydration and heat stroke.

Beating the heat is nothing new for athletic programs. The football and soccer teams have plans to help prevent dehydration and heat stroke.

“We utilize a prehydration plan,” football trainer Todd Nalder said. “We give each one of our guys a 32 ounce Gatorade bottle and we tell them to get four of those into them before every practice that we have.”

The team also has water breaks in and around practice, Nalder said.

Along with the prehydration plan, players weigh in before and after each practice. This allows the trainers and coaching staff to monitor their health closer, assistant trainer Chris Hall said.

“We get concerned when they start losing six to eight pounds in one session,” Hall said.

If players gain the weight lost back by next practice, Hall said trainers aren’t concerned because most of the lost weight was water weight, Hall said.

The team also take pills that help replenish electrolytes, Hassell said.

“Athletes are taking it a little more serious,” Hassell said. “When a big name guy like (Stringer) goes down it hits you a little harder.”

Nalder said athletes have became more aware of the issue.

“[Athletes] are asking better questions like what should I drink, what is the proper hydration method,how can I avoid this” Nalder said. “Coaches look at that aspect as well.”

Hall said it is important that athletes communicate with trainers and drink plenty of water.

“We’re lucky enough I believe we have a great protocol,” Hall says. “If an athlete is having problems we can pull them out of practice then we can bring them into the main training room.”

There, trainers can administer solutions intravenously, Hall said.

“Will there ever be time where we won’t have to do that?” Hall said “No, because there are too many variables.”

Programs have also experimented with various homeopathic remedies. Hall tried giving players pickle juice after some pro sports teams tried it.

“We went out and bought it and experimented with it as a lot of schools did and did not find a significant improvement,” Hall said.

The teams chose to utilize other products to help rehydrate their bodies, Nalder said.

“We utilize rehydrolyte which is a pediatric formula that is used for kids or infants with diarrhea,” Nalder said. “They are given this to replace the electrolytes that they have lost so we utilize that.”

Primarily the team uses water and Gatorade, Nalder said.

“All we can do is communicate and be cautious and try to prevent a death from happening here,” Hall said. “The last thing I want to do is call Mr. And Mrs. John Doe and inform them that we have lost their son (or) daughter.”

Nathan Loewen
n.d.loewen@student.tcu.edu

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