The structure of amateur football in Cape Town is designed in such a way, that it is inadvertently doing a big injustice and disservice to the growth and development of especially youth players.
So much so, that young players especially are sustaining more frequent injuries, especially more serious ankle and knee injuries (ligaments, cartilage) which is an indication of fatigue and no proper recovery and rest.
These are some of the worrying findings from a recent study conducted by Dr Nasief van der Schyff (pictured), chairman of Safa Cape Town’s medical board.
Van der Schyff, who has been a longstanding youth coach and administrator at Tramway FC for 15 years, is a well-respected figure in football.
“Doc” as he is referred to for obvious reasons, has offered his professional medical services (for free) to many over the years as this is also his way of giving back to the game he loves and supports. He was a leading figure in successfully guiding and assisting SAFA through the stressful COVID period
Van der Schyff has recently detected that the careers of (young) players in Cape Town are in jeopardy with many picking up regular injuries as they are overloaded and overplayed – with very little and in some instances, no recovery time at all.
“My professional opinion is that players need a break,” Van der Schyff stated to No Bones with Jones. “The way leagues are structured and obviously players want to play… but you have one season going into another and not proper conditioning cycles. There are cycles in any football season (including preseason and off-season) and by not having that there is a significant impact on the health and well-being of the player.
“If you just look at it now, now the third division and Motsepe have started. So the players essentially would have finished the LFA season, we just had the Coke Cup and many of the players have gone straight into the regional and provincial leagues.
“And with the Unders rule ensuring that young players have a fair amount of game time to facilitate their development. The net result is that many young players have not had a proper rest for a long time, possibly before the recent LFA season”
“They do not have the liberty of resting where they can just take time out. Where they can recover going to the gym having a mental break from the game and restarting with the preseason. But they go straight into another season that is even more competitive than the LFA season they just had. And now they are going to play… how many 38-40 games in the Third Division?
And that has been the cycle for a while now and the question is: ‘Is that good for your health?” The answer is no! So my professional opinion is that players need a break.
Apart from running the risk of shortening their career, there are also other dangers of the secondary impact which affect the quality of their football and the development of the player which could ultimately be to the detriment to their future.
There is a significant impact on the health and well-being of the player. You have a case of overloading the player who is not fully developed and they have gone through the adult body and I’m talking about the Unders now. They have a higher risk of picking up injuries, especially soft tissue injuries and a higher risk of psychological burnouts.” Van Der Schyff concluded.
