The poor air quality could make it challenging for people to get work done outdoors and that includes athletes.

They are trained to compete in all sorts of weather conditions. The football season last several months, so players are training in both hot and cold temperatures, but they are also training in different weather scenarios like poor air quality.

Mohammed Al-Hchmimi, a Senior Running Back and Safety said, "When we have been training, we have had a couple of good weathers, bad weathers, we are just out here trying to get better."


By training in different weather environments, players at Iroquois High School are prepared for whatever they may encounter during the season. Cole Bennett, a Senior Quarterback said, "We need to be ready for that because we all have rain games and then we can't really throw the ball to run it and then later in the season in the playoffs we are playing in colder weather and we have to play in warmer clothing."


The head coach said it's important that their athletes practice and train in all weather conditions, whether it's heat, poor air quality, rain or snow. The recent poor air quality provided new challenges for athletes ahead of the season. According to Head Coach, Manny Johnson, "We want to make sure the parents are aware of everything going on and kids some kind of IQ of the health and the weather conditions."


Adapting to climate changes is something that Johnson said is important for their players and they take it seriously. According to Johnson, "Number one, pay attention to the weather. Pay attention to the trainers, if our trainers tell us one thing in particular, we are going to follow those directions. For example, a day like today, air quality is not very good, so we have been giving the kids a lot of breaks, a lot of sessions inside and some things indoors."