Heat Sense Founder Melissa Fortenberry on Proactive Heat Illness Monitoring in Youth Sports

On the Contacts Coaching podcast, host interviews Melissa Fortenberry, founder of Heat Sense, about proactively monitoring heat strain in athletes to prevent heat illness. Fortenberry, a former Texas athlete and tech professional, describes being sick during a 107-degree football game and researching why existing guidelines focus on symptoms, meaning athletes are already ill once dizziness or nausea appears. She explains limitations of heat index and wet bulb globe temperature for team decisions because athletes differ in hydration and acclimation, and argues core body temperature is the key metric, though gold-standard measurement is rectal thermometry. Heat Sense uses a Swiss wearable (bicep/chest) plus heart rate to estimate core temperature within about 1°C, flag rising heat strain trends via an app and team dashboard, and support cooling interventions. They discuss adoption models, rotating sensors to identify sensitive athletes, EAP planning, and “cool first, transport second” protocols.00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro00:32 Melissa’s Origin Story02:05 107 Degrees Spark03:44 Why Heat Guidelines Fail06:05 Core Temp Monitoring Tech08:31 Accuracy and Thresholds12:00 Cooling Protocols in Practice13:03 Practice Risks and Acclimation16:17 App Dashboard and Pricing17:33 Adoption for Schools and Clubs20:27 Parent Checklist and EAP21:42 Cooling First Transport Second22:18 Regional Risk and Humidity23:57 Where to Learn More24:10 Wrap Up and Takeawayshttps://heatsense.com/