By Eileen Ruan ‘28
From air conditioning to protection from heat illness during sports, there have been rising concerns in the Thacher community about the general impacts of extreme temperatures. This leads to the questions: How is the temperature and weather actually changing, and how has the constant heat affected athletes in the spring sports season? Therefore, we will delve into how high temperatures during the spring season can affect practices and athletes during practices, as well as the countermeasures that athletes and coaches are taking or can take during certain periods of overwhelming heat, in this article.
Many interviewees reflected that this year, the temperatures at the school didn’t actually increase compared to previous school years—the experience of drastic heat simply came from the large rises or drops in temperatures or changes in the weather between certain days. As Ms. Bepko noted, “I’ve noticed more extremes happening in times of the year that you wouldn’t necessarily expect. Typically, the hottest parts of the year are in August… but there’s been a lot more heat in the February and March months, as we just had… so [the weather is] definitely becoming a little bit more unpredictable.” Ms. Trejo confirmed that this notion was a common one: “I know that there are times [when] it gets really hot, just really suddenly in Ojai, and so it’s been hard to kind of navigate that out in the sun.” On a different note, Dr. Delvecchio noticed a change in the weather: “It was unusual that we had a heat wave, but I haven’t noticed the temperature changing… It’s more the lack of rain.” Essentially, there was no extensive change in the weather between this year and the previous years, but the climate and the more unpredictable temperature fluctuations explain why members of the Thacher community may think that the temperature is becoming more drastic.
To more quantitatively measure temperature changes over recent years, Mr. Emanuel introduced a measuring system that regulates how and if sports games take place. As he put it: “Right now, we use the WetBulb. It’s basically a way to gauge moisture, wind, and heat. And then there’s a color coordination, so different sections in different areas [have different restrictions for sports]. If one area is more humid, the temperature can be lower, but you still could get into a red or a black, color-coded zone where you’re not allowed to play. In some areas where it’s dry and hot, the temperature can be higher, but you’re still allowed to play. So, depending on the climate in each kind of zone or area, it’ll affect whether or not you can play games.” What Mr. Emanuel is referring to is the WetBulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) monitor that the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) put into place. This monitor measures heat stress in direct sunlight, taking temperature, humidity, wind speed, sun angle, and cloud cover into account.
The effects of more extreme weather also seemed to affect different sports in distinct ways. When asked about which sports she received more athletes with heat issues from, Ms. Bepko distinguished between the severity of high temperatures for different sports: “So there are the sports that are really heavy equipment. Because football and lacrosse [have] pads and helmets, [which] limit the amount of heat you’re dissipating and evaporating into the environment. But at the same time, cross country is a big risk, because they’re not wearing a lot of gear, but they’re typically practicing running for a long period of time.” Therefore, athletes in sports that are gear-heavy or ones that require athletes to use up a lot of energy are more susceptible to the impacts of extreme weather conditions.
On a more optimistic note, many coaches reflected that there are policies designed and already being put into place to counteract higher temperatures. Some of these policies are not designed by the school itself, but instead follow a broader framework of the California Interscholastic Federation, more commonly known as CIF. As Dr. Delvecchio put it: “By a CIF ruling, our school has to take a temperature reading, and when it gets too hot, we have to put in certain rules, like athletes can’t run, or athletes can only run for X amount of minutes, and they need certain amounts of breaks. I’m really glad that those rules have been implemented.”
Identifying the specifics, all teams are taking similar routes to deal with the heat. According to multiple coaches who coach for different sports, teams sometimes take more or longer water breaks, games are scheduled for later times, games are switched to locations with milder weather, and tents, water sprayers, and ice baths provide timely support for student athletes who already may be heading towards heat illnesses.
There are also a variety of other prevention methods that individual athletes can take. Ms. Bepko described the process to prevent heat-related illness: “[The number one thing to do is] educating people on how to stay hydrated, how to go into a practice session and stay hydrated and as cold as possible. Number two [is] always having things available for people to cool themselves while they’re practicing. So [this includes] ice bags, fans, having shade available, and just proactively having people put things on themselves to keep their body temperature as low as possible.”
Despite the system of prevention methods the school and the California Interscholastic Federation are taking to curb the impacts of intense heat, the hot weather is still a prominent issue that sports teams are dealing with. Despite these possible concerns, Ms. Bearrows still had an optimistic outlook on future years: “We don’t really know when these hot weather surges might start. So right now, it’s more of a see what happens, hope to adapt to it, and hope to manage the schedule and manage the demands of the season.”