How are you dealing with the heat at practice?

[davidlimbaugh]

Does anyone make ammonia water anymore?

 

I don't mean with ammonia, but with spirits of ammonia...

 

http://www.decatursports.com/drills/soft/ammonia_water.htm

 

When I played softball is Lower Alabama, we always had

our bananas, baked potatos, non-alcholic daquairis and

ammonia-water-cooler in the dugout with us....

 

One capful is all it takes - and plenty of towels...

 

came in handy when ya played 5 games in a row in the

losers-bracket......

Edited August 4, 2006 by davidlimbaugh

[Koolg]

The coaching staff at USJ thinks if you need a water break in a heat advisory at a 3 hour practice every 20 minutes is considered "weak". They need a lesson in heat safety!!!!!!!!!!

[tgif-football]

USJ is well known for their non focus on what is good for kids. I guess they will have to kill someone before they wise up. Hope it is no one I know.

[58Indians22]

Volunteer[/url]General' post='826088386' date='Aug 3 2006 - 09:23 PM']

My daughter plays soccer and she was told that because there was a heat index warning in Jackson yesterday that no teams would be allowed to practice unless it was indoors per the superintendent. I`m assuming that was for football too.

 

Yes, that goes for football and it is going to cause lots of problems

[cherries]

That is a pretty good thing they have there at Camden...is it the coaches that make them do this?

[lazarus]

"I understand Camden players have to carry large cups with them all day at school and are required to drink a certain # of glasses of water during classes."

 

THAT IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS PRACTICE.

forcing fluids, especially plain water, can lead to hyponatremia (low blood sodium) which will kill an athlete.

if you are thirsty, drink, but do not force fluids.

getting plenty of salt is important during this hot training. if you crave salty food, eat it. it would be a good idea to have salty food (such as potato chips or salted nuts) available at practice.

 

unfortunately, most coaches, and even many medical personnel (including the ill-informed person who taught the "sports first aid" course for acep)

are NOT up to date on sports medicine regarding heat, fluids, and electrolytes. hyponatremia is a suspect in many deaths which have been attributed to heat in the past.

forcing fluids is NOT good, it is dangerous.

 

coaches:

if a player is gaining weight during practice (for those who bring out scales)

if their fingers are swollen

if they have a headache

that player needs salt, NOT FLUIDS.

 

if a player becomes agitated and confused (may not know their own name) they need medical attention immediately.

if you have a player with those symptoms,

DO NOT ALLOW THEM TO BE GIVEN A NORMAL SALINE IV.

3% saline is called for in that situation, normal saline will kill your player.

Edited August 7, 2006 by lazarus

[CoachT]

Hyponatremia is a serious condition which can be confused with other heat-related conditions.

 

Article

 

I suggest that coaches talk to their trainers and other personnel about this in order to be able to recognize the differences.

[CoachT]

I am passing on information I am getting knowing that I may confuse coaches and therefore cause more harm than good. However, I also feel that if coaches can get interested in the topic then maybe they will consult their team physicians, etc, and strike a happy and safe medium on this topic. Here is a portion of an email I just received:

 

"I got a note regarding a possibly life-threatening practice among football coaches in your state and want to make you aware of that so that you may use your forum to promote better practices and maybe save some kid’s life.

 

What he passed on to me is: ... football coaches in Tennessee are assigning their players large cups and REQUIRING them to drink a set amount of water during every class during the hot summer practice period.

 

Now, ultramarathon runners have to be experts on staying hydrated, because you can’t run for 10 to 30 hours without sweating a lot and drinking to replace the lost water. Drinking is easy, but there’s a side issue that is also critical, and that is maintaining electrolyte balance. Electrolytes are the water-soluble salts that the body needs for proper functioning. They are lost in significant amounts through sweating. But they can also be flushed from the body by excess consumption of water. Thus, the practice of forced drinking is highly dangerous. One should only hydrate to normal levels before exercise.

