{"id":901755,"date":"2022-11-30T11:45:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T11:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grist.org\/?p=595479"},"modified":"2022-11-30T11:45:00","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T11:45:00","slug":"lessons-from-the-world-cup-how-a-changing-climate-is-changing-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/11\/30\/lessons-from-the-world-cup-how-a-changing-climate-is-changing-sports\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons from the World Cup: How a changing climate is changing sports"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shortly before the English national team took the field in Qatar for its 2022 World Cup debut, its official Twitter account posted a video<\/a> of players flocking to the sidelines of a training session, dripping in sweat and taking turns cooling down in front of a mist machine. \u201cIt was hard,\u201d English defender Conor Coady told press<\/a> after the practice. \u201cIt was something we needed as a team, to get used to [the heat], to feel it, to understand it.\u201d<\/p>\n

World Cups are usually held in early summer, but this year\u2019s competition was delayed because of the Middle East\u2019s searing heat. Even still, outdoor temperatures hovered in the low 90s<\/a> as hopeful teams arrived in Qatar in early November.<\/p>\n

FIFA\u2019s decision to hold the event in Qatar has been controversial<\/a>, from the host country\u2019s treatment of migrant workers, thousands of which died of heat stroke<\/a> building hotels and stadiums for the event, to its position on LGBTQ+ rights. The health risks associated with its extreme heat added to these other concerns. <\/p>\n

But it is not the only major sporting event grappling with extreme conditions: This fall, the women\u2019s Alpine Ski World Cup was delayed for over a month<\/a> and moved to another venue after unseasonable rain made the course unsafe to ski. Earlier this summer, a historic heat wave required organizers of the Tour du France<\/a> to spray water to keep the roads from melting. <\/p>\n

From soccer to skiing, climate change is disrupting how and where sports can be played \u2014 from the most elite levels to neighborhood youth leagues. \u201cIf we do not change the nature of sport and these events to adapt,\u201d said Walker Ross, a lecturer in sports management at the University of Edinburgh, \u201cnature itself will move on without sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"Cervinia
A member of the Italian Paralympic snowboarding team rides a chairlift in Cervinia, Italy in 2020. COVID-19, a lack of snow, and high temperatures have made it hard for ski resorts to stay open and athletes to train. Mauro Ujetto\/NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Rapidly changing conditions are already forcing teams to rethink how they prepare for competition. At a recent workshop at the Columbia Climate School, United States women\u2019s national soccer player Samantha Mewis described the intensive preparations the team took to handle the heat in Tokyo prior to the 2020 summer Olympics (the event was held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). <\/p>\n

\u201cWe weighed ourselves pre- and post-training, to track our water loss,\u201d she explained, including testing their urine for hydration levels. Immediately before traveling to Japan, the team also conditioned themselves for the heat, which she said included repetitively riding a bike in a really hot room, practice for keeping their core body temperature elevated for extended periods of time. \u201cIt was exhausting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGenerally, exercising in heat puts much greater demand on your body,\u201d said Rebecca Stearns, chief operating officer of the Korey Stringer Institute, a research and advocacy organization founded to honor the legacy of the Minnesota Vikings lineman, who died from exertional heat stroke. To cool off, blood flow has to be diverted from muscles to places that help the body regulate heat, like the skin. But some conditions can make that process more difficult. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe body\u2019s main mechanism to dissipate heat is sweating,\u201d Stearns explained. In humid environments, sweat is slower to evaporate. Athletes get dehydrated, because they\u2019re still sweating, losing electrolytes, but they aren\u2019t effectively cooling off. \u201cThat\u2019s when you hit the danger zone.\u201d <\/p>\n

Soccer is one of many sports now paying close attention to something called the wet bulb globe temperature<\/a> (WBGT), which combines heat, humidity, and other variables like wind speed. When the wet bulb temperature breaks 89.6 degrees Fahrenheit, FIFA now requires<\/a> cooling breaks in both halves, and officials are allowed to suspend or cancel the match. The rules were first instituted before the 2014 Brazil World Cup, when cooling breaks were used for the first time during the Netherland v. Mexico game, as well as more recently during the Euro2020 competition. \u201cHeat stroke is one of the top causes of death in sport,\u201d Stearns said.  <\/p>\n

