Red alert in Luxembourg: "Young people are asked to drink a lot"

PostedJuly 18, 2022, 8:46 PM

Red alert in Luxembourg“Young people are asked to drink a lot”

LUXEMBOURG – Many children are currently on internship in the Grand Duchy. How do the animators try to cope with the high heat?

Despite a synthetic ground transformed into a real furnace by the rays of the sun, the children keep smiling.

Vincent Lescaut

Straight towards 40 degrees and well beyond 35 degrees! Faced with very hot weather, Luxembourg will be on red alert this Tuesday, July 19. How to manage a group of young children in these conditions? We took stock with young Belgian footballers from ES Saint-Pierre (Libramont, Center-Ardenne) on internship in the Racing facilities in Luxembourg.

“We are here for a football camp abroad with around thirty children”, explain Hugo Lemaire and Pierre-Edouard Toussaint, members of the management.

“We came by minibus from Libramont and we are going to sleep in the RFCUL changing rooms. To manage the heat as well as possible, we take a lot of breaks between exercises and fill our water bottles enormously. We mainly go in the shade and we adapt the training sessions by offering them fewer races. The little ones tend to forget to hydrate, so we don’t hesitate to remind them.

“To drink a lot”

Popsicles in the mouth, in the shade under a large arbor and a stone’s throw from a synthetic pitch transformed into a real furnace by the sun’s rays, the children keep smiling.

For Maxime, almost 11 years old, “you have to put on a lot of sunscreen and don’t forget your cap”. “The synthetic pitch warms our feet a bit, but it’s ok, the atmosphere is good. That’s happy”. “I put the bob on my head and I drink a lot,” adds Clément. “We didn’t do any sprints, because it’s too hot and we’ll sleep well at night, because it’s very cool in the changing rooms.”

“Cooling off in the parks”

“So much fun”, continues Noah, “I forget a little that it’s hot, so I have to be reminded to drink well”. From the height of his 9 years, Charly does not forget “to get his hair wet”. “We really have fun with our friends and we will certainly make a little mess before falling asleep”.

“So that the young people don’t get too hot during the week, we won’t just play football,” Hugo and Pierre-Edouard add. “We are going to see Racing play in the European Cup at the Stade du Luxembourg, we will go to Walygator and we will also cool off in the parks of the capital”.