29-05-2025
Over 100 Panhandle coaches attend clinic highlighting safety for student athletes
BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) – Students are wrapping up the school year this week, but coaches are already thinking about summer football workouts under the hot August sun.
Over 100 coaches from across the Panhandle gathered on Wednesday in Bay County to learn more about safely managing and protecting their players during workouts, practices, and games.
The Panhandle Area Educational Consortium, or the PAEC, organized the coaches' clinic to make coaches aware of potential tragedies and help prevent them.
Governor Ron DeSantis signs two bills to help 'stand by man's best friend'
'We have coaches from those 10 districts and Bay County as well that have come together to hear speakers that are lawyers and doctors talk about the laws, the ways to care for kids, the things we need to do to ensure kids are safe,' PAEC Administrator of Risk Management Mickey Hudson said.
Anyone can imagine, the heat in Florida is a major concern.
'At Mosley and all the schools and medical schools, we have what we call the weather machine, but there's a machine that's attached out there to one of the power poles right by the practice field. And it goes to an app on your phone. And we use this thing called the wet bulb thermometer that not just measures the outside, but the moisture, the wind conditions, a lot of different things that go out and then based and we get readings on that by the minute,' Mosley High School Head Football Coach Tommy Joe Whiddon said.
The wet-bulb temperature measures how easily the body can cool itself through sweating.
When the temperature is too hot, sweat cannot evaporate and cool itself down, which leads to heat illness.
Concussions are also a serious concern. The key point is, those who have symptoms can't play.
'The law already helps them out because the word that you use that is most important is they have symptoms, and so they're removed from play. That's hard. They know that that's a hard line. There's no question about that,' Tallahassee Orthopedic Clinic's Dr. Todd Hewitt said.
Port St. Joe mourns the loss of star football player
Last year, the Port St. Joe Tiger Sharks' star football player, Chance Gainer, died during a game.
Chance's mother, Equila Gainer, spoke to coaches Wednesday to inspire them to do their part to prevent potential injuries.
'We're bringing awareness to what these kids could possibly be feeling. They've actually done the second chance, where EKGs will be mandatory in the school system. So I think now that people are more aware of what happened to my son, Chance, they're actually looking now, looking for signs, looking for little tales of what we can do or how we can fix the situation,' Equila said.
The Second Chance Act, named after Chance Gainer, will be implemented in the 2026 school year. It will require all student-athletes in Florida to receive EKG screenings.
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