TPS football teams banned from practice between 1-6 p.m.
BY MIKE BROWN World Sports Writer
Wednesday, August 08, 2012
8/08/12 at 4:11 AM
Tulsa Public Schools football teams are under a 1-6 p.m. practice moratorium to avoid the hottest part of the day while triple-digit temperatures continue.
Most of the district's high school and junior high teams are practicing in the morning hours and a few are practicing after 6 p.m., TPS athletic director Gil Cloud said.
Oklahomans have seen a succession of blistering daytime highs in recent weeks. In Tulsa last week, the temperature reached 112 degrees on three consecutive days.
Cloud said he instituted the ban last week when cross country and softball teams started preseason work, and he decided Monday to extend it for football.
"We just have to watch the kids and do the best we can to make sure they aren't getting too much heat," Cloud said.
Tuesday was the first day football teams could take to the practice field. Drills are limited to non-contact work until Friday when full pads are permitted.
Cloud said the ban would remain in effect at least until next Monday when he will decide whether to extend the ban, depending on long-range weather forecasts.
Highs in the 90s are forecast for later this week, but temperatures are expected to climb back over the century mark early next week.
OSSAA staff member David Jackson said he knew of no other school district imposing such a moratorium. But Jackson said most of the teams he knows of are going with similar morning and evening sessions to avoid the heat.
The state's governing body of secondary school athletics has no guidelines on the matter, OSSAA executive director Ed Sheakley said. But he said the group's board of directors plans to take up the issue.
For now, the OSSAA endorses policies used by activities associations in neighboring states that mirror NCAA guidelines, Sheakley said.
Arkansas, for example, limits practice time to three hours per day, or to two sessions totaling five hours with at least an hour-long break between sessions. Consecutive days of multiple sessions are discouraged, Sheakley said.
Original Print Headline: TPS football teams are banned from afternoon practice
Mike Brown 918-581-8390
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