October 3, 2024

WAIT, WHAT? | Kilgore, other programs following new UIL practice mandate

Kilgore High School head football coach Clint Fuller (left) works with outside linebackers on Day One: the first official day of UIL-approved high school football practice on Monday behind the Mitchell Field House. Below: the Ragin' Red meet briefly in the indoor practice facility. (Photos by JOE HALE)
Kilgore High School head football coach Clint Fuller (left) works with outside linebackers, including Lakeyleon Graves, on Day One: the first official day of UIL-approved high school football practice on Monday behind the Mitchell Field House. Below: the Ragin’ Red meet briefly in the indoor practice facility. (Photos by JOE HALE)

Texas High School football practice began for the upcoming 2024 season in earnest for many, including Kilgore High School, on Monday afternoon.

Kilgore Athletic Trainer Jeff Davis has a new and different responsibility monitoring a new University Interscholastic League (UIL) mandate: the wet bulb temperature.

The app on your computer, if you want to check it, is wbgt.

As Davis explained, “if the temperature is 90 degrees or above we start in the indoor facility.”

It was 91.

Water breaks are essential. Stay hydrated no matter what the temperature.

The Kilgore High School Bulldogs meet briefly in their indoor practice facility on Monday, the first day that Texas high school football teams could begin practicing. (Photo by JOE HALE - ETBLITZ.COM)
The Kilgore High School Bulldogs meet briefly in their indoor practice facility on Monday, the first day that Texas high school football teams could begin practicing. (Photo by JOE HALE – ETBLITZ.COM)

“We’ve always been real mindful of breaks, but with the heat and humidity here in East Texas you have to really watch it closely,” Davis continued.

The groups are allowed three-minute breaks every 15 minutes. The halfway break is usually between 5 to 10 minutes.

At 6:35, the temperature dropped enough and the Bulldogs made their way to the practice field to finish their first day of fall football workouts.

Kilgore and all the other schools in the ETBlitz.com coverage area continue practice this week – coach Clint Fuller’s Bulldogs will have photo day on Saturday.

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