Work-load management
WYZ Sports Science (Youth Athlete Development)
Sports Science
If you’re an athlete, year round tournaments, intense training sessions, and skill practice are a normal, yet exhausting part of your schedule. But, without proper rest and recovery, this could be a factor that heightens injury risk!?
At Wonder Yearz, we utilize various methods and technology to monitor athlete workload so they do not overtrain, remain injury-free and play carefree.?
How do we do that??
1.?????????The Athlete Monitoring System
We encourage athletes to self report all workouts, game sessions, wellness and injury data from their mobiles onto this web based platform. Evidence based interpretation takes place allowing coaches to take action - modify plans, identify injury risk, understand readiness of the athletes. So an athlete who is not coping well with the current training load will be provided with a modified plan or given more rest/ time to recover.
We generate weekly reports and share with the coaches for optimal support.
?2.?????????Testing
Detailed assessment takes place twice an year by our sports physiotherapists along with quarterly testing, i.e. executed by strength and conditioning coaches, to obtain current fitness levels of our athletes. Knowing their baseline allows realistic and accurate goal setting for the short and long term as well as provides insights into specific exercise programming.?
3.?????????Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE)
RPE is a scale that the athlete can use to rate the intensity (how easy or difficult) a given session/ exercise is. This self report method is beneficial to understand the daily fluctuations of an individual’s performance and to adjust training loads accordingly.?
Why is Workload Management important?
Excessive fatigue impairs decision-making ability, coordination and neuromuscular control leading to time away from sport due to injuries. Most injuries occur when:?
1)???Athletes are unfit to tolerate the prescribed workload (undertrained or not adequately prepared for the specific task, or;?
2)???Athletes are fit and well-trained but in need of rest.?
However, injuries are inevitable. In team sports, research shows higher injury rates have a major effect on their overall performance and also final log standings.?
Thus at Wonder Yearz, we not just focus on performance enhancement in sports but also have equal (if not higher) focus on injury prevention. Both S&Cs and physiotherapist work in tandem to achieve the above mentioned. If injuries occur, they are managed with utmost care and attention to avoid re-occurrence. We also follow our 'safe return to play' protocol for our athletes to resume sport gradually and safely. Irrespective of the group format, these sessions are personalized. Load management and customized programs are made for athletes with injuries.?
Monitoring workload also allows sport science practitioners to get a snapshot of how prepared an athlete is based on his load history and accordingly work on his exercise intensity prescription. Training-load management and prescription should be utilized to improve performance, track preparedness, and most importantly, to prevent injury.?
References
Authored by
Kirti Agarwal