TROY, Texas — As the heat wave continues to roll through Central Texas with 41 days of triple-digit numbers, Troy head football coach, Stephen Hermesmeyer, is taking action to ensure he keeps his players safe.
"With this extreme heat we’re going through, I’ve been trying to think of a way to keep our kids out of the heat," Hermesmeyer said.
Starting Aug.1, football teams across Texas will take the field for pre-season practice. Troy is implementing an early morning routine to avoid the peak heat hours.
"So that first week of two a days is going to be pretty grueling," Hermesmeyer said. "Especially because kids aren't used to waking up that early in the morning. We’re going to go from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. every morning Monday through Friday.”
The first full contact practice is set for the Saturday after pre-season starts. But, Troy is doing things a little bit differently. When the clock strikes midnight on Friday, Aug. 5, they don't turn into pumpkins like Cinderella. They get to throw on pads – for Midnight Madness.
"I got to thinking. Why wait until Saturday morning at 6:30 or 8 o'clock when we could roll out there and it’s going to be just as cool at midnight," Hermesmeyer said. "And you know it’s the next day, it’s Saturday.”
Other schools, like Academy, are also taking similar action to ensure the safety of their players.
"If we need to go get cooled off we’ll go back in the locker room and take a 10-minute break back in the air conditioning if we have to," Academy head football coach Chris Lancaster said. "We’ve done drills without helmets on.”
The reality is -- this heat is not going anywhere.
"This heat is going to be tough on everybody across the state this year so we're just mainly doing it to figure out a way to protect our kids a little bit," Hermesmeyer said.
Protecting their players while having some fun – at midnight.
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