This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
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story → publish → collaboration
Matthew Mayich stepped onto the field of Sun Angel Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, at about 7 a.m. on August 20.
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Mayich → step → August
He and his Arizona State University teammates spent at least 45 minutes doing push-ups, planks, flutter kicks, bear crawls, squats, sprints, and buddy-carries, led by guest trainer and former Green Beret Tim Ziesel.
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He → spend → trainer
Before leaving the field, Ziesel gave instructions for one final exercise: a medicine ball run.
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Ziesel → leave → exercise
As temperatures approached 90 degrees Fahrenheit, the players set off in small groups, according to the university’s timeline of events.
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players → approach → events
Mayich appeared to struggle, then stumbled, dropped the ball, and fell.
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Mayich → appear → ball
He tried to rise and fell again.
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He → try → ?
Athletic staff treated him with iced towels and cool water, then sprayed him with a garden hose.
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staff → treat → hose
Initially responsive, his condition deteriorated, and the trainer called 911.
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trainer → deteriorate → 911
Paramedics rushed him to the hospital, where he remains in critical condition after experiencing what his family’s lawyer, Robert Carey, called exertional heat stroke.
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lawyer → rush → what
Carey did not respond to requests for additional information about the diagnosis, which could not be independently corroborated.
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which → respond → diagnosis
He has told journalists the family’s hope for a meaningful recovery hovers near a miracle.
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hope → tell → miracle
“We want accountability for what happened to our son,” Mayich’s parents, John and Christina, said in a written statement.
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parents → want → statement
“We want the truth.”
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We → want → truth
University officials declined to be interviewed, and Ziesel’s attorney, Larry Kazan, downplayed the intensity of the training session.
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attorney → decline → session
“The workout was not difficult as some media outlets have attempted to color it,” he wrote in an email to Grist.
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he → attempt → Grist
Head coach Greg Powers insisted during a September 23 press conference that he was still the “right guy’” to lead the team but did not address specifics of the workout.
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he → insist → workout
ASU put him on paid leave Wednesday, more than a month after the workout and two days after seven of Mayich’s teammates impugned the school’s report and response in an anonymous letter sent via an attorney.
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seven → put → attorney
Among other things, they said the workout lasted 75 minutes, not 45, and alleged that the university did not follow its own guidelines.
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university → say → guidelines
“The precautions required by ASU’s heat policy were not in place: no immersion tub, no ice chests, no on-field heat measurement, no scheduled breaks in shade,” they wrote, noting that the session “continued after some of us showed signs of distress, including dropping to a knee, vomiting and, in Matthew’s case, visible disorientation well before the final task.”
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some → require → task
A St. Louis Blues prospect, Mayich, 21, had transferred to Arizona State to continue his college career.
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prospect → transfer → career
Instead, he is the latest in a long line of heat-related athletic tragedies that includes NFL player Korey Stringer, who died of heat stroke 25 years to the month before Mayich’s hospitalization.
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who → relate → hospitalization
His death propelled heat safety into the national consciousness.
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death → propel → consciousness
“We have made tremendous progress since then,” said Doug Casa, an exercise physiologist and certified athletic trainer.
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Casa → make → progress
He is the CEO of the Korey Stringer Institute at the University of Connecticut, which was established in 2010 to focus on safety and injury prevention for athletes, laborers, and warfighters.
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which → establish → athletes
But he said Mayich illustrates that more can be done to protect players.
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more → say → players
Exertional heat stroke is a life-threatening condition that occurs when the body overheats and cannot cool down.
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body → threaten → ?
It’s a leading cause of preventable sports deaths, and the risk is rising as climate change has made extreme heat more frequent, intense, and prolonged.
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heat → ’ → deaths
Between 1994 and 2026—the two times the United States hosted soccer’s World Cup—World Weather Attribution found that the chance of extreme temperatures “at least doubled” in multiple cities.
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chance → host → cities
Grass fields have also increasingly given way to synthetic turf, which absorbs enormous amounts of heat.
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which → give → heat
The surface temperatures at a recent Tennessee Titans football game in Nashville hit 157 degrees.
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temperatures → hit → degrees
One player rolled his ankle after the heat effectively melted his cleats, ESPN reported.
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ESPN → roll → cleats
“It was hot as s—,” said another.
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another → say → —
“I didn’t play a snap, and I had to get an IV.”
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I → play → IV
Whether it’s an NFL star or a tee ball tot, athletes nationwide are facing this new reality.
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athletes → ’ → reality
Some organizations have responded remarkably effectively—Georgia high schools instituted policies that moved them from the deadliest state for football players to among the safest.
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that → respond → safest
Others rely on vague recommendations and limited mandates that leave athletes at risk.
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that → rely → risk
And many policies don’t address nonathletes who are exposed to the same conditions.
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who → address → conditions
Just a week after Mayich’s hospitalization, University of Iowa band member Derek Phillips collapsed during a football game played in temperatures that topped 90 degrees.
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that → collapse → degrees
He later died.
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He → die → ?
…and 122 more, not listed.
The Aporia
