At Mount Vernon, players practiced outdoors from 4 until about 5:45 p.m. and then came back out from 7 to 9 p.m. for another go around. While the evening provided some relief, coach Gary Keller was stressing the importance of hydration earlier in the day.
“We’ve got to get used to the heat,” said Keller. “We’ve got to get out here. Whether it is cold, hot or raining, it is football weather. We have to be able to react. It is hard on kids, no question, but it is also hard on the coaches. It is a thing you have to do — get your body climatized to the temperatures you are going to be facing. This week, we have to go to Medina for a scrimmage on their turf field. I’ve told the team it is going to be really hot on that turf. That sun is going to be absorbed and it is going to be a lot hotter than what we’re used to. That’s why we have to get used to this weather.”
Wearing pads is much different for the Jackets, according to Keller. They have been working hard since practice started on Thursday.
“We’ve been going four straight days and they’ve been banging each other whether they were wearing pads or not,” said Keller. “We’ve been going at a nice clip. We’ve got pads on, but it is not a whole lot different than what we have been doing.”
When there are 50 to 60 players on the field at once, it can be a daunting task to keep track of all that is going on. Keller is confident his staff is doing its best, though, and is keeping the players safe.
“We have it broken down to positions,” Keller said. “We have nine coaches here between nine through 12. I think we have a nice number of people watching the kids to see if there are any problems or not. All of our coaches went through the sports medicine clinic so they are aware of what to look for.”
With the weather forecast calling for even hotter temperatures the remainder of this week, Keller knows they may have to alter their routines. While that is not the best option, it may be the only one.
“If it gets really bad, we’ll have to look into something else,” said Keller. “A lot of times I let our trainer make the call on whether it is too hot or if the humidity is too high, whatever. We use common sense when we are out here. I am smart enough to realize that it is warm out here and if we kill our kids, we are going to have a big problem. We don’t want to do that. We want to work through it as best we can.”
