12:00am, Thursday 4 November 2021

Over the course of the season we will be posting a number of blogs by Sam Donaldson a footballer, father and Physiotherapist at the clubs great sponsor RHP Physiotherapy

Offseason, the start of pre-season!

The season was long and the body only just held up… or maybe it didn’t? Either way, now is the time to rest and recover. Here comes the conundrum.

“Rest” and “recover” often results in de-training and no actual return to normal for whatever injuries might have ailed you. By resting, your body adapts to what you are doing for that period of time. If you stop completely for two weeks, it is going to take upwards of four weeks to return to the level of fitness you had previously.

If you stop for six weeks, perhaps with the occasional gym session and fortnightly run, you can expect pre-season to suck more than ever. It is going to take your body more than 12 weeks to return to the fitness levels you achieved before resting.

So, what do you do? You don’t want to return to pre-season in worse shape than ever?

Now is the time to work on what you struggled with during the season. Foot pain, achilles pain, knee pain, back pain… these all will result in loss of muscle strength around the area as well as a change in movement patterns.

It’s time to speak to your physio about what you need to do to ensure these problems don’t recur next year. Perhaps ask what the minimum is you need to do to make pre-season hurt less.

No niggles or injury? Get to the gym more than once a week (1.5 times per week is enough).

Don’t like running? Some cross-training is perfectly fine. Short and sharp sessions (20 minute HIIT) for two sessions per week will keep you ticking over well enough.

If you’re not sure what is best for you, ask the question!

12:00am, Thursday 1 December 2022

The 2023 club Annual General Meeting will be held on Monday 16th January 6.30pm at the fields. Please contact the club if you are interested in registering for any position on the committe.

Hayden | 12:00am, Thursday 19 August 2021

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Hayden | 12:00am, Tuesday 6 July 2021

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Do niggles matter?

Yep. Unfortunately niggles do matter!

That tight calf, the pain in your knee that comes and goes, that annoying back pain that interrupts your day slightly. It might not affect your ability on the football pitch, but these niggles add up.

A recent Australian study included football clubs in NSW at various levels of competitiveness from NPL NSW and below. Players were asked to complete a questionnaire every week with a simple set of questions about whether or not they were in perfect physical condition.

Q1: Have you had any difficulty participating in normal training/ competition in the past week?
Q2: To what extent have you reduced your training volume due to the above?
Q3: To what extent has injury, illness or other affected your performance in the past week?
Q4: To what extent have you experienced symptoms/ health complaints during the past week?

Most of us would report something for at least one or two of those questions, even if the answer is “to a minor extent”

They also collected information about how much training each player was exposed to and when someone was actually unable to train or play due to injury or illness. These were called “Time-Loss” injuries, while reporting an injury but still training was called a “Non-Time-Loss” injury, otherwise known as a niggle.

The risk of a Time-Loss injury was 3.6 and 6.9 times higher when a “minor” niggle or a “moderate” niggle was reported in the week prior.

Amazingly, over 25% of players were reporting a niggle each week, not always the same person (but we all know that one person that’s always injured). This means that those players were far more likely to suffer an injury that keeps them out of the game in the next week!

So, what do you do about it?