Heat Forces Maple Grove Teams to Change Practices, Cancel Games

This week’s sweltering temperatures have forced Maple Grove Senior High teams to cancel or change practices and postpone games.

Officials rescheduled all of Monday’s matches—girls’ varsity and JV tennis matches and boys’ 9A soccer games—because of the heat index and spent Tuesday morning watching the thermometer.

“Today we’re just keeping an eye on it,” Maple Grove Activities Coordinator Ron Zopfi said.

In the end, All girls' tennis matches and the 4 p.m. girls soccer B squad game against Anoka were cancelled. Girls' and boys' JV soccer were pushed back to 6 p.m. Girls' varsity soccer was rescheduled for 7 p.m. And boys' varsity soccer was rescheduled for 9 p.m.

Meanwhile, teams altered practices to avoid the heat. Football players on Monday limited practice to walkthroughs in shorts and T-shirts. On Tuesday, they started practice at 6 a.m.

The cross country team did an indoor workout Monday, using equipment such as treadmills, and ran in the morning on Tuesday.

In addition to the scaled-back workouts, coaches are making sure the students get ample water breaks, Zopfi said. Practice stops for breaks every 10 or 15 minutes—even if practice that day only involves walkthroughs.

Zopfi expects that pattern to continue if games do go forward. Fans can expect to see the referees stop the game periodically to give the players a chance to rehydrate.

“The kids are the biggest concern—just taking care of them,” Zopfi said. “The refs know it. The coaches know it. We have plenty of water. We’re constantly filling the jugs up.”