When it's 90 degrees but feels more like 100, imagine dealing with that all for the love of band. Some kids in Lima do it every year and make it look easy.
"It is really hot, but you just have to keep pushing on and drink lots of water. That really helps a lot," said Emma DeLong, a freshman alto sax player at Lima Catholic.
David Buckholdt is the director of the Lima Central Catholic Marching Band. It's his first year as band director, but he already has precautions in place for kids to deal with the heat.
"We will have some more rehearsal throughout the summer and it’s definitely going to be a lot hotter. But we’re just gonna do the same things. making sure that we always have water on us, water containers that we use to keep ourselves hydrated,” said Buckholdt Monday during practice.
Over at Shawnee High School they've been dealing the same heat problems. They opt to break in the middle of the day when it's the hottest. They spent Monday - and every other - afternoon inside.
"The most common problems we see with marching bands nowadays with the kids are they’re either dehydrated, or they get sunburn, or it’s just a bad combination of the two. So, we get them out of the sun into the big shady tent," said Seth Justice, the Head Band Director for Shawnee Schools.
Justice says he's sure to keep an eye on everyone. He's seen a few band members succumb to the heat recently.
”Last week at pre-camp we actually had a few students go down just on the first day and that was just between 9 a.m. and noon. So, that was a big wake up call of oh okay the jets rely going to be serious this year,” said Justice.
John Garlock is a senior sousaphone player at Lima Central Catholic. He remembers incidents like that back at Lima Central Catholic as well.
“One thing they told us is not to lock our knees because you sit there and you shake and then you faint and I’ve heard of it happening and I’ve seen it a few times and it’s actually scary,” said Garlock Monday.
According to the CDC, the best way to stay hydrated is to drink at least 1 cup of water every 15 to 20 minutes. When kids stay on top of those rules, for band directors, it's music to the ears.
