Original Article by Cody Lee for KYMA-TV.
With many already starting practices, high school athletes in Yuma, Arizona are preparing to return to competition. As this happens, students are following guidelines laid out by the state. This includes hand washing, mask-wearing, equipment usage, and other safety precautions.
As the competition starts back up, how will these students stay healthy while participating in sports during a pandemic?
Restorative health experts have shared advice. Students should keep a routine sleep schedule and eat properly, incorporating immune-boosting foods and supplements into their diet.
Dr. Rand McClain is one of these experts who works with athletes. He shares that this particular age group is least likely to be compliant with things that we know help prevent transmission of disease.
“Make sure that you’re compensating for with adequate rest, nutrition, including hydration. Now’s not the time to go for your personal best particularly because you’ve probably, if you’re a teenage athlete or any athlete, been doing your home workouts, and you’re not prepared to go to that hundred percent mark in a game for example like you would have been maybe last year, you get access to all, you know, the facilities that we got to spoil be able to use,” Dr. McClain said.
While high school football is set to resume at the end of the month, much is still up in the air. The Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) is meeting Wednesday, to determine when fall sports can begin amid the coronavirus pandemic.