With the fall semester picking up in all aspects on campus, this means the fall sports and athletics are in full swing in terms of frequent practices. For a lot of athletes, though, the heat has been unbearable. This past summer was officially the hottest recorded meteorological summer (June to August period) in the history of the United States. The heat has set records and the humidity has not been great either. This has caused a lot of issues in the Doane athletics community, as most teams need to practice outside for multiple hours a day. This is also not just a problem in one sport, but members of all the athletic teams this semester have had problems with the heat.
When asked about how the heat has been affecting their practices, juniors Rylee DeVaughn and Hayle Brodine expressed their individual struggles with coping with the heat while playing soccer.
“I’m from Alaska, so I’m not really used to it at all, especially the humidity,” DeVaughn said. “It’s really dry where I’m from so I think the biggest thing is just blocking it out mentally.” For Brodine, however, this feeling is familiar to her.
“For me it’s different since I’m from Texas so I’m really used to the heat and the humidity,” Brodine said. “It’s really hard for everyone to come together and practice in the heat.” She then specified that practices typically start around 6 p.m. and last around an hour and a half, so the sun goes down and it gets cooler. The two expressed that playing games are a lot more difficult as they’re earlier in the day when the heat is at its peak, which makes the turf worse. Some of the games had to be moved even earlier in the day to avoid high temperatures. The two then added that the games matter a lot more and that they can play at a lower intensity in practice, but never during games.
An anonymous football player explained that the heat hasn’t been too bad for him as he’s from Florida, but he’s seen it get to some of his teammates. Football practices start around 4 to 6 p.m., but if the heat is too unbearable, they’ll push it back to later in the night. However, these kinds of changes can conflict with a student athlete’s already busy schedule. When asked about the intensity of the practices, the football player said that they don’t get more breaks and it’s usually the same amount of work with more heat.
Not all sports have been practicing outside, although those inside still have issues as well. Junior Ivy Shove, cheer, expressed that her practices span multiple hours and happen in the Field House with no AC.
“It makes the experience overall a lot hotter,” Shove said. “It makes practices feel a lot more productive. It makes you feel like you’re working really hard, which is satisfying.” She also expressed that the amount of sweat makes it a lot more difficult due to cheer being a heavy contact sport, and the amount of sweat and the heat lowers team energy and spirit a lot.
As the campus is experiencing a very rainy season now, the issue might temporarily be resolved, but the heat is a real issue for coaches as they need to practice and can’t necessarily control the weather, and for the teams that have to work for hours in it.
