"It's hot, we're always really sweaty."
The heat is the newest opponent for high school football players.
The grueling two a day practices kicked off at Papillion-LaVista South, and the boys are already feeling the burn.
"A lot of running, a lot of drills."
"oh yeah it's pretty tough, we're pretty sweaty and tiring."
Learning plays, running drills and getting conditioned for the season works up a major sweat, but doing under the blazing sun can be dangerous.
"That's when we really have to be vigilant on watching kids and making sure that they're getting plenty of water, because it increases, the pads weigh about 40 pounds", says Athletic Director Jeff Johnson.
On the International Federation of American Football website, the most dangerous time for young athletes might not be during the heat of the game, but during conditioning workouts.
"Two, two hour practices a day can be a lot of wear and tear on the body, and in this kind of heat, hydration is a must."
That's why coaches and trainers keep a constant eye on their players, watching for any signs of heat exhaustion.
"Kids sometimes complain of dizziness, or light headed-ness, sometimes they come over and they're really pale. Warning signs for heat illness would be if they stop sweating, that's bad, if they're cool, if they're skin is cool, that's bad", says Head Athletic Trainer Becky Wardlaw.
The players though, are always guzzling water.
"Every time I go get a drink I probably drink a gatorade bottle, or half. And before, the night before I'll drink tons of cups of water" says senior Chris May.
"I mean we're beat but, you gotta do it, I mean you gotta come up you gotta hydrate you gotta eat you gotta pre-hydrate you gotta get ready for the season", adds senior Danny Greko.
Keeping hydrated keeps these players safe, and ready to take on the season.
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