Time and time again throughout each season, a multitude of clubs, regardless if they are NPL or lower league, all suffer from ongoing player injuries, which in essence is affecting team\club success. This continues to be either overlooked or too difficult to deal with using club resources and expertise and thus is deemed to repeat itself each season. Alleviation of this problem can only can about through additional player management at all levels of football.
This article is designed to educate about the fundamentals of injuries, HOW and WHY these injuries are occurring, and WHAT needs to done to prevent this.
This system failure will not resolve itself unless correct exercise interventions and optimal player management systems are implemented prior to preseason starting. Compare Australian football clubs to overseas frameworks where clubs compete in 3-4 cups p/year accumulating over 50 competitive games, yet we struggle to complete 26 rounds in one season. Yes, budget comes into play for our semi-professional environment, but there is still a great deal clubs can do with a small financial outlay, that can reap huge benefits to their playing list thus ensure the greatest chance of success for the club, whilst reduce the clubs financial expenditure on medical expenses which will be outlined in the table below.
The lead up to pre-season…
At this stage of the year, if players have done no form of exercise, strength and conditioning, or any exercise intervention to prepare you for your pre-season, consider yourself DOOMED for the year. You might not get injured initially but at some stage throughout the year these deficiencies will snowball, eventually leading to some form of injury (major and minor). The body needs a strong base level of aerobic/anaerobic fitness prior to pre-season, it also needs a tailored strength and conditioning phase (sport specific) to ensure adequate functioning, strength/endurance, and physiological adaptations for what’s to come at the commencement of training.
This will ensure your tendons, ligaments, and musculature are all conditioned to the high workloads that are about to shock your system during pre-season. Your psychological\cognitive ability, and heightened motor patterns increase your ability to concentrate and execute high intensity exercises, reducing your risk of injury, typically at the end of training sessions when you are tired and technique goes out the window.
Think of it like this: if you make a pizza with a terrible base, you should always expect a poor outcome no matter how good the toppings are. Your body is exactly the same – Fail to Prepare, Prepare to Fail.
So what are the common themes I am talking about when we analyse each club:
So this snowball effect’ I’m talking about, let’s narrow this down further to provide some clarity to what I am trying to explain. A lack of strength and conditioning before pre-season prevents muscle hypertrophy (muscle growth), tendon and ligament strength/stability, which ultimately means the demands of pre-season will exceed your bodies capability to cope with these loads, this will lead to tightness, weakness, overcompensation, muscular imbalances, reduced neuro-muscular recruitment/firing, which all lead you on a path to injury. Some of you may say ‘Then why don’t I get injured straight away?’ The body has an amazing ability to maintain function and try manage your bodies systems to the best of its ability, but essentially if you’re not looking after your body the way it should be, in the end the system fails, leading to strains, tears, chronic pain, surgeries etc.
So to all the coaches and medical staff, ask yourself this:
- Do I have a plan in place to monitor my players conditioning before pre-season starts?
- Do my players have specified strength and conditioning (Football specific) before the bucket loads of running and ball work?
- Do we have systems in place to regularly monitor player’s status, with accurate feedback to medical\coaching staff?
To all the players, ask yourself this:
- What strength and conditioning did I do in the gym/park before pre-season started?
- Did I have a tailored program to help me prepare for pre-season?
- Have I monitored my condition throughout the season with any gym/resistance work?
To all the board members thinking ‘It’s only a semi-professional environment’, ask yourself this:
- Is my club really prepared to compete with an A-League team in the FFA cup, if we don’t have some form of similarity with the frameworks of elite clubs such as gym programs?
- If an Exercise Physiologist can save the club 10’s of thousands of dollars p\year and also improve the club’s chances of success and player management systems, why don’t we have one on board?
It’s as simple as enrolling your club/team, marquee players, chronically injured players, in WALKING TALL’s off season program where players (even youth players) will be screened, provided with a tailored football specific programs (with progressions) to prepare them for pre-season, with regular monitoring\feedback to all parties involved.
To discuss or enquire about getting you or your sporting club involved in with Walking Tall’s pre-season programs please contact us on evan@walkingtall.com or 0423923585.