COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Football practice is in full swing at the University of Maryland. Getting ready for the upcoming season while it is prepping players to be their best.
The summer heat that comes along with it can have catastrophic consequences, but a new solar-powered unit can help prevent that.
"People don't think it'll happen to their kids," said Marty McNair, the founder of the Jordan McNair Foundation. His son played for the University of Maryland in 2018 and died from heat-related injuries.
A new cooling environment meant to prevent heat stroke symptoms for athletes has made its way to the practice field at the University of Maryland.
"So MOSH stands for Mobile Off Grid Sun Harvester," said Rashard Mendenhall who is the President of MOSH-1 Sports and Entertainment and is a Super Bowl Champion.
MOSH is a movable shipping container that when parked the wings go up and solar panels capture the suns power.
The MOSH arctic unit is set up for the football team to use throughout the summer during practice. The first college in the country to use it.
Keeping it cooled down to 40 degrees, the unit is completely powered by the sun and provides satellite Wi-Fi.
"The suns energy that's captured from the solar panels goes into the batteries and overnight the batteries run when the sun is down,” said Mendenhall.
A former NFL running back, Mendenhall knows the struggle of being out in dangerous temperatures during practice.
"As a player before you get into the extremes of heat illness, heat exhaustion, heat stroke as a player the heat definitely affects your play and how you're able to perform,"said Mendenhall.
So much, that getting out of it for just a bit to reset and cool down could save a life.
"Obviously, Jordan played here, in 2018 he died from a heat stroke or a heat complicated injury," said McNair.
He said it was the first day of conditioning drills.
"Wasn't as hot. Unfortunately, they were running some excessive drills the very first day of practice. Jordan overheated and unfortunately the medical professionals on the field that day didn't really recognize the signs and symptoms,” said McNair.
The foundation is used to promote and educate on heat related injuries. When presented with the idea to partner on the cooling unit company he was skeptical.
"I say no to everybody, cause this is the time of year that everyone comes to us just due to Jordan’s story," said McNair.
He saw something different in the MOSH unit stating heat related injuries happen all the time it's when they become mismanaged that they become tragic.
"It's a preventative measure because we don't want to let heat exhaustion get to heat stroke that was really the main goal,” said McNair.
Now, the company is working to partner with other colleges and spread throughout the country to provide another solution for athletes out in the hot sun.
