For the first hour of the session, the usual covid checks of all the players, staff, and attendees at the training session were completed ensuring full PPE was worn at all times.
The treatment room:
In the treatment room part of the session, I performed knee taping on one of the players with a previous knee injury.
Ankle taping on a player that has chronic instability of the ankle which will now be undergoing rehabilitation and ensuring that they gain full strength and stability and no longer rely on tape.
Finally, I taped pads to the shoulder of a player who has a history of shoulder dislocation. These pads help to absorb the shock of a tackle helping to decrease the risk of repeat dislocation. I attached the pads to the player using hyper fix tape as this is how they usually have the treatment done.
On the pitch:
During the training session, the players had moved on to the next stage of play, based on the government and RFU guidelines. The players were split into their pods and participated in different activities with different coaches.
- Line out drill
- Passing drill
- Sprinting drill
Each group performed each task for 10 minutes before cleaning down and disinfecting all the equipment and moving onto the next drill before moving onto a final 15-minute touch game. During this game, one of the players undergoing hamstring rehabilitation completed their final session before returning to play on 17/09/2020.
There were a lot of things that went well during this session and my feelings about it are all positive. I knew what I was doing throughout the entirety of the treatment room session and we did not have any injuries on the pitchside to evaluate. I have been given a warm-up to learn by the head therapist that has been approved by the RFU and I will be leading it within the next few weeks.
This is something I tend to struggle with because of my confidence however, after developing this with the team I worked with last year it should be easier to stand in front of the team and direct their warm-up so this is something I am going to prepare for and hopefully show improvements from the previous season.