JOHN DAY – Beat the heat.

Beginning Monday, Aug. 22, high school coaches will need to heed a “heat index” that tells them how long their athletes can practice.

Already, Grant Union High School football coach Jason Miller and volleyball coach Shae Speth are keeping their eyes on the heat index temperature regulations, which are issued by Oregon State Activities Association (OSAA).

The guidelines specify that no football or volleyball team may practice more than five combined hours a day on the field, which includes days with “daily doubles” practices.

“The heat index is a tool that provides us with guidelines to help make decisions regarding length of practice, intensity of conditioning and amount of hydration just to name a few,” said Miller.

“For all participants in camps and practices, we ensure that they have plenty of fluids and rest between repetitions,” he noted.

This week through Thursday, young football players in grades 3-8 will enjoy gridiron camp from 5-7 p.m., and high school athletes will take part in conditioning camp from 7-8:30 p.m. at Grant Union. While the camp is usually held in the daytime, this year’s practices were set because youth coaches were available in the evenings.

The evening sessions can help beat the heat, Miller said.

“One advantage that we have in the evenings is the shade from the trees on the main field,” he said. “If the heat is unbearable, we will take multiple breaks and complete as many reps in the shade as possible.”

Volleyball coach Shae Speth said she doesn’t anticipate heat being as much of a challenge, as her athletes last week and this week are utilizing the high school gym.

“The heat really has not had an impact on us for volleyball yet. We’ll see how next week goes with camp. We’ll make sure our athletes get a lot of fluids, and enough rest periods if it is an issue though,” she said.

“Daily doubles” begin Aug. 22, when athletes are scheduled to start twice-daily practices, on weekdays.

For “daily doubles,” a calculation of the OSAA heat index is needed one hour before activity begins. Coaches punch in the town’s zip code and a temperature reading and humidity level is calculated. Any required limitations to activity are noted.

If the heat index is over 95, each session must be no longer than three hours. There must be at least three hours between the end of the first practice and the beginning of the next.

During that interim time, athletes can’t engage in conditioning, weight training or other drills that requires physical activity.

For football, practice in full pads cannot begin until the fourth day of scheduled practices.

It might be a lot hotter for those taking part in the Seventh Street Summer Smash co-ed volleyball tournament, set to begin at 10 a.m. this Saturday, Aug. 20.

“It was very hot last year, not a cloud in the sky, but we were done with the tournament around 2 p.m.,” said Speth. “Teams generally had breaks between games, and we set up next to the shade trees to help, as well.”

“Participants should definitely bring a lot of water and sunscreen that day,” she said. The co-ed volleyball tournament is a fund-raiser for the Grant Union volleyball program. A generous portion of the proceeds is also given to the Side-Out Foundation for breast cancer research.

Format and length of the event will be based on how many teams enter, Speth said.