‘Everybody is talking air quality’: Canada wildfire smoke alters some sports in Akron area

High School Preseason Practices Impacted by Poor Air Quality

Some area high school teams are finding their preseason practices and conditioning are up in the air this summer.

The reason: Air quality levels continue to fluctuate and reach unhealthy levels at times because of Canadian wildfires.

Hudson boys soccer coach Steve Knapp said his team’s practices were shut down a couple weeks ago when the region’s air quality was at its worst.

“We didn’t do anything, which is fine,” Knapp said. “It is that part of the season where I don’t want the kids doing a whole lot anyways. … I think it was a Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and then Saturday and Sunday we don’t do anything anyways. I think we did lifting one day inside and then called if for the rest of the week.”

What officials from Akron Children’s Hospital, Ohio High School Athletic Association are saying about air quality

Medical professionals are still gathering information regarding air quality.

“Trainers make decisions about lightning before they turn it over to the officials. They have to make decisions about heat this time of the year when we are always worried about the heat index and now all of a sudden everybody is talking air quality,” Dr. Joseph Congeni, medical director of Akron Children’s Hospital’s Sports Medicine department said by phone Wednesday.

“Trying to understand air quality in simple terms and what are some things we can sink our teeth into, I think it did catch some of the sports bodies a little bit by surprise,” he said. “They don’t have specific and definitive guidelines.” 

OHSAA Director of Media Relations Tim Stried told the Akron Beacon Journal in an email Wednesday “it would be up to the Ohio Department of Health to set any guidelines on that situation first, and then the OHSAA would take it from there.”

If the state health department suggests limiting outdoor activities, “we will determine if there is anything we need to pass along to our schools,” he said.

Congeni said the OHSAA is “following the position statement from the National Federation of State High School Associations, but when you read that there are not a lot of guidelines.”

The national guidelines state: “If the health effect category is in a zone where your state or local health department discourages outdoor activity, all practices and contests should be moved indoors or cancelled. If activities are moved indoors, you must check with the maintenance staff to ensure existing HVAC systems provide properly filtered indoor air. If the HVAC system cannot appropriately manage the burden of pollutants in the air, indoor air quality may be worse than the outdoor air and it is not appropriate to practice or workout indoors.”

Congeni said the 30 area schools that work with Children’s Hospital have done a nice job adjusting to conditions this summer.

At the college level, Congeni said leaders in the Mid-American Conference also are “meeting almost daily on the phone trying to make decisions.”

What Akron-area high school coaches are saying about air quality

Hudson football coach Jeff Gough said “using your best judgment” is important. He said he approaches air quality concerns “the same as when it gets too hot.”

“If it is a particularly bad day and we are able to access the gyms or adjust and go watch film, we are going to go ahead and do that,” Gough said. “There was just one day the last week in June where we ended up in the gym and took a little bit of extra time for installs and on the whiteboard and watching film.” 

“When the heat index gets in the 90s to 100, let’s shorten practices, have extra water breaks, try to be indoors and take the typical precautions that we are trained on through all of the training we have to do for coaching certifications, ” beaconjournal.com

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