As a former player that experienced injuries from an early age, it was near expected that it was a part of the game and even worse — you must have been training too hard and it was near commendable that you had a injury to show for it. For lack of better words, you were hardcore! And if that was anything to go by, I was pretty darn outright hardcore throughout my playing career which was cut short from ongoing injuries.
Too often it is mistaken that it is the players and/or athletes fault for getting injured but this is incredibly far from the truth. A player/athlete decides to ‘train’ and/or ‘practice’ in the sport they enjoy because they want to get better. The coach is responsible for ‘teaching’ the player/athlete how to play and use the right skills to techniques. Now, to be fair if a coach is not present and a player/athlete performs an alternate skill and/or technique other than what has been taught, that’s another ballgame. But if in fact the player/athlete is doing what they’ve been taught, this is where the problems are based.
Coaches need to monitor their players/athletes and be mindful of potential injuries from occurring and/or developing.
This means if you’re in an academy setting, there needs to be enough coaches to players (ratio) to oversee correct skills and/or techniques are being applied, performed to conditioned. If this isn’t the case and a close eye is not kept, the greater the risk of developing an injury. However, you could also be ‘taught’ a technique that in fact has long term potential for an injury to occur. In tennis, a big trend is with the forehand groundstroke and lifting that elbow nice and high to above the shoulder before coming through to contact the ball. Now, as the world’s leading expert in the forehand groundstroke exclusively and most specifically, I can tell you now — that’s an injury waiting to happen. And it happens everywhere.
Take a listen to this week’s episode and share your thoughts. To keep ahead of injury management and/or to learn more about ensuring The Long Game stays on track, head on over to The Complete Collection to learn more.
To learn more about our data, predictive analytics and how to optimise your own performance, head on over to AM8 International. To learn more about AM8 International check out our selection of Books and/or options to join Dr B’s Pack to gain exclusive access to the best in the world. Not quite ready? Head on over to Beyond Top 10 Tennis for free access to 100+ episodes directly from Dr Berge of what it really takes to win multiple Grand Slams to securing that Top 10 tennis ranking with new episodes each week. More? Catch up on our Tips over on TikTok, Twitter, Threads or Instagram for quick snippets to apply in your game, today.
