Duty in the desert

Steve Guiremand

Monday, Aug. 11, 2003 | 10:15 a.m.

Brian Nicholson spent the past few weeks of his summer vacation in his hometown of Oceanside, Calif., which, as the name suggests, enjoys the cool breezes of the Pacific Ocean.

"It's about a 10-minute drive to the beach," Nicholson, a junior college transfer from Palomar Junior College in nearby San Marcos, said.

It's a nice place to escape to beat the summer heat. But, as 6-foot-5, 275-pound Nicholson found out, it isn't the best place for a college football player to prepare himself for the triple-digit heat of fall football practice in Las Vegas.

After completing his first practice on Tuesday night, Nicholson found himself in the hospital for three hours while taking four bags of IV fluids to re-hydrate his body.

"It was more annoying than it was scary," Nicholson said. "I had never cramped up that bad before. It lasted about two hours. I've had cramps before, but they usually last only about 20 minutes and they're not my whole body like this one was. The next minute I was in the hospital."

Nicholson took it easy for three days before returning to fall practice drills again.

"My legs are still a little wobbly, so I can't get back to my same routine, which is frustrating," he said. "My muscles contracted so bad in my feet, my thighs, my back. Everywhere. I did everything I could. I jumped in the ice tubs for a while but when I got out I started to cramp up again. That's when they took me to the hospital."

UNLV head trainer Kyle Wilson, starting his 20th season at the school, says Nicholson's experience is one of the few times he's had to transport a football player to the hospital because of a heat-related illness at practice.

Both Wilson and UNLV head coach John Robinson have made dealing with the hot August temperatures a priority when it comes to practices schedules and nutrition. Both cringe when they hear the names of Korey Stringer, the late Minnesota Vikings offensive tackle who died during preseason camp from heat exhaustion, and the seemingly endless highlights on ESPN of Jacksonville Jaguars players being taken from the field on stretchers the past couple of weeks.

"It's a concern for everyone," Robinson said. "I think the people in Las Vegas have been more aware of it over a period of time because of the intense heat here. We're fortunate that we don't have the humidity to go along with it."

Robinson has adjusted his practice schedule around the heat. His team practiced at 7 p.m. all of last week when the sun had gone down and the nights actually seemed fairly pleasant. And when two-a-day workouts start this week, his team will practice at 7 a.m. every other day to get their work in well before the heat of the day and also to give the players 9-10 hours to re-hydrate themselves before the 7 p.m. night workout.

"We don't have the sun out at night which makes a big difference," Robinson said. "And we're careful about making sure the players have their fluids. We have (100-gallon) ice tubs set up in case anybody's temperature should go up. And we have trainers and everybody working on that as hard as we can."

The Rebels take frequent water breaks and water bottles are available throughout the practice.

Wilson has a computerized color-coated printout that lists each player's medical history for things such as asthma (15 Rebels have it) and heat illness (10). He surveys the practice field reguarly to keep tabs on players who might be more prone to heat problems.

"We have physicals for all our players before they get here trying to screen them and make sure they have not had a previous history of heat illness," Wilson said. "We identify those players who have had a problem and then monitor them closely. If they've had a problem in the past, it's more likely they'll have a problem again."

The Rebels also weigh each player before and after each practice.

"That tells us how much water weight they've lost at practice," Wilson explained. "Obviously, they're going to then have to replace that same amount."

Each player is required to drink at least two 20-ounce bottles of Gatorade after each practice. They also drink more Gatorade and water at dinner and throughout the day. The Rebels go through about 10 cases of Gatorade after each workout.

"It's expensive, but that's what you have to do," Wilson said.

Caffeine is a big no-no because it can speed up the heart rate and cause dehydration. So you won't see the Rebels drinking Coke, Pepsi, coffee or iced tea with their meals.

"We have no caffeine-based products in any or our meals," Wilson said. "It's either water or Gatorade so we can control their diet a lot better."

Wilson said supplements are another concern. Some contain caffeine or other banned drugs that can cause dehydration. He lectures the team before the start of preseason practice on what products to avoid and also prints out medical articles on supplements that he places in each player's locker.

Still, with more than 100 players on the field each day, not even the best laid plans can work every day.

"A player might have a head cold that forces him to breath heavier through the mouth and put more pressure on the heart," Wilson said. "Or maybe a kid skips a meal or doesn't drink as much as he should have to stay hydrated."

Wilson said he never has had to have a player taken off the field by ambulance because of heat problems.

"A couple of times we've had to transport players (to the hospital), but it's never been anything real serious," he said. "They're usually released later that night or that morning. We've had to call 911 a couple of times to be on the safe side with them."

Such was the case with Nicholson.

"He wasn't getting worse but he wasn't getting any better either," Wilson said. "Coming from the 70-degree temperatures of the beaches of Southern California to the 100-degree temperatures here and then going through a three-hour practice was more than he could handle that first night."

Robinson, who has been either playing or coaching football for more than 50 years, can well remember the Jurassic Era of football when some coaches would withhold water breaks if a team wasn't practicing well.

"But in the old days practices were more at a walk or a little better than a walk," Robinson said. "Now practices are so intense and so fast and demand so much more effort than they did back then. That's why you didn't have as many (heat) problems then. Now the game is played at such a high pace and the practices are so highly organized that players put out tremendous amounts of energy in a short period of time."

Wilson, who heads a staff of 16 trainers at each practice, has his own criteria for a succesful Rebels football practice.

"I tell my staff that a good day for us is when all the players go to practice and also come off the field having gained some weight," Wilson said. "The majority of the players do lose weight but we do have a few who actually gain some wait because they've done a good job of drinking their fluids out there. That's what we want."

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