CLOSE SEASON:THE CONTENTIOUS ban on closed-season training has been fully endorsed by Limerick sports injury specialist Ger Hartmann, who is now working with several intercounty teams to help them maximise the current eight-week period where all collective training is prohibited.
One of the teams Hartmann is advising are All-Ireland football champions Kerry, even though their manager, Jack O’Connor, is not entirely supportive of the ban, nor indeed is he the only one.
Hartmann, however, has found himself in unprecedented demand in recent weeks as more county managers begin to embrace the closed season rather than deny it, and says the GAA are doing their players an enormous favour by insisting the ban remains in place – and saving money in the process.
“The rigours of the season catch up with everyone, and this is the time of year to take stock,” says Hartmann, who now works out of the University of Limerick, and whose client base is still mainly international athletes.
“The biggest benefits really are for those playing intercounty, and also Sigerson and club. It’s about a mental break as much as a physical break. Burn out results from overdoing it both mental and physically. Players can only commit so much every year. They only have so much appetite to come to squad sessions anyway.
“But nearly every GAA player we see has imbalances around the hip, pelvic, or lumber area or carrying strains, not just from this past season, but maybe the season before as well.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for county managers, or individuals, to address that. And I think more managers are asking the question now, ‘can they prevent injuries for next year?’ Kerry certainly had an inordinate amount of injuries this season.
“The other point is that while most counties do have a very good medical back-up, it typically ends with the end of the championship. That’s the end of the medical staff providing their services, until the season starts again. So at the very time when athletes are carrying knocks and really need the attention there’s no service given by the county board.
“By giving back to the players at this time of year, they can save themselves an awful lot of money. Because the amount spent on trying to get players right during the season when they’re in seven or eight sessions a week to get ready for a semi-final or whatever is huge. The acute injuries will always happen, like the guy who goes over on his ankle, but a lot of the chronic, over-use injuries can only be prevented now. It saves everyone in the long term.”
After doing the closed season induction course in Kerry, Hartmann will next be advising the Dublin, Clare and Waterford hurlers, with similar requests from the Donegal and Galway footballers. His programme is based on two core exercise sessions a week, and two aerobic sessions.
“That could be jogging, or on the bike, or whatever,” he explains. “As long as their cardio-vascular system is in use. You don’t want to come to January and need to re-start the aerobic fitness from nothing.
“It’s all about putting together the foundation work so that they won’t break down when they do the specificity work in January, February, March. And it can be a bit of fun as well, whether players do it on their own at home, or with a couple of club-mates. Because there are so many imbalances, flexibility problems, in the GAA. I see lots of players who can’t touch their toes.
“It also negates the drink culture that is still there as well in the off-season, which I believe still needs to be fully addressed. This is about the GAA giving something back to the players. Talk to the players of the 1970s and ask how many of them have had hip or knee operations. This is a chance, a window, where players can focus on the things that can help prevent all that, to stay healthy, and look after their bodies.”
Yet Hartmann’s view on the closed season is not supported by everyone in the sport injury and fitness business. Recently, Mike McGurn, the former Irish rugby team strength and conditioning coach who now works with the Armagh, criticised the ban that runs until January 1st, citing the lack of player supervision as “more dangerous than helpful”.
“I read what Mike McGurn said, and in principle he is right,” adds Hartmann. “No one should be left alone to their own devices, stand still, or take two or three months off. And then come off the Christmas turkey and pints and play a game.
“But if it’s executed properly, and administered with people who are professionally sound, the benefits are enormous.
“In a squad of 35, you’d have at least 10 players that are carrying injuries. If they don’t work on those injuries now, they will carry over again until next year.”
Hartmann, by the way, hinted that Kerry’s Darragh Ó Sé, if he trains individually over the winter, would likely be “50-50” to be back next year.
GAA Fixtures
Sunday
Leinster Club SHC Semi-final – Ballyhale Shamrocks (Kilkenny) v Ballyboden St Enda’s (Dublin), Nowlan Park, 2.30pm; Clonkill (Westmeath) v Tullamore (Offaly), Mullingar, 2.30pm.
Munster Club SHC Semi-finals – Newtownshandrum (Cork) v Adare (Limerick), Páirc Uí Chaoimh, 2pm; Ballygunner (Waterford) v Cratloe (Clare), Walsh Park, 2pm.
Ulster Club SFC Semi-finals – St Gall’s (Antrim) v Clontibret (Monaghan), Athletic Grounds, Armagh, 2.30pm; Kilcoo (Down) v Loup (Derry), Casement Park, 2.30pm.
Galway SHC Final – Portumna v Loughrea, Pearse Stadium, 2.30pm.
Camogie – All-Ireland Junior Club Semi-finals: The Harps (Laois) v St Anne’s, Dunhill (Waterford), The Harps GAA, Durrow, 2.30pm; Four Roads (Roscommon) v Lavey (Derry), Ballyforan, Co Roscommon, 2pm. All-Ireland Senior Club Semi-finals: Oulart-the-Ballagh (Wexford) v Cashel (Tipperary), Oulart the Ballagh, 2.30pm; Athenry (Galway) v Loughiel (Antrim), Duggan Park, Ballinasloe, 2.30pm.
