SAN DIEGO — Student athletes throughout San Diego are preparing for Friday night football but practices leading up to them are happening in the middle of a heatwave.
Ahead of hot temperatures expected for the next few days throughout San Diego County, student athletes are doing what they can to protect themselves and their teammates from the heat.
“We take it very gentle on each other because we don't have really as much players as other teams do so we try to take it easy as much as we can,” Madison High School Varsity Football Player Romeo Pepi said.
On Wednesday evening, Maddison High School Football players hit the field to prepare for Friday's game against La Jolla High School.
"I drink liquid I.V. every morning and I just bring water to school,” Madison High School Varsity Football Player Ryan Jackson said.
School districts part of the California Interscholastic Federation need to use a Wet Bulb Globe Thermometer or WBGT which measures heat stress in direct sunlight when conducting outdoor sports.
“It takes everything into consideration, the wind, humidity, the heat, etc. and then whatever area it puts us in kinda dictates if we have to alter practices or if we can keep things the way they usually go,” Madison High School Athletic Director & Head Football Coach Jackson said.
If the WBGT measures above the required category, games or practices can be postponed or cancelled until it cools off. For the San Diego Unified School District, the device must not measure above 86.2 degrees.
“You can see like our J-V is out here with helmets only that was more precautionary we were still in the orange we weren't in the red but we just figured you know were prepping for a game and we don't need to you know overheat these guys and just air on the side of caution make sure their health and safety is their number one priority,” Coach Jackson said.
To learn more information about the guidelines by the CIF visit cifstate.org.
WATCH RELATED: CIF places new guidelines on student athletes practicing in the heat