The other day while I was recovering from Physical Therapy, with the ice strapped to my leg, I got to think about how many of my injuries and surgeries were a direct result of rugby, and how much is too much rugby in the grand scheme of things.
Not to go into too many boring details, but for purposes of setting the scene, I have to say that I have led an active first 49 years of my life. Along with a career in the Army leaping on and off, and in and out of, many forms of military transport and equipment, I spent a lot of time mountaineering, skiing, kayaking, sailing and many other pastimes and sports. And of course, I also played rugby as well.
Now it would be really hard to tell what has caused seven surgeries in the past fifteen years - most repairing the damage caused by osteoarthritis. But I do know that in hindsight, I simply played too much rugby and I should have stopped about three years before I did. Again, not wanting to go into too many details, but over the course of about a twenty year period, some seasons I would play two games of rugby a week - doubling up for my club on a weekend and playing in Army matches on Wednesdays.
I have tried to remember fairly accurately how many games in a season I may have played. After the league system was put in place in 1987, a typical league program could mean up to 20 games a season plus several county and cup matches, which soon mounted up especially if you had a good cup run. Then the army matches could go from about 10 regular plus more games for cups. Some years, especially 1988, 89, 97 & 98, I played between 32 - 36 games of rugby a year.
Now, by any standards, I think that is too much rugby. And what really sinks in, is that not once did anyone say to me, "Hey, I think playing that many games a year may have a long lasting effect on your health." It wasn't until my first of three knee surgeries in 1997, that the surgeon (who happened to be a scrum half for Plymouth Albion) told me to stop. And of course, by that time, most of the foundations for my future osteoarthritis had already been laid.
Sure, it was my responsibility and my decision to play that much, and I'm not a huge fan of the nanny state, or wrapping people in cotton wool. But with the dawning of a new era of Sevens, I do think it is a coach's responsibility to advise a player if he thinks he is playing too much. Add the Sevens competitions, to new collegiate leagues, and then possible calls from representative sides - the amount of time a young player is on the field soon mounts up. Add to this, the rigors of training 5-6 days a week and you can see where the problems might occur.
I think mandating how many games and minutes a single player is on the field in any given year is not practical, but there should be guidelines to help coaches advise players. Every player is different and not everyone is prone to long-term injuries, but as coaches I think we need to try really hard to prevent such a situation occurring.
Not to go into too many boring details, but for purposes of setting the scene, I have to say that I have led an active first 49 years of my life. Along with a career in the Army leaping on and off, and in and out of, many forms of military transport and equipment, I spent a lot of time mountaineering, skiing, kayaking, sailing and many other pastimes and sports. And of course, I also played rugby as well.
Now it would be really hard to tell what has caused seven surgeries in the past fifteen years - most repairing the damage caused by osteoarthritis. But I do know that in hindsight, I simply played too much rugby and I should have stopped about three years before I did. Again, not wanting to go into too many details, but over the course of about a twenty year period, some seasons I would play two games of rugby a week - doubling up for my club on a weekend and playing in Army matches on Wednesdays.
I have tried to remember fairly accurately how many games in a season I may have played. After the league system was put in place in 1987, a typical league program could mean up to 20 games a season plus several county and cup matches, which soon mounted up especially if you had a good cup run. Then the army matches could go from about 10 regular plus more games for cups. Some years, especially 1988, 89, 97 & 98, I played between 32 - 36 games of rugby a year.
Now, by any standards, I think that is too much rugby. And what really sinks in, is that not once did anyone say to me, "Hey, I think playing that many games a year may have a long lasting effect on your health." It wasn't until my first of three knee surgeries in 1997, that the surgeon (who happened to be a scrum half for Plymouth Albion) told me to stop. And of course, by that time, most of the foundations for my future osteoarthritis had already been laid.
Sure, it was my responsibility and my decision to play that much, and I'm not a huge fan of the nanny state, or wrapping people in cotton wool. But with the dawning of a new era of Sevens, I do think it is a coach's responsibility to advise a player if he thinks he is playing too much. Add the Sevens competitions, to new collegiate leagues, and then possible calls from representative sides - the amount of time a young player is on the field soon mounts up. Add to this, the rigors of training 5-6 days a week and you can see where the problems might occur.
I think mandating how many games and minutes a single player is on the field in any given year is not practical, but there should be guidelines to help coaches advise players. Every player is different and not everyone is prone to long-term injuries, but as coaches I think we need to try really hard to prevent such a situation occurring.
RSS Feed