Last Friday night it was the rain. This Friday it will be the heat. Iowa high school football coaches and athletic directors will be keeping a close eye on the weather heading into this week’s contests.
Todd Tharp is with the Iowa High School Athletic Association and says heat has been a factor at all levels of competition there may be some schools that will change the start time to avoid the worst of it.
“If they are playing just a single game and instead of playing at seven o’clock and want to move it to eight o’clock that certainly is a school’s prerogative”, said Tharp. “They don’t need to have our permission to do that, they just need to communicate with everybody.”
Tharp says they have encouraged coaches to focus on proper hydration this week and calls it a gradual process.
“You can’t just start guzzling the water on Friday to be prepared for that night”, said Tharp. “It is a weekly process.”
Pat Powers at KQWC in Webster City contributed to this story