By Nathan Reck
Assitant Sports Editor

Waking up at 6:15 am and rolling into the parking lot for a run at 6:30 a.m. doesn’t sound very appealing to most students, but that is the routine of the cross country team.

 Day after day the team shows up early to go running, but it isn’t because they don’t like to sleep. Instead it is all done to beat the heat.

 With stories of players collapsing on the football field during two-a-day practices and athletes having to deal with dehydration during summer practices, coaches are always trying to find ways to increase the level of practices while at the same time maintaining a safe environment for athletes.

“The cross country team runs early in the morning to avoid the hottest part of the day,” cross country coach Roxanne Farris said. “As a coaching staff we want to have difficult workouts, but at the same time we want to make sure that no one gets hurt.”

In order to avoid dehydration the coaches also stress the importance of drinking water continually.

“The coaches are always telling us to stay hydrated by drinking water both during practice and throughout the day,” senior runner Ashley Johnson said.

Junior runner Ryan Meade agrees.

“[The coaches] always have water out before, during and after our runs,” Meade said.

The football program faces the same issue with daytime practices in the summer and early in the season. The only difference is it has to deal with the heat while in pads. Without morning practices, the football teams are forced to endure the hottest part of the day. Coach Joe McBride and his staff take the issue very seriously in order to avoid any possible injuries.

“We have an open water policy during practice, meaning that the players are free to get water whenever,” McBride said.

The training staff at the high school is also instrumental in avoiding heat issues throughout fall sports.

“Along with an unlimited water policy across the entire athletic department our trainers do a great job of monitoring practice conditions,” Crawford said. “They check the humidity and temperature everyday and alert the coaches of dangerous conditions.”

The University Interscholastic League (UIL) provides an index online that relates temperature to humidity and describes the risk levels associated with each combination.

While the football team takes up the stadium, fieldhouse and practice fields after school, the band takes their places in the parking lot behind the stadium. As the band settles in for a long afternoon practice they face the same heat issues.

“Everyone brings water to practice in order to deal with the heat,” sophomore Weston Sandfort said.

Along with current policies the administration is always looking for ways to improve practice environments and increase safety.

“There have been talks of putting air conditioning units in the weight room and the turf room,” Crawford said. “[The district] actually set aside money for an air conditioning unit for the weight room in the last bond, but not for the turf room.”

So as stories of student athletes having heat stroke during two a days are broadcast across local news stations Coppell’s coaches and training staff have taken action by implementing water policies to help prevent dehydration and working practice times around the heat.