The summer of 2006 saw the highest total of heat-related deaths of football players since 1936, according to statistics compiled by the University of North Carolina's National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research (NCCSR). Of the 19 heat-related deaths known to the Center, four occurred during a sixteen day period between July 17th and August 1st, 2006. Each had just begun practicing for the upcoming fall sports season. Incredibly, two of the four boys were from the same league in Tampa, Florida:

• On July 17th, 12-year-old Bobby Stephens died after running laps during the first day of football practice in Tampa, Florida.

• Two days later on July 19th, Ryan Owens, a 16-year-old junior at Henderson High School in Kentucky, collapsed during football practice and died an hour later.

• On July 21st, tragedy struck again in Tampa, Florida. The victim this time was 11-year-old Jamell Johnson.

• On August 1st, 15-year-old Tyler Davis collapsed during a voluntary football work out in Georgia and later died at a nearby hospital. The medical examiner has yet to release a cause of death, but coaches say the boy showed sings of heat exhaustion.

By October of 2006, at least thirteen children had died, and there probably were other heat-related deaths that went unreported in the media and by the NCCSR. MomsTeam Health and Safety editors learned about four unreported incidents in our e-mails from concerned parents wanting to know what can be done to educate and convince coaches about the critical need for proper hydration during the hot days of spring, summer and even fall.

Indeed, not a year goes by without horror stories about coaches who continue to ignore the guidelines of such experts as the American College of Sports Medicine by forcing young athletes to practice in hot, humid conditions without taking appropriate precautions against heat-related illness flooding our e mail boxes. Grandfathers, mothers, concerned trainers and other members of the youth sports community routinely ask MomsTeam editors how they can convince coaches who continue to deprive young athletes of fluid breaks in the belief that they simply are "toughening up the kids" that what they are doing is exposing them to the risk of death from heat stroke.

The answer is to check out the Hydration Channel on MomsTeam,

Heat-related illnesses are among the most preventable of all youth sports deaths and injuries. We at MomsTeam won't rest until a summer goes by with no heat-related deaths. For Hydration Articles Click Here.

Article Updated: April 4, 2008

Read more about this subject in Home Team Advantage: The Critical Role of Mothers in Youth Sports (Harper Collins) by Brooke de Lench. Brooke is also the founder and editor-in-chief of MomsTeam.com.

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