When the sun is shining early each football season, Bothell High School coach Tom Bainter wants his players to drink plenty of water.
And even when there was snow everywhere, as there was this week, Bainter still urged his athletes to guzzle water, water and more water.
The reason, he explained, is the Tacoma Dome, where Bainter’s ballclub meets Oak Harbor tonight for the Class 4A state championship. Players should take fluids before every game, he said, and in particular when they are headed indoors to play in relatively warm temperatures.
Bainter has talked to other coaches with indoor experiences, “and the first thing everybody said was, ‘Make sure you hydrate,’” he said.
The idea, he explained, is not only to have players taking fluids during the game itself, but in the days prior to the game. In fact, Bainter instituted a team rule that each player had to carry a water bottle around during the day, and they were instructed to drink eight glasses of water daily.
Even when the team was practicing in the cold outdoors, he assigned assistant coaches during breaks “to make sure kids were going over there and taking their drinks.”
Of course, all that water intake can cause other problems. During last Saturday’s semifinal win against Edmonds-Woodway, also at the Tacoma Dome, one player had to be excused during the first half for an urgent bathroom break. Considering all the protective pads he wore, not to mention having taped his hands, that became more than an ordinary excursion.
Last week’s game might give the Cougars “a little bit” of an advantage, Bainter acknowledged.
“Our kids know what it sounds like in there when it’s loud,” he said. “There’s also a little bit of a gawking period where kids are going to be looking around and saying, ‘Wow, this is cool.’ Well, our kids have gawked already.”
Oak Harbor coach Dave Ward, meanwhile, has never coached a game indoors, and none of his players has ever played indoors. For the Wildcats, then, the journey to Tacoma will be a bit of a trip to the unknown, though the team was scheduled for a 90-minute workout on Friday.
“We have to figure out what it’s going to be like in there,” Ward said. “We don’t know what shoes to wear, we don’t know how hot it’s going to be, and I’ve heard the noise is incredible.
“It will be a completely 180 degree difference from what it was last week,” he said, referring to Oak Harbor’s semifinal game against Gonzaga Prep at Spokane’s Joe Albi Stadium.
Ward has been considering various measures to make sure his players do not overheat. During every timeout, he expects the Wildcats to doff their helmets, and the players coming off the field will be given wet towels to moisten their heads (Bothell will do the same).
Oak Harbor is even considering the use of electric fans behind the bench, much as college and pro teams often use.
Despite certain concerns, Ward and Bainter both seem excited about staging their title showdown indoors. It will certainly be a more comfortable climate for the fans, they say, and it also means that weather – whether wind, rain or snow – will not be a factor in the outcome.
The other plus is that no plays will be off-limits, as often happens when bad weather makes some coaches reluctant to, say, throw the ball deep.
“I love to empty the playbook and the kids like it, too,” Ward said. “We’ve got a couple of plays we haven’t used for a while and we’ve been practicing those. It surprises people when you use something they’re not ready for.”
“(Playing indoors) allows you to use everything you have in your offense,” Bainter agreed. “You don’t have to worry about throwing against the wind, you don’t have to worry about rain, the ball is not going to be cold and neither are the quarterback’s hands, and you’re not going to be slipping on AstroTurf in icy conditions. So from that standpoint, it’s wonderful.”
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