On a recent Thursday morning, John Horsley stood in the south end zone of Westwood High School's 'Warrior Bowl' stadium. As the school's varsity football team ran through drills, he monitored a weather app on his phone.
"So we're actually great out here right now. It feels really good. We have a nice breeze," he said. "Eighty-four point six on the wet bulb, so [we] really don't have anything to worry about. Just making sure we’re staying hydrated and paying attention. But this is the best time of day to be outside."
As Westwood High School's lead athletic trainer, Horsley is responsible for helping keep student athletes healthy and safe. This is especially important in the heat that has proved deadly in other parts of the country this year.
In addition to water, Horsley said he keeps 20 gallons of ice and a special "cooling pod" on hand in case of a heat-related medical emergency during outdoor practices like this one.
All of that is in line with updated heat safety recommendations and protocols for outdoor school activities from the University Interscholastic League, or UIL. The organization is responsible for overseeing extracurricular academic, athletic and music contests throughout Texas.
Starting this year, schools must provide "rapid cooling zones" for any outdoor sport and marching band contest, practice, workout or conditioning session that is held in wet bulb globe temperatures of 80 degrees or higher. Rapid cooling zones often include ice and water-filled tubs or tarps, where athletes can submerge their bodies to cool their internal body temperature during a heat emergency.
The wet bulb globe temperature takes into account several factors, including: temperature, humidity, wind speed, sun angle and cloud cover, according to Ray Zepeda, the UIL director of athletics. This differs from the heat index, which takes into consideration temperature and humidity and is calculated for shady areas.
"So what you’re doing is, you’re coming up with a measurement that is very close to the stress that the student athlete experiences out there in that type of environment," he said.
In addition to "rapid cooling zones," schools must also have an emergency action plan for heat emergencies.
"We ask that school districts put in their mandated emergency action plan specific steps that show that they have processes and plans in place for addressing heat exhaustion or heat stroke," Zepeda said.
Horsley said Westwood's football program in Round Rock ISD had already taken many of the precautions the UIL is now mandating, but he's glad to see the level of safety being extended statewide.
He said wet bulb globe temperatures became part of Westwood's toolkit to help guide decisions about heat safety a few years ago.
"A while back, me and a couple athletic trainers got together ... we put together what we felt was best," said Horsley. "Then we also took it to Williamson County EMS and St. David's and some of the local healthcare providers to make sure they're on the same page."
Anthony Wood, Westwood's athletic coordinator and head football coach, said he's glad to see the UIL update its safety recommendations to protect students statewide.
"I think anytime you can have an organization that's going to educate younger coaches and educate the public on how we take care of our athletes, I think it's a great thing," he said. "I've been here for 22 years. It didn't just all the sudden get hot this year, so we've been doing this for quite a long time."
Other local Central Texas school districts have adopted similar heat safety measures over recent years.
For example, last year, Austin ISD announced new requirements and time limits for outdoor activities and purchased new wet bulb globe temperature monitors for all of its middle schools and high schools after some student athletes experienced heat-related illnesses.
Daphne Hoffacker has a son who plays in the marching band at Anderson High School. She said she's grateful for the extra precautions after seeing first-hand how severely the kids can be impacted by heat.
"The first football game that we went to last year ... somebody had some heat-related event, and as they were being taken off on a stretcher, they went in front of the band, and my child saw this other child having a seizure," she said. "It was really traumatic."
But even with new heat safety recommendations and protocols, Hoffacker said she still harbors some concerns.
"The weather events have gotten far more extreme and they seem to last far longer," she said. "I think at some point we, as a society, are going to have to think about investing in different facilities, maybe think about changing the schedule. So I do think there are long term impacts that we're going to have to address."
