Congratulations to the U’18 Western Australian Hockey Women’s team who competed in the National U’18 Hockey Tournament in Hobart, Tasmania. The competition was held in April, with a total of 10 women’s teams competing for top spot. As the team’s physiotherapist I was kept very busy but thoroughly enjoyed working with the girls to bring home the bronze medal. I treated many hockey related acute and chronic injuries.
Pre Tournament:
Before departure, the team underwent a high volume block of conditioning to fine-tune components of their technical game and fitness. On touch down in Hobart the girls continued with their tournament preparations and adjusted to the new weather conditions.
During Tournament:
With the tournament underway, injuries began to surface. The girls continued implementing strategies to maintain their physical fitness and avoid emotional fatigue. A typical day for the girls would commence at 6:30am with a light walk and stretch, and finish at 5:00pm in the afternoon with freezing cold Hobart beach swim. In between their tactical match preparations the girls would individually attend physiotherapy and taping . On rest days we would go down to the local pool for hydrotherapy recovery.
Injuries
The girls contested with multiple injuries throughout the trip and kept me very busy. With fatigue setting in after the few games, majority of the team were receiving some form of physiotherapy management. We dealt with a couple of sprained ankles, knee injuries, back spasms, a split eyebrow and multiple soft tissue strains/tears to name a few. As a team we managed to go through 25 rolls of tape, 12 acupuncture boxes, 2 bottles of massage cream and multiple ice packs.
Despite the hard work-load for both athletes and the off-field staff we all had a great experience and thoroughly enjoyed our time in Hobart. I am thoroughly looking forward to working with more HockeyWa athletes in the future.
Tess M.