 

Here’s the danger scenario. An athlete drinks repeatedly, and urinates out the excess water, along with body electrolytes, primarily sodium and potassium in their ionic form. Next, the athlete goes to practice and sweats a lot for some hours, losing more electrolytes in sweat. Up to this point, there is not much danger other than fatigue. But after practice, the athlete can then go drink more water to replace what has been lost through sweating. This new water than goes into the blood stream and dilutes the small amount of electrolytes left in the body. The concentration of sodium in the blood plasma is diluted. If it is diluted too much, the athlete experiences fatigue, mental confusion and poor muscle control. This can continue to shivering in warm conditions, convulsions and death. The technical term for this condition is hyponatremia – too little sodium in the body. There’s plenty of information on the internet if you want to learn more about the condition. A Google search on hyponatremia comes up with 612,000 hits.

 

Thus, the practice of requiring athletes to frequently drink large amounts of water is placing some of them in serious danger ( regardless of good intentions ). Responsible parties should make this known on a wide basis lest we have the sad situation of a heart-broken parent trying to understand why their healthy child died a few hours after practice. We hope you can help with this through your forum."

[Lions4ever]

I am passing on information I am getting knowing that I may confuse coaches and therefore cause more harm than good. However, I also feel that if coaches can get interested in the topic then maybe they will consult their team physicians, etc, and strike a happy and safe medium on this topic. Here is a portion of an email I just received:

 

"I got a note regarding a possibly life-threatening practice among football coaches in your state and want to make you aware of that so that you may use your forum to promote better practices and maybe save some kid’s life.

 

What he passed on to me is: ... football coaches in Tennessee are assigning their players large cups and REQUIRING them to drink a set amount of water during every class during the hot summer practice period.

 

Now, ultramarathon runners have to be experts on staying hydrated, because you can’t run for 10 to 30 hours without sweating a lot and drinking to replace the lost water. Drinking is easy, but there’s a side issue that is also critical, and that is maintaining electrolyte balance. Electrolytes are the water-soluble salts that the body needs for proper functioning. They are lost in significant amounts through sweating. But they can also be flushed from the body by excess consumption of water. Thus, the practice of forced drinking is highly dangerous. One should only hydrate to normal levels before exercise.

 

Here’s the danger scenario. An athlete drinks repeatedly, and urinates out the excess water, along with body electrolytes, primarily sodium and potassium in their ionic form. Next, the athlete goes to practice and sweats a lot for some hours, losing more electrolytes in sweat. Up to this point, there is not much danger other than fatigue. But after practice, the athlete can then go drink more water to replace what has been lost through sweating. This new water than goes into the blood stream and dilutes the small amount of electrolytes left in the body. The concentration of sodium in the blood plasma is diluted. If it is diluted too much, the athlete experiences fatigue, mental confusion and poor muscle control. This can continue to shivering in warm conditions, convulsions and death. The technical term for this condition is hyponatremia – too little sodium in the body. There’s plenty of information on the internet if you want to learn more about the condition. A Google search on hyponatremia comes up with 612,000 hits.

 

Thus, the practice of requiring athletes to frequently drink large amounts of water is placing some of them in serious danger ( regardless of good intentions ). Responsible parties should make this known on a wide basis lest we have the sad situation of a heart-broken parent trying to understand why their healthy child died a few hours after practice. We hope you can help with this through your forum."

I think that what was posted has been exaggerated....there has been no forcing of fluids...they aren't required to drink large amounts everyday...that was never said. What was said is that they are required to take in enough fluids during the day so they don't require large amounts of fluids at one time during practice...that is what is dangerous...not a steady intake of fluid to keep them well hydrated which is what they are doing...the intention is not to dilute them to a hypotonic state which indeed is dangerous. Never was it said that they were required to take in more water than is what is recommended everyday for everyone...they are just ensuring that the players get what is recommended.

 

Someone assumed too much without knowing anything about what actually takes place and took the ball and ran with it based on a very vague post. You probably need to find out the details first before accusing coaches of dangerous practices. Some posters also need to be very careful about giving parents and coaches advice about the actual treatment of water- overload induced hyponatremia with hypertonic saline because except in the most extreme cases, (a sodium of less than 115 which is rare in hypervolemia without some added underlying medical problem), 3% saline can be just as dangerous as the hyponatremia and can cause brain-damage itself.

Edited August 8, 2006 by Lions4ever