OKLAHOMA CITY – A measure intended to prevent any Oklahoma secondary school athlete from being severely injured or dying from heatstroke has been filed in the state Legislature.
House Bill 3047 decrees that whenever an athletic activity is held outdoors when the temperature is at or above 85 degrees Fahrenheit, the school must have “an immersion tub or tank readily available to fill with ice” in the event any of its athletes exhibits “signs, symptoms or behaviors consistent with exertional heat stroke.”
The bill defines an athletic activity to mean a school-sanctioned athletic or sport activity or event, either individual or team-based. These would include a football, baseball, or soccer practice or game, or a track and field practice or meet.
State Rep. Trey Caldwell, author of HB 3047, said that when he was a sophomore playing football at Lawton’s MacArthur High School he developed heat stroke. “The athletic trainer had me immersed in an ice tub within a minute.” Consequently, he said, “I recovered and there’s been no lasting damage.”
Caldwell subsequently played football while attending Southern Nazarene University in Bethany.
“I thought immersion tubs and tanks were normal, standard operating procedure,” the Lawton Republican said. But according to the Real Sports program aired monthly on HBO, only about 15% of all high schools in the U.S. “have one of those tubs ready to go,” Caldwell said. “It’s not mandated by the OSSAA” (the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association), he added.
An ice tub for athletes costs approximately $45, compared to an average cost of $150 for a football helmet, Caldwell said.
If a student athlete experiences heat stroke and his or her core temperature reaches 106 to 108 degrees, “You have literally seconds to bring that temperature down before the kid goes into cardiac arrest or dies,” Caldwell said.
Virtually all large schools, such as Lawton MacArthur, and even some smaller schools, such as Walters, have ice tubs – but not all schools do, he said.
“We could prevent all incidents of heat stroke among secondary school athletes by requiring immersion tubs,” Caldwell contends. “I realize that could be considered an unfunded mandate, but it’s actually a cheap insurance policy.”
The four-month Second Regular Session of the 57th Oklahoma Legislature convenes at noon Feb. 3.