A record-breaking heat wave surged through the midwest Aug. 21 lasting 5 days and reaching up to 120 degrees. These conditions affected fall sports, causing schedule changes and health concerns.
“Multiple players have become super nauseous during softball practice,” junior Georgia Gomez said. “It hasn’t been too bad though because we don’t do a lot of running in our sport, but I wonder how the high-activity sports are feeling.”
According to the Kansas City Star, Kansas City saw temperatures rise to mid to upper 90’s, while dew points will make it feel like more than 110 to 120 degrees.
This rise in temperature caused tennis to practice in the morning, cramming their hour-and-a-half practices in before the afternoon heat.
“It’s pretty rough,” senior Lauren Murphy said. “The heat makes me really tired, so going through the days after morning practice is really hard.”
The CBC states that extreme heat temperatures can cause major negative impacts on the human body, including major dehydration, slower processing skills, and fatigue.
“Waking up every morning to play field hockey in the heat has made me super tired,” freshman Nora Conway. “It’s harder to focus, and also sitting in my dried sweat all day is super uncomfortable.
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Schedule modifications can be uncomfortable for some, but other students are finding positives out of the changed schedules and suffocating heat.
“I personally prefer our new schedule,” Gomez said. “It allows me the time to get all my homework done before practice since softball has practice at night.”
According to the Weather Service of Kansas City conditions are untenable even for a short amount of time. Because of this, fall coaches have been cutting down on practice content and length to protect their players from the heat.
“If we didn’t change our practice content it would be a lot more difficult to have a successful work rate,” Murphy said. “By doing shorter drills and less running it has helped a lot with the fatigue.”
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Now referred to as “the heat dome” this wave of heat caused suffocating humidity, but temperatures cooled down the following week on Aug 28.
“I can’t wait for normal practices to be back,” Conway said. “This heat is just not for me.”
