Coach Andy Martinez,

FOOTBALL COACHES: I've served as an expert witness in 40 cases since 2016, many of them sports related. Sadly, four football player deaths. Hydration ALWAYS becomes a HUGE topic when a player dies. Advice and suggestions from this experience: 1. Players do not become "more tough" because they drink water. Stop that nonsense. 2. Put in WRITING that your players can have water whenever they want it. Have posters made, put this on your website, player and parent manuals, etc etc. "Water is free, and you can have it whenever you want it." Then, make sure ALL coaches support this!! 3. Have water readily accessible. For camp, there's nothing wrong with letting players bring their own jugs to have on the sideline. 4. A pack of 6 water bottles and a carrier x 10 is still VERY cheap! The district/school should provide this very inexpensive safeguard. Push them for it so your players have water with them everywhere on the field. 5. I once built a simple "water dispenser" with a hose and a 15 yard long PVC pipe. Drilled a hole every yard, had 12 players drinking out of that thing, zip tied to a fence!! 6. Put water breaks into your practice plan. Seriously. Practice them as timeouts. Also, having your practice plans turned over to lawyers when something bad happens, and an expert looks at them, seeing "Water Break" speaks VOLUMES about your whole program!! Those are some simple ways to help your kids stay hydrated, and to maybe save a kid's life this Football camp season!! Good luck!