Every SWFL football team shares one common enemy this season

Every high school football team has its own challenges each year, but this season the southwest Florida teams have all had to overcome one common enemy – the weather.

“It’s either so hot you can’t go out because of the wet bulb or it’s raining and lightning and we have to come back in,” South Fort Myers Head Football Coach Matt Holderfield said.

The weather is forcing practices to be moved.

“Everybody, every day, comes in and asks, ‘What’s the schedule for today?’ and I’m like, ‘Well, I don’t know,’” Holderfield said.

And games to be delayed for hours or even postponed.

“You don’t get but 10 of these and you hate for half of them to be either played at a different time or with less of a crowd or no band,” Fort Myers Head Football Coach Sam Sirianni Jr. said.

High temperatures and lightning have defined the Gulf Coast’s high school football season so far.

“It’s impacted us in a really big way, because if you go out too early you have to worry about it being too hot,” East Lee County Head Football Coach Herbans Paul said.

The wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) measures the heat stress on a body in direct sunlight.

It’s different from the regular temperature and requires a specific measuring device.

If the WBGT is between 90-92 degrees football teams can practice outside for one hour, but no pads can be worn.

If the WBGT is higher than 92 degrees, teams cannot be outside at all.

Staying inside also applies when lightning strikes within 10 miles of the school.

“Your football gates are so essential to your budget and we’re playing two or three games and having a good chance of having crowds affected.

If lightning strikes, an alarm sounds and everyone has to go inside for 30 minutes.

As long as there is not another strike within that half-hour, another alarm goes off and outdoor practices or games can resume.

Both conditions have been ever-present this season, causing coaches to get creative.

“Then the plan is to rely on everything that we have in the school, whether it’s the staircases, whether it’s the bistro area that’s a bigger place,” Paul said. “Sometimes we even go into the cafeteria if we can’t use the gym, because volleyball is going on.”

At this point teams have gotten the hang of having practice or extended film sessions indoors, but that doesn’t fully prepare the kids’ bodies for game day.

“Conditioning is my biggest fear, safety and the idea of having bodies that can for four quarters, handle this humidity and heat in Florida,” Sirianni said.

“You want to protect the kids, but at the same time if you don’t have them out in it you’re not really preparing their bodies for being in it,” Holderfield said. “We try to find little areas where we can simulate the heat.”

When they are indoors, they go all out. 

That’s why none of the coaches to whom WINK News spoke are using weather woes as an excuse for sloppy play.

“We’ve got a lot of cleaning up to do,” Sirianni said. “I’m not blaming it on the days that we don’t get on the field and the weather. Everybody goes through that. That’s excuses. I don’t believe whether you practice outside or inside you should have pre-snap penalties.”

Since being outside is a luxury these days, it’s actually helped some practices run more efficiently.

“They know I’m not cutting them any slack,” Paul said. “So then they say, ‘Okay, well, let’s respond to it and let’s be very fast so we can get to what we need to get to.’”

Nonetheless, coaches, players and fans alike are looking forward to seeing a more consistent schedule on our Gulf Coast gridirons.

“We’re three weeks in, out of 10, and we can’t wait for the weather to change in Florida because it takes a while,” Sirianni said.