By Mekhi Abbott
AFRO Intern
mabbott@afro.com
With rising temperatures and a heat wave hitting the D.C.-Maryland area youth athletes in the area are feeling the effects of the rising temperatures.
On June 8, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced an extended heat emergency amidst a heat wave that has been plaguing the D.C.-Maryland area for the past few weeks. With temperatures over 90 degrees on most days of the past three weeks and heat indexes over 100 degrees, both Mayor Bowser and Gov. Wes Moore have advised D.C. and Maryland residents to plan for the historic heat wave appropriately.
“The health and safety of Marylanders is our top priority. By declaring a State of Preparedness, I am directing the Department of Emergency Management to coordinate the comprehensive preparation of State government ahead of potential impacts because of the extreme heat and humidity,” said Moore in a press release.
According to a study released by Associate Athletics Director David Klossner at the University of Maryland, the director of National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Kristen L. Kucera, Ph.D. and others, over 50 high school football players have passed away due to heat stroke in the past 25 years. Women’s cross country is actually the sport whose athletes have the highest risk of being affected by heat stroke.
Although the study shows that deaths in the sport of football are “rare but tragic events,” extreme heat and added weight from the equipment such as helmets and shoulder pads can heavily impact the safety of young athletes, exposing them to heightened levels of bodily malfunctions. Cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death amongst young athletes.
In January 2024, Philip and Ashanta Laster filed a lawsuit against the Rankin County School system after their son Philip “Trey” Laster died from a cardiac arrhythmia after collapsing during an afternoon football practice in Aug. 2022.
“No child should ever be in danger of losing their life in pursuit of a passion, especially under the supervision and instruction of adults who should know when to stop pushing these young athletes,” attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing Laster against the Rankin county school district, said in a news release. “Trey’s tragic death could have been, and should have been, prevented by those in charge, and shows a troubling lack of adherence to guidelines surrounding heat exhaustion prevention.”
In February, cross country runner Memphis Zabawa suffered a cardiac arrest episode while running at a meet according to heart.org. The seventh grader, who also suffers from asthma, was able to make a 100 percent recovery from the incident, thanks in part to people at the cross country meet who performed CPR. Athletes with asthma can be even more predisposed to cardiac related incidents when temperatures are high.
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