By Tom Dodge
Sports Editor
Helping athletes battle heat-related issues can be a matter of life or death.
It is an issue that Eunice High certified athletic trainer Kyle Vincent and others take very seriously.
“We preach hydration as a preventative,” he said. “We watch for any changes in the players as the practice - we have misting fans and put them in the shade.
“We are very aware of what can happen to a player if we can’t prevent heat problems.
You can’t prevent a major knee or neck injury but heat illnesses are very preventable.”
A study by Andrew J. Grundstein, an associate professor in the department of geography at the University of Georgia, reported that 123 high school football players died of heat-related illnesses between 1960 and 2009.
In fact, from 2005 to 2009, the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research in University of North Carolina reported 18 cases in which high school and college athletes suffered fatal exertional heat stroke.
According to the NCCSIR, 19 more high school and college athletes have died due to heat stroke since 2010.
“As a company, Louisiana Athletic Care, we all try to stay on the same page with how we treat heat issues but we all have different facilities and equiptment.
“We work with the athletes constantly to help them stay healthy.
“You tell them to hydrate and they think a bottle of water before practivce is good,” he said. “But they really need to start 72 hours before or at least 24 hours earlier pumping water into their system.”
Vincent said the EHS summer conditioning program will help aclimate the players to the August heat in preseason practices.
“We went three days a week all summer with weight room workouts and then running drills outside.
“Once practice starts on Monday, the LHSAA regulates that teams practice first in helments, then shoulder pads before finally full gear.”
Vincent is in his second year at Eunice High after two years at Church Point and Rayne.
“We work well together,” he said of the EHS athletice department. “The coaches listen to me and they all want what is best for the kids.”
Vincent said practice days in extreme humidity, they govern break times and stay very aware of andy changes they see in the players.
Certified athletic trainer Brent Boudreaux is part of St. Landry Parish School Board’s partnership with Louisiana Athletic Care and works at Beau Chene.
Boudreaux said avoiding heat problems are always one of his top priorities.
“It is a team effort as we have trust each other to watch out,” he said. “It is impossible to watch every athlete all the time.
“When they are going through extreme workouts we watch specfically special risk athletes,” Boudreaux said. “We want every athlete to stay healthy and be successful.”
“We make a difference every day,” Boudreaux said of athletic trainers.”
“It was needed in 1995 at Breaux Bridge when Butch Theriot died,” he said.
On Aug. 11, 1995, Theriot collapsed and died after the team’s first practice.
It was the 18-year old offensive lineman’s senior season.
Theriot went through the drills, hitting and sprinting in 93-degree heat.
At 1:30, he collapsed. Coaches carried him to the training room, put him in a whirlpool bath and added ice to lower his temperature.
After they arrived, emergency workers began CPR and started an IV but could not get a heartbeat.
At 2:20 p.m., he was pronounced dead from heatstroke.
“I was working as an outreach athletic trainer and I had 30 schools,” Broudreaux said. “Butch was at one – it was needed then.”
Boudreaux said tragdies such as that one should motivate every school system to step up to protect their athletes.
“No school system can avoid not to have these positions in place ,” he said. “St. Landry Parish has the the luxury that their parents going to bed at night knowing that when they send their kids out to compete in athletics – that there is a guy who’s sole job is the welfare of their kid as a student-athlete.”
“We all operate under the direction of Dr. Phillip R. Bacilla,” Boudreaux said. “He approves and signs off on all protocals.”
LAC began its certified athletic training coverage in St. Landry Parish in 2006.
“We are one of only five parishes to have full-time certified athletic trainers at every public high school,” Boudreaux said. “LCA also provides services to Opelousas Catholic and Westminster
“St. Edmund’s services are provided by RehabXcel,” he added. “They are are dual certified as physical therapists and athletic trainers.”