1. BY-LAW 2.67 – “Practice Policy for Heat and Humidity- for more information, see GHSA Constitution & By-laws.

Schools must follow the statewide policy for conducting practices and voluntary conditioning workouts in all sports during times of extremely high heat and/or humidity that will be signed by each head coach at the beginning of each season and distributed to all players and their parents or guardians. The policy shall follow modified guidelines of the American College of Sports Medicine in regard to:

 

1. The scheduling of practices at various heat/humidity levels

2. The ratio of workout time to time allotted for rest and hydration at various heat/humidity levels

3. The heat/humidity level that will result in practice being terminated

 

A scientifically approved instrument that measures Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) reading must be utilized at each practice to ensure that the written policy is being followed properly. WBGT READING	ACTIVITY GUIDELINES & REST BREAK GUIDELINES
UNDER 82.0	Normal activities --Provide at least three separate rest breaks each hour of minimum duration of 3 minutes each during workout
82.0 -86.9	Use discretion for intense or prolonged exercise; watch at-risk players carefully; Provide at least three separate rest breaks each hour of a minimum of four minutes duration each.
87.0 – 89.9	Maximum practice time is two hours. For Football: players restricted to helmet, shoulder pads, and shorts during practice. All protective equipment must be removed for conditioning activities. For all sports: Provide at least four separate rest breaks each hour of a minimum of four minutes each
90.0--92.0	Maximum length of practice is one hour, no protective equipment may be worn during practice and there may be no conditioning activities. There must be 20 minutes of rest breaks provided during the hour of practice.
OVER 92	No outdoor workouts; Cancel exercise; delay practices until a cooler WBGT reading occurs

 

Football Pre-season Practice Regulations

Football practice may begin five consecutive weekdays prior to August 1st (July 25th in 2012).

1.     In the first five days of practice for any student, the practice shall not last longer than 2 hours, and the student shall not wear more than shorts, helmet, mouthpiece, and shoes. (NOTE: The time for a session shall be measured from the time the players report to the field until they leave the field.)

2.    Beginning August 1st, any student may practice in full pads and may practice two times in single calendar day under the following stipulations:

       a.    A student must have participated in five conditioning practices wearing shorts and helmet before being allowed to practice in full pads

       b.    If multiple workouts are held in a single day:

              i.    No single session may last longer than 3 hours

              ii.    The total amount of time in the two practices shall not exceed 5 hours.

              iii.    There must be at least a 3-hour time of rest between sessions

              iv.    There may not be consecutive days of two-a-day practices. All double-session days must be followed by a single-session day or a day off.

       c.    These procedures are derived from recommendations created by the Inter-Association Task Force for Preseason Secondary School Athletics Participants in the research paper “Preseason Heat-Acclimatization Guidelines for Secondary School Athletics.”