Not that there is any evidence of large amounts of broken silvered glass everywhere, but there must be some explanation for this - for now, as well as Jess being out for several weeks following Sunday's game, Carla is now out until February due to some undisclosed off-pitch aggravation of her shoulder injury.
The curious thing is that I hear that we may not be quite alone in all this. Swaffham withdrew last weekend mainly, as you will have seen below, due to injuries suffered at county level, and I hear one or two other clubs may be experiencing raised injury levels. I grant you this is hardly a scientific survey, and one will tend to hear the bad news stories, but I wonder.... what's going on?
The age ranges changed this season - is this a co-incidence? That would be an irony because one major reason to change the age ranges was to improve safety. Could any aspect of the new age ranges be less "safe"? Fact is that I can't see what... and anyway at least half of our injuries have been off-field.
So, just bad luck then? Or.... any ideas, anyone?
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
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Thought i'd record my thoughts on the injuries we have had so far this season.
ReplyDeleteOne was a tendon in a hand, the player in question thinking the ripping noise was the shirt of the girl she was tackling, (she was wrong.....), one was a neck injury from a scrum and to be fair this was probably due to a bad position and collapse of the scrum from her opponent. However picking up that point one of our props is 12 (nearly) 13 and was up against a player at the other end of the age range.
The difference in physique however was neglible but body development, muscle groups etc are a different matter.
Other injuries include a broken nose (part rugby / part kick boxing injury), falls from bikes, pavements and heeleys (!) as well. So not all rugby related injurys.
I would however compare this to the U13 boys squad who I also coach and they too have had a number of injuries this season.
It is something we haven't had previously in the boys squad and I think the intensity they are bringing to their play has a lot to do with this. It's the way they see the game played on the box etc.
All that said I and all over at Swaffham would wish you all speedy recoveries from your injuries and as I've said before we are looking forward to meeting you and playing you at some point in the future.
Cheers
Spike
Thanks Spike - and the same to all your girls and boys!
ReplyDeleteThere certainly do seem to be more injuries about this season for everyone - probably just bad luck - or is it that we are throwing ourselves into the game more? Or maybe the ground's getting harder?
Bizarely the more special protective rugby gear I get, the more I get injured! Maybe it's all a plot by the manufacturers of rugby gear...? I don't know - hope it clears up quickly though!
Discussed this before a county meeting yesteray as Welwyn have (in proportion) lost as many as we have, I gather.
ReplyDeleteMy guess its two things. First, people do not wait until an injury is fully healed before returning. No-one wants to miss a single game, and also no-one wants to let their mates down - so they get back on the field again as soon as they can walk. The result is that they never properly heal and so are more prone to a more injuries.
The second thing is that I supect that when someone gets injured everyone else raises their game to cover for them... and so we get more injuries, which means that those left try even harder and so...
A related effect is that it can inevitable force those who remain also play in unfamiliar positions - at the level and pace you are now playing at that too may be a cause of problems. Would the level of injuries at county levels be a measure of this, where you may be playing out of position with unfamiliar team-mates playing unfamiliar tactics?
What can we do about it? Not much - in the end all of the above is the result of squad size. To operate with team that could cover for injuries without presurising those who remain would require a squad of around 30... but that would also mean that most players would not play regularly - so you can't win!