Doug Casa, who survived heatstroke as a teen runner and now studies it, was relieved to have heard of no heat fatalities this month as football players from the pee wees to the pros drill in August heat.
"Thank God there are no fatalities in the football level so far. But in the northern part of the country, now is when high school practices start," said Casa, a researcher who directs the Korey Stringer Institute, founded this year at the University of Connecticut and named after the Minnesota Vikings offensive tackle who died in 2001 from complications of heatstroke during training camp.
At least two heatstroke deaths and as many as five have been recorded in each of the last six years in football, according to data compiled at the University of North Carolina. Casa said he has spoken with the parents of a high school player in the Northeast who survived heatstroke last week but is "still having some problems."
Whether it's water or sports drinks, Vikings linebacker Ben Leber drinks before, during and after practice.
"Just always have something in your hand. ... You always fill up your tank and then replenish," he said after a hot practice in Mankato, Minn.
The Weather Channel has listed the 10 hottest NFL camps, topped by the Houston Texans and New Orleans Saints. But it gets hot in Green Bay, Wis., too. Heat illness and heatstroke are not limited to the Sun Belt.
Thirty-one high school football players and eight collegians died from heatstroke from 1995 through 2009, according to the Survey of Football Injury Research Annual Report at the University of North Carolina. Stringer is the NFL's lone heatstroke death.
The Korey Stringer Institute was founded in April by Stringer's widow, Kelci, with backing from the NFL and Gatorade. It focuses on heat illness and other causes of sudden death in sports. Its efforts include education, research and safety measures.
At NFL camps:
*Washington Redskins defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth missed practice for the third consecutive day Thursday. Coach Mike Shanahan said Wednesday he had been told by the athletic training staff that Haynesworth was "dehydrated and it was heat-related." On Thursday, Shanahan said Haynesworth felt his "head was bothering him more than it was dehydration." Headaches can be a symptom of heat illness.
*The St. Louis Rams practiced indoors last week because the heat index was 115.
*Reggie Bush sat out a recent Saints practice. "Just a little dehydration and cramps in my legs," he said.
Teams adjust to avoid the hottest parts of the day. When the Green Bay Packers hold two practices in a day, they start at 8:45 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Players weigh in before and after practice. Defensive end Aaron Smith of the Pittsburgh Steelers said he might lose 4-5 pounds in a practice. He said the danger is weight loss that accumulates: "If you lost 10 pounds from one week to the next, then you worry you're totally dehydrated."
Members of the Chicago Bears athletic training staff run around handing out six-packs of drink bottles.
"Everyone wishes they had the resources NFL teams have," Casa said. "They have physicians out there, they have a full complement of athletic trainers. ... They have access to the best equipment."
Casa was 16 when he suffered heatstroke in 1985 while running a 10-kilometer race in Buffalo. He said a trainer at the scene began lowering his body temperature with towels chilled in ice water; that continued in the ambulance and he was placed in a tub of ice at the hospital. He said such care isn't available to many.
"Where are the masses of kids who participate in sports? They're at the high school level, and half the high schools in America still don't have athletic trainers," he said.
Casa, professor of kinesiology and director of athletic training education at Connecticut, also works with the National Athletic Trainers' Association. Last year, he co-chaired a NATA group that urged standard guidelines for acclimatization to heat in high school sports, including one practice daily on the first five days of training.
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