Fall Athletes: Prepare for Hot Weather
July 26, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
As summer activities wind down with an eye toward the beginning of fall sports next month, the MHSAA advises that student-athletes need to prepare for training in the hot weather that traditionally accompanies the beginning of August and the first practices of the school year.
Each year, the MHSAA provides information to its member schools to help them prepare for hot weather practice and game conditions during the late summer and early fall. Football practice can begin at MHSAA schools August 6, followed by first practices for all other fall sports August 8.
The topic of heat-related injuries receives a lot of attention at this time of year, especially when deaths at the professional, collegiate and interscholastic levels of sport occur, and especially since they are preventable in most cases with the proper precautions.
“This month’s high temperatures across much of Michigan served as a reminder that we all must take a role in making sure our student-athletes are ready for hot weather as practices get underway,” said John E. “Jack” Roberts, executive director of the MHSAA. “At the start of every fall, we point out that with proper precautions and planning, heat illness is almost always preventable. It is imperative that we continue to emphasize this message and teach the best practices for staying safe both to our returning student-athletes and those taking part for the first time.”
Heat, hydration and acclimatization continue to be focuses of the MHSAA’s required preseason rules meetings for coaches and officials. The online presentations discuss the need for good hydration in sports, regardless of the activity or time of year, and informs both how to recognize the early signs of heat illness and the immediate steps to take to respond to those symptoms. The MHSAA requires all head varsity, varsity assistant and subvarsity coaches at the high school level to complete the rules and risk minimization meeting requirement.
The first days of formal practices in hot weather should be more for heat acclimatization than the conditioning of athletes, and practices in such conditions need planning to become longer and more strenuous over a gradual progression of time. Schools also must consider moving practices to different locations or different times of day, or change practice plans to include different activities depending on the conditions. Furthermore, football practice rules allow for only helmets to be worn during the first two days, only shoulder pads to be added on the third and fourth days, and full pads to not be worn until the fifth day of team practice.
Roberts also emphasized that student-athletes should make sure to hydrate all day long – beginning before practice, continuing during and also after practice is done. Water and properly-formulated sports drinks are the best choices for hydration, while energy drinks, high-carbohydrate fruit juices (greater than eight percent carb content), carbonated and caffeinated beverages are among those that should be avoided. The “Health & Safety” page of the MHSAA Website has a number of links to various publications and information including recommendations on proper hydration from the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).
A number of member schools follow the MHSAA’s Model Policy for Managing Heat & Humidity, which while not mandated for member schools was adopted as a rule for MHSAA postseason competition in 2013. The plan directs schools to begin monitoring the heat index at the activity site once the air temperature reaches 80 degrees, and provides recommendations when the heat index reaches certain points, including ceasing activities when it rises above 104 degrees. (When the temperature is below 80 degrees, there is no combination of heat and humidity that will result in a need to curtail activity.)
The model heat & humidity policy is outlined in a number of places on the MHSAA Website, including as part of the publication Heat Ways, also available for download from the “Health & Safety” page.
Leland's Glass Childress Selected as 11th Michigan Inductee Into NFHS Hall of Fame
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 9, 2026
More than two decades have passed since Alisha Glass took her final swing at a volleyball in a Leland High School uniform, and yet her accomplishments for her small-town school in Northern Michigan remain among the most notable in that sport’s history not just statewide, but at the national level.
Glass, now Alisha Glass Childress – who went on to star on three Penn State national championship teams and help the U.S. national team to a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics – will have her record-setting high school career enshrined this summer as one of 12 honorees announced today as this year’s inductees into the National High School Hall of Fame by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).
Childress will be inducted as part of the 43rd Hall of Fame class at a ceremony during the NFHS summer meeting June 29 in Salt Lake City. The rest of the class is made up of four more athletes, three coaches, two game officials, one former state association administrator and one former fine arts educator. Childress was nominated by the Michigan High School Athletic Association.
She will become the Hall of Fame’s 11th inductee from Michigan, joining the MHSAA’s first full-time Executive Director Charles E. Forsythe (inducted 1983), River Rouge boys basketball coach Lofton Greene (1986), Warren Regina athletic director, softball and basketball coach Diane Laffey (2000), Fennville basketball and baseball standout Richie Jordan (2001), Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett boys and girls tennis coach Bob Wood (2005), Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook hockey standout Jim Johnson (2007), Owosso football, basketball and baseball all-stater Brad Van Pelt (2011); Vermontville Maple Valley baseball national record holder Ken Beardslee (2016), retired MHSAA Executive Director John E. “Jack” Roberts (2022) and Dearborn Heights Robichaud football, basketball and track & field star Tyrone Wheatley (2024).
