Justin LaCertosa is an ASU Walter Cronkite School of Journalism student covering Gilbert High School for AzPreps365.com

Athletes across all levels train themselves to perform at the highest level. Whether it’s a professional or a student-athlete, all of these competitors work to make sure that their bodies are ready for anything that’s thrown at them.

Work and discipline plays a vital role, and an athlete must be both conditioned and physically ready to attack. However, for athletes playing outdoors in the state of Arizona, the effects of the Valley of the Sun require a whole new level of preparation.

“The way I have seen it in the past, climate plays an important part in how the athletes are able to compete,” said Gilbert softball head coach and former football coach Michael Kaddatz. “Football really is tough because you start out during the summer months to get ready for the season with lifting and 7-on-7, and conditioning. Then monsoon season hits and it gets humid.  Lots of athletes succumb to these conditions because they don’t properly hydrate.  Then it starts to get cold by the end of the season.  Weather changes so much in the fall, it could be 100 degrees out in the day, and then the temperature drastically drops.” 

The hydration of an athlete, especially in the scorching Arizona heat, plays a crucial role in preparation, as well as in a game setting. A study posted by Arizona State University at wellness.asu.edu provides reasoning as to why your body needs water, along with intricate guidelines on how to properly stay hydrated. According to wellness.asu.edu, the human body needs water to maintain a normal body temperature, transporting a combination of nutrients and oxygen to cells to provide the body with energy. The university’s wellness guidelines also recommend 16-20 fluid ounces of water at least four hours before exercise and eight-to-12 fluid ounces around 10-15 minutes before exercise. During exercise, three to eight fluid ounces of water every 15-20 minutes is the standard. 

Altogether, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services, two liters of water per day is the recommended intake level. However, if working outside, that amount increases to one to two liters per hour outdoors. 

“For lack of a better example, I ask them if a car does not have oil or gas or engine coolant, would it work properly?  Or will the car break down and not run?” said Kaddatz. “Years ago, we would make every football player carry a gallon water bottle with them at school and would have their water checked by teachers, coaches, and teammates throughout the day.  It still is a challenge to get athletes to drink water when they are not physically on the field.”

Water intake and hydration is crucial towards keeping the body ready at a performance standard at any given point. Proper hydration not only sustains physical performance, but also aids in maintaining cognitive function and overall physiological well-being.

Kaddatz’s insight not only highlights the impact Arizona’s heat has on the sport of football, but also the tendency for athletes to overlook hydration when they’re not actively engaged in physical activity. Educating athletes about the continuous need for hydration, both on and off the field, is essential for cultivating a mindset of self-care that extends beyond game time.

“In general, heat overall, we factor in thermoregulation and dehydration, all of the other factors that come into play that can affect one’s cognitive ability and physiological abilities,” said Jennifer Vanos, an associate professor and climatologist. “It’s not just about a rising core temperature, it’s what your body is trying to do to thermoregulate, to keep your core temperatures down, that it’s actually going to take blood from digesting food and try and get that blood to the skin to shed heat from the body.” Vanos is an associate professor in the School of Sustainability and the College of Global Futures at Arizona State University. Her research entails how the body adapts to extreme temperatures, and how the body reacts to the heat and air pollution.

Ensuring the standard amount of water intake not only guards against dehydration, but also supports the body’s ability to regulate temperature, maintain energy levels, and sustain focus during intense physical activity. As athletes strive for excellence while maintaining physical well-being, not only is proper hydration vital, but so is a proper diet and caloric intake. 

“We tend to see a lot more gastrointestinal issues when people are competing or practicing in the heat,” said Vanos. “You do want to be careful and eat smaller meals, don’t eat bigger or heavier meals that are going to require a lot of resources to digest. It varies from every athlete, athletes know their body and what it can handle, but not eating bigger meals before and making sure to get the recovery meals in after.”

Gastrointestinal issues, as Vanos alluded to, is a realistic health issue that can be easily sparked by an athlete’s diet when playing in such scorching heat. Although these can lead to short-term illnesses or issues that can be resolved shortly after exercise outdoors, there are surely added long-term effects that may arise in these situations.  From organ and brain damage, to concussions and seizures, more severe issues could emerge.

“You can definitely have long term organ damage or die, and some athletes that have experienced that haven’t usually taken care of their body properly,” said Vanos. “A lot of times, it’s our brain that’s affected first, but with seizures that they experience. When you’re starting to experience initial signs of heat illness, you’re often getting dizzy. So I think a lot of this with football players and concussions, and I think that’s something that goes a little bit unstudied or unthought of, that when you are starting to experience those signs, you have a higher risk of other errors, such as potentially concussions or not playing as well.”

In 2011, Ralph Swearngin of Georgia High School Association assembled a group of sports medicine researchers from the University of Georgia in a hope to uncover how heat affects high school football players. The result of the study discovered that the heat does play a factor in athletes suffering concussions, according to the Washington Post. 

As athletes in Arizona work with the challenges of intense heat and its impact on their bodies, a larger challenge arises within one specific sport – track and field. A sport that often gets overlooked, track and field is arguably one of the harshest outdoor sports that affects athletes in Arizona’s climate. 

“We just try to monitor the amount of time we are spending outside,” said Gilbert track & field head coach Devin Green. “We practice in the mornings in the fall and often before the sun rises. We practice in the afternoon in the spring time while the sun is still up. We tell our kids to wear sunscreen, long sleeve shirts are useful, for sure. We can’t escape the sun, and we need to do our best to protect our student-athletes now and in the future.”

Heat in Arizona can create both short-term and long-term problems, but the most important factor is preparation and hydration. In order to stay healthy and succeed in the Valley of the Sun, a proper regime must be in place.