But extreme heat and humidity also pose similar \u2014 if not worse \u2014 risks for amateur athletes. \u201cAt a youth level,\u201d where the coach might be a parent or teacher, said Andrew Grundstein, a geographer and climatologist at the University of Georgia, whose research focuses on heat and human health. \u201cYou\u2019re also unlikely to have medical staff like an athletic trainer available.\u201d The consequences can be deadly: Between 1980 and 2009, 58 football players<\/a> died from heat-related illnesses \u2014 the majority of them high school students. <\/p>\n

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\"A
Grist \/ Clayton Aldern<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Grundstein explains athletes need to acclimatize to heat over time, meaning ramping up practices, rather than jumping right in with daily doubles in hot weather. \u201cCoaches should adjust practices based on weather conditions,\u201d he said, modifying things like length and intensity. And if something does happen, it\u2019s critical to have an emergency management plan. Exertional heat stroke is largely survivable if the person can be rapidly cooled. (Grundstein recommends having a tub that can be filled with ice or cold water.) Georgia once had some of the worst heat-related death rates among student athletes in the country. But in 2012, the Georgia High School Association implemented rules and safety measures to help protect student athletes; there have been no heat-related deaths<\/a> in football players there since. <\/p>\n

The Korey Stringer Institute recently developed an assessment<\/a> of states\u2019 policies for high school athletes. These standards will become more important, Grundstein says, as regions that weren\u2019t historically hot start to see more heat waves. \u201cA lot of times, they\u2019re really unprepared, because they\u2019re not used to it,\u201d he said. Coaches don\u2019t know what warning signs to look for, and athletes are less used to exercising in extreme heat. <\/p>\n

While state sport associations can dictate safety measures for high school teams, those for younger athletes are often made on an ad-hoc basis. \u201cIt\u2019s like the Wild West,\u201d Stearns said. \u201cThere are just not a lot of protections in place.\u201d Still, many youth leagues are voluntarily adapting to changing conditions: The Seattle Youth Soccer Association, for example, now has both a heat cancellation policy and a \u201cbad air guidance<\/a>,\u201d developed because of the West\u2019s worsening wildfire smoke. <\/p>\n

\n
\"Football
A trainer applies a cold towel to a student-athlete during a morning football practice at Father Ryan High School in Nashville, Tennessee in 2011.
\n AP Photo\/Mark Humphrey<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Real-world conditions are often a combination of factors, making it even harder to develop rigorous protections for athletes. During heat waves for instance, naturally occurring air pollution called ozone can be concentrated<\/a> \u2014 something not as immediately noticeable as visible wildfire smoke, but capable of triggering asthma, another cause of sudden death. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf youth sport is the next generation of professional sport, then we are potentially not safeguarding that future,\u201d Ross, of the University of Edinburgh, said. <\/p>\n

Looking ahead, some of the world\u2019s largest sporting competitions are facing an uncertain fate. Qatar spent over $200 billion to prepare for the World Cup, including investing in technologies like air diffusers<\/a> under seats that brought A.C. to the open-air fields and stadiums. Athletic venues are increasingly discussing these kinds of climate adaptations \u2014 but there\u2019s only so much technology can do. Ross recently published a study<\/a> finding that if greenhouse gas emissions continue as usual, by 2050, there will only be 10 locations capable of reliably hosting the winter Olympics. It offers a poignant example of what is at stake for the future of sport. <\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Grist<\/a> with the headline Lessons from the World Cup: How a changing climate is changing sports<\/a> on Nov 30, 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From professional to youth leagues, a warming planet is forcing athletes to adapt to new extremes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15098,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[108,8923,1244,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901755"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15098"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=901755"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":908082,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901755\/revisions\/908082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}