Dial set on HOT: Football camps heat up

Rick Chastain thought for a moment about Thursday's heat and his football camp scheduled for later in the evening at Perryville High School and reached one conclusion: "Lots of water breaks."

Perryville's football players are in the middle of a camp that stretches into next week during what is shaping up as a very warm time of the year.

The Missouri State High School Activities Association allows players to wear helmets and shoulder pads during the camp workouts, which are not subject to the practice rules that do not allow schools to conduct workouts when the heat index exceeds 105 degrees.

"Basically, you have to use your own judgment and common sense," Chastain said. "It's always better to err on the side of safety. That's the No. 1 item."

Central coach Lawrence Brookins agreed.

"I'm not going to risk hurting somebody," he said.

Central's camps, from 6 to 8 p.m., are one-half hour later than those at Perryville, where players did not wear helmets or pads on Wednesday.

"By the time we get to 6, it's still toasty but it's not as hot as it is earlier in the day," Brookins said. "If it's unbearable, we may decide not to use pads. If it's really unbearable, we may stay in the gym."

Coaches were shaken some by the death of a University of Missouri football player during a light summer workout July 12 in Columbia, Mo. That took place on a day when temperatures were in the mid-80s.

Brookins said Central's camps, practices and games include the presence of trained medical personnel from HealthSouth. This year, he said Rob Bunger will be at all the team's sessions.

"He's at every camp session, every practice unless an emergency comes up, and he'll always be at every game -- home or away," Brookins said. "That's really nice insurance for us. Jackson has that, too. All the people that HealthSouth has sent us have been quality people. We're pretty comfortable with that."

Chastain said every member of the Perryville coaching staff has had first aid training and that the coaches communicate throughout practice.

"The coaches are always talking and after about every other drill, we'll break for water," Chastain said. "It's just a lot of common sense: Don't do anything ignorant or stupid.

"The camp gives us an idea what the kids have been doing in the offseason, and we go over a lot of terminology to get kids up to date."