“My high school career at Leland, surrounded by such an amazing support system and community, was the essential first chapter of my story. It cultivated the grit and the fundamental love for the game that allowed me to reach the highest levels of athletics,” Childress said. “I’m proud of every medal and trophy, but I’m just as proud of the roots I planted back in high school that made them all possible.”
Childress graduated from Leland in 2006 with national high school career records of 3,584 kills, 680 blocks and 937 aces, and 296 aces for one season as a junior. Her aces records still stand, her career kills record stood until broken in 2024 by Shelby’s Navea Gauthier, and she remains third on the career blocks list. Glass continues to hold MHSAA records for single-season and career aces and also for her 48 kills in Leland’s 2005-06 Class D Final win over Battle Creek St. Philip. Childress also led Leland to a Class D runner-up finish in 2004-05 and the Semifinals in 2003-04. (All three tournament runs took place while girls volleyball was still played during the winter season before moving to the fall to begin the 2007-08 school year).
Childress earned the Miss Volleyball Award and Gatorade Player of the Year Award for Michigan as a senior, and her name is listed 19 times throughout the MHSAA girls volleyball record book. She also made Michigan's Class D all-state first team on the basketball court as both a junior and senior, averaging 18 points and 11 rebounds per game as a junior and 16 points, 10 rebounds and 3.7 blocked shots per game as a senior while leading her basketball team to Class D Quarterfinals both of those seasons.
“As our staff researched our first 50 years of female sports for our ‘Title IX at 50’ celebration during the 2021-22 school year, they told stories of several standouts who went on to collegiate, Olympic and professional stardom – and Alisha Glass stands out even among the greats,” MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said. “Taking into account everything she accomplished individually and with her teams, and not just in volleyball but basketball as well, it’s a strong argument that Alisha Glass continues to set the bar as not only our state’s best female athlete all-time, but arguably the most accomplished volleyball player in national high school history. We are thrilled that she will be inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame.”
Also during high school, Childress played on the 2004 and 2005 USA youth national volleyball teams and helped the 2004 team to the North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORECA) championship, and was named Best Server at that event. After high school, she started all four seasons at national power Penn State and set the Nittany Lions to three straight NCAA championships, being named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-America first team twice and second team once.
Childress continued her career professionally and internationally, playing professionally in the United States and Puerto Rico, Italy, Turkey, Poland and Brazil and being named USA Volleyball Indoor Female Athlete of the Year for both 2013 and 2014. She led the U.S. national team to bronze at 2016 Olympics and was named Best Setter of the tournament, after being selected as an alternate for the 2012 Olympic team.
Most recently, Childress played for the Pro Volleyball Federation's Vegas Thrill in 2024 and 2025 and played in the league's first All-Star Match last season. She’s currently the head coach of the San Diego Mojo of Major League Volleyball and last summer also completed her first season as a coach with Athletes Unlimited. She previously served as an assistant coach with the Stanford University women’s volleyball program from 2019-21 – including during the team’s run to the Division I national title in 2019 – and also served as an assistant for the gold medal-winning U.S. national team during the 2018 Pan American Cup.
Childress is the daughter of Laurie Glass, who retired from coaching Leland after the 2023 season and ranks seventh in MHSAA girls volleyball coaching history for victories with a career record of 1,259-410-124. Glass led Leland to three Class D championships and five runner-up finishes. Childress’ grandfather Larry Glass ranks on the MHSAA girls basketball coaching victory list with a 388-110 record and led Leland to three straight Class D titles from 1980-82. He also coached the Northwestern University men’s basketball team for six seasons.
Additionally, Childress is married to past Stanford basketball star Josh Childress, who went on to play eight seasons in the NBA and several more overseas. They have three daughters, Maya, Mina and Amara.
The National High School Hall of Fame was started in 1982 by the NFHS. The 12 individuals were chosen after a two-level selection process involving a screening committee composed of active high school state association administrators, coaches and officials, and a final selection committee composed of coaches, former athletes, state association officials, media representatives and educational leaders. Nominations were made through NFHS member associations. Also chosen for this class were athletes Joe Carter (Oklahoma), Jordan Larson (Nebraska), Krissy Wendell-Pohl (Minnesota) and Patrick Willis (Tennessee); sport coaches Jan Barker (Texas), David Gentry (North Carolina) and Flo Valdez (New Mexico); game officials Burney Jenkins (Kentucky) and Mary Lou Thimas (Massachusetts), former state association administrator Steve Savarese (Alabama) and former fine arts educator Craig Ihnen (Iowa).
For more on this year’s Hall of Fame class, visit the NFHS Website.