It would only make sense that the year the PIAA has instituted a three-day heat acclimatization period for football only, we'll probably see the coolest August summer camp in years.

Nevertheless, as the first official day of fall practice is slated for August 12, schools across the state have the option to complete their mandatory, three-day heat acclimatization program starting on August 7 through August 9.

The PIAA web site lists these core principles as staples of the program.

ŸPractices are limited to 5 hours of practice daily for the 3 days of heat acclimatization. Practice sessions may be no longer than 3 hours in length and teams must have 2 hours of rest (recovery period) between sessions.

ŸIf starting the previous week by school option, these days are to be three consecutive days and are not to be earlier than Wednesday the previous week – August 7th. Helmets and shoulder pads with shorts the first 2 days and full gear on third day. No contact on third day (prior to start date).

ŸIf more than 48 hours between the conclusion of the heat acclimatization program and first day of practice, the program will not have its intended affect medically. Therefore, these practices are limited to five hours per day with no contact on the third day since it is prior to the start of the stipulated fall season.

ŸIf starting the previous week option is chosen, Monday's practice – August 12th – may be 5 hours with a 2 hours buffer between practices and contact may be included.

The one staple of this program that causing an issue, is its optional status. This gives schools the option to start their summer camp three days before the official August 12 date, or allows them to stick to the original date intended and theoretically have them playing catch up to schools who opt for an earlier start.

It's the optional status that Bethlehem Catholic head coach Joe Henrich has a problem with.

Becahi and Central Catholic have mandated shutdowns imposed by the diocese that prevents any sport related activities, as schools use this week shutdown as time for families to either relax or go on vacation before the start of the school year.

Liberty, Freedom, Whitehall, Northampton and Emmaus are among other LVC schools that will be starting practices this week.

Henrich has no problem with the guidelines of the program itself, he just doesn't appreciate the optional status of the program.

"I just don't think it's right for the PIAA to give an option to schools on when they can start," said Henrich. "They've [PIAA] created a competitive imbalance. Schools that start earlier are getting at least 10 hours of extra practice, that we can't get. That's a lot of time, especially for kids, where technique and repetition are so important."

With schools participating in the program having the ability to go full pads on August 12, they can get right into contact from day one, whereas the latter of the bunch can't start until Wednesday.

Even though we're talking about a couple days of practice here, football coacŸhes view every single minute of their sessions as important steps to their season, especially in the month of August.

With this being the inaugural year the program is being implemented, Henrich hopes that the PIAA will review the status of the program to not exclude schools from having the same opportunities as everyone else.

"I've expressed my concern to Jason Zimmerman [former District 11 chairman] when all this news coming out last spring," said Henrich. "I don't know what else we can do at this point, but I sure hope that the PIAA will look at things next year and give every school the same guidelines they have to follow."