Within these three hours, I led meetings with the other placement students, conducted a mobility session with the mens hockey team and completed the final week of the four week programme with the women’s team.
Reflective Summary
The mens team requested a mobility session this week, as they had had their first official hockey training session back, after three months off, the day before. See below for a list of the exercises included in the virtual session:
- Childs pose
- Cat-camel
- Seated groin stretch
- Overhead triceps stretch
- Cross body stretch
- Figure of 4
- Hamstring hurdle
- Hamstring hurdle with back leg folded
- Rocking lunge
- Low lunge
- Deep lunge stretch
- Pigeon pose
- Quad stretch
- Downward dog
- Side bends
- Forward arm circles
- Backwards arm circles
The majority of exercises included in the session are considered static stretches.Static stretching is the elongation of muscles within the clients pain tolerance where the position is sustained for a set period of time (Joshi & Arke, 2015). In this instance, each stretch was held for 30 seconds. Research suggests that during this type of stretch, the greatest change in range of movement (ROM) occurs between 15-30 seconds, therefore most authors recommend that holding the stretch for 10-30 seconds is sufficient enough to increase flexibility (Page, 2012). In field hockey, mobility of the hips and spine are particularly important, as this will assist in joint rotation which improves force transfer through the kinetic chain (Bishop,Brazier, Cree & Turner, 2015).
What Went Well
I continuously provided encouragement and motivation during the session. This helped the players to stay focussed and allowed them to put optimal effort into the exercises.
| Areas for Improvement | Action Plan |
| Try and give more feedback on the players form and technique | Ensure they position their camera so that it is in the best place to observe technique and provide coaching points |
| Throughout the session explain what each exercise is for | Research what muscles the exercise / stretch targets |
Closing the Loop
Since writing this reflection, I encourage all of the participants to turn theirs cameras on and position it so that we are able to give coaching points.
References
Badr, M. A., & Gaballah, A. M. (2015). Common injuries among male field hockey players according to playing positions. Journal Applied Sports Science, 5, 19-26.
Bishop, C., Brazier, J., Cree, J., & Turner, A. (2015). A needs analysis and testing battery for field hockey. Professional Strength & Conditioning, 36, 15-26.
Engebretsen, A. H., Myklebust, G., Holme, I., Engebretsen, L., & Bahr, R. (2010). Intrinsic Risk Factors for Groin Injuries Among Male Soccer Players A Prospective Cohort Study. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 38(10), 2051–2057.
Joshi, M., & Akre, A. (2015). Comparative effectiveness of static stretch and proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) stretch on hamstring flexibility in young adult females.Indian Journal of Physiotherapy & Occupational Therapy, 9(3), 216-220.
Page, P. (2012). Current concepts in muscle stretching for exercise and rehabilitation. International journal of sports physical therapy, 7(1), 109-119.
Whittaker, J. L., Small, C., Maffey, L., & Emery, C. A. (2015). Risk factors for groin injury in sport : an updated systematic review. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 49(12), 803–809.