Liberty North athletes are forced to deal with the excessive heat of the summer

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More than forty thousand daily heat records have been broken around the

country this year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It has been abnormally hot here in the United States,Kansas City, not being an exception. Students can take precautions such as, staying inside, taking advantage of air conditioning, or just drinking plenty of water. For student athletes, returning to school means returning to their respective sport, and sometimes, taking a punishment from an abnormally hot time of year. Students know well from summer practice, heat will play a factor. The real question for these athletes is how to minimize the suffering. “I think the heat has really prepared us for the intensity of competition this fall. It’s helped us to be the best that we can be when the going gets tough this football season,” junior Peyton Reid said. Students have to find ways to treat practices the same way they normally would, even with excessive heat. Alterations to certain sports must accompany this fall season, foreshadowed by the record breaking heat seen in the summer. Trying to control the weather would be a wasted aspiration but, the next best thing is quite achievable. Drinking plenty of water, eating healthier, and maintaining tough persona will help.

“The heat for our sport, Cross Country, exhausts us even more. During two-a -day workouts, this heat makes it harder to stay hydrated running both in the mornings and evenings. When it gets too hot, we have to cancel evening practice, which doesn’t allow us to get any better,” senior Danny Blackwell said. With temperatures climbing well above the century mark, tough practices will be the norm. Athletes rounding the bases for softball, running a 5k in cross country, beating heads in football, or just trying to continue the volley in tennis, the beating sun makes cowards out of many athletes during early fall practices. Every outdoor sport is just that much harder, when intense heat waves enter the conversation. “Softball will be affected by the heat because everyone will have to suffer through how hot it is and just focus on the game to get the job done. It might make us all a little tougher through the experience,” junior Hannah Pirrello said. Though athletes are well coached on how to handle this excessive heat, Mother Nature cannot be controlled. Athletes from many schools will have problems created by the heat, and North has to do its best to defeat its first real test of the year. Liberty North Athletes have not faltered yet, but the record breaking heat offers an obstacle.

Middle. Girls fight through a four hour softball tryout. “Tryouts are really unenjoyable when it is extremely hot out,” junior Hannah Pirrello said.

Top. The football team fights through the heat. “We have two-a-days for our first week of tryouts. We do our best to ignore the heat and work hard,” senior Jase Willhite said.

Bottom. Tennis players know the importance of keeping hydrated. “There is nothing more important then staying hydrated in tennis because it keeps us at your best when the courts are extremely hot,” senior Jessica Wawiorka said.

beattheheat

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Written by Tim Falleri | Photos by Katelynn Downey

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