The first day of school is still several days away, but for many student athletes, including the Blades of East Bakersfield High School, practice is already underway. With the summer heat still on, the Blades football program is working to keep players safe. 23ABC's Ruby Rivera visited East High to find out more.
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00:00 the first day of school is still several days away, but for many student athletes,
00:03 practice is already underway. 23 abc's rupee Rivera shows us how the football
00:08 program at East Bakersfield High works to keep players safe while training in
00:13 the summer heat. Whether you play tennis, football or soccer concerns
00:17 about the heat are always an issue. If you're a student athlete at East
00:20 Bakersfield, you might be expected to get up as early as 5 30 in the morning.
00:24 An idea led by the school's football coach who says sometimes this is their
00:28 safest option. They adjust very well, but it's how you approach it. I
00:33 believe that if you get out of the heat and start things early, you can avoid
00:37 it as much as possible. Sometimes you can avoid it, but we do the best we
00:42 can to avoid. B. B. Carrasco has been the head football coach at East High
00:46 for the last three years. However, he's been coaching for 26 years, he says.
00:50 In his time being coach pushing practice to be done in the morning has
00:53 been the best solution in ensuring the kids overall safety. However, he says
00:57 when schools in session, this isn't always an option. Be here at 5 30 in
01:00 the morning, then they have to go to school. But you know, so we start right
01:04 after practice at right after school and we try to go after school, little
01:08 study hall, maybe a little weight lifting afterwards and then we had to
01:12 start practice six o'clock seven o'clock. Sometimes we don't have no
01:14 choice but to go late at night. 16 year old Alex Newkirk is about to enter his
01:18 junior year and he's also in the school's football team. Newkirk says
01:21 he's gotten used to the early morning routine and appreciates the work coach
01:25 Carrasco does for the team with a good coaching staff and good coaches and
01:28 everything. They let time in for tons of water breaks and um they never, they
01:34 never try to like work us too hard to a point where we start throwing up. They
01:38 make sure we're we're safe. Newkirk says there have been occasions where
01:42 rather than practicing earlier practices canceled altogether. According
01:45 to current high school district, that decision is based off the daily air
01:49 quality index. These guidelines are sent out to every school in the district
01:52 daily in order to better ensure a student's overall health. Mom Lacey
01:56 Newkirk says she's very appreciative of the coach's efforts and although the
01:59 switch schedule may not be ideal for parents, it's about the kids overall
02:03 health games have been pushed back several hours. So instead of playing at
02:07 six in the heat of the day, we were now starting at eight. So you know, it's a
02:12 sacrifice because now you're going to get out of there at 10 but at least
02:16 you're all the kids aren't like falling over. Coach Carrasco says safety is
02:20 always his number one concern. However, even in the heat, he tries to make each
02:24 practice as engaging as possible to try and get the kids out of that lethargic
02:27 field. We don't want them to overheat, we don't want them to get, you know,
02:31 have a heat stroke out here. So we really, we have to be very cautious
02:36 about that. We can't just look at a kid and say, you know, he's not trying hard
02:40 or you know, every kid is different. Coach Carrasco says he is always
02:44 looking for ways to better support kids in the heat. However, he wants to
02:47 remind them that they know their bodies best and while he wants everyone to
02:50 push themselves, he wants them to be mindful of their limits in East
02:54 Bakersfield, Rubir Vera 23 abc News connecting you