The excessive heat the first week of school took over Wayne Hills Sports. With temperatures that reached up to 93 degrees the first few days of school, important games and practices were shortened and canceled. This was detrimental to the fall sports teams as many athletes were limited from preparing for their first games and events of the season.
As half days were put in place, after-school activities were canceled or shortened to an hour or two depending on the temperature. To certain sports teams, this affected practice plans and preparation for upcoming games and events. Players had to take a five minute break every 20 minutes of these short practices, leaving them with little time to actually practice.
Many coaches were frustrated as they were forced to adjust their practice plans due to the weather. We got the opportunity to interview Wayne Hills Girls Soccer coach Mr. Porta and Field Hockey Coach Ms. Caruso.
Coach Ms. Caruso had some thoughts about the heat, saying “It affected a lot, a lot of the practices and a lot of games were canceled. We should have already played games but were only able to play two. We haven’t gone a lot of practices in so we have been all over the place and we are starting to get back into the groove now with the weather changing.”
Coach Mr. Porta said, “ I think it has affected our performance in the games because we haven’t had a lot of practices. Our drills have not been affected much we do the same thing they are just shorter.”
Clearly the coaches weren’t pleased with the changes and adjusting to the heat was very frustrating for them.
Though it was very frustrating for the coaches, it was just as frustrating for the players who were ready to practice and play. With important games and events coming up for the Wayne Hills fall sports, players worried that the shortened practices could possibly hurt the team. Players also experienced physical problems such as being light headed and dehydration.
Wayne Hills Soccer player Amanda Kneis said, “Every time I run I’m pretty light headed. I feel like I need more water so it’s hard to get a good practice in.”
Obviously, temperatures this high are not fun for anybody especially the athletes. At least we won’t experience that heat again for a while.
