As the weather begins to turn warm and people start to crawl out of their winter slumbers, inevitably we will begin to hear sad and unfortunate stories of athletes collapsing, some even perishing, on sweltering practice  fields across the country. The accounts, far too many for anyones liking, have peppered the headlines each year, with athletes in youth leagues all the way up through the professional ranks falling victim to the heat.

I know that when I started coaching years ago, the approach was simple and old school: get them some water and get moving. Toughen up. Move along, as athletes need to handle extremes, they need to be able to push themselves to previously unrecognized limits and to do so with unflinching courage.

Dangerous set of philosophies.

Like everything in life, times change and we learn. We take what works from our past, and we revise our mistakes so as not to repeat them. It is in this idea that now, as we head out onto the fields as coaches and players, we need to understand that athletes are not pure machines, and that the suns rays and their accompanying extreme temperatures can turn a great practice into a unimaginable tragedy.

The good news is that, with awareness and diligence, we can avoid almost every senseless scenario.

To start, we need to recognize the beginning signs of heat exhaustion, which if left unchecked can soon turn into heat stroke, and we need to educate our players to see it within themselves and on others. Coaches do all they can to protect their players, but, like any coach who has been around will tell you, it is impossible, despite ones best efforts, to see everything. If everyone on the team and staff understands the warning signs, then heading off a potential situation becomes easier.

So, here are the initial symptoms of heat exhaustion.

*Pale skin

*Weakness or fatigue

*Dizzy

*Nauseous

*Profuse sweating

*Rapid pulse

*Quick, shallow breathing

*Muscle weakness or cramps

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