As fall sports kick up the intensity during practice and in games and meets, the rising temperatures and unstable air qualities have posed a major issue for athletes.
For boys soccer, the heat has impacted many players on the field during major games: “We were all super tired and dehydrated by the second half [of the … game],” defender Lucas Granja said. We ended up losing the game but I would blame some of it on the heat.”
Cross country is also facing the same issues regarding the heat. The hottest temperature the team has trained in “was 97 degrees out with little to no wind,” runner Sandro Fusco said.
As a running sport, the heat has had a serious impact on the team’s training and workouts.
“For us the heat mostly affects our speed and our ability to train effectively,” Fusco said.
“It’s both harder to run at a good pace and complete the longer, more valuable workouts when the temperature is really high,” he said.
On top of impacting performance, the high heat has introduced increased risk to potential health problems. The chances of heat stroke, cramps, and exhaustion go up exponentially with higher temperatures, meaning multiple fall sports have to take extra precautions to ensure the health of all athletes.
For cross country, “If a member of the team experiences anything that might be related to heat stroke or something like that they are pretty much told to stop running regardless of whatever workout we are doing,” Fusco said.

However, girls tennis takes a different approach making sure to get ahead of the heat as the team’s health is a priority.
“The thing that helps would definitely be staying in the shade or bringing cool drinks and towels onto the court,” singles player Nora Grande said.
Another smaller, but effective measure the team takes is to avoid the sun whenever a player is not active on the court.
“[We] try to stay cool during the heat by sitting in the shade,” she said.
In September, the air quality index was moderate for 18 days, with one day being an AQI of 104, as reported by the National Weather Service. Furthermore, the month witnessed ten days with temperatures exceeding 80 degrees, with a record high of 97 degrees.