New Zealand Football's Medical Director, Doctor Mark Fulcher is calling for more coaches in New Zealand to take on coach education courses in-order to gain a further understanding on injury prevention.

Fulcher, who is currently in Barcelona attending an international football medicine conference says the discussion applies a strong focus on children and outlines the importance of coach education courses for a better understanding on the development of players.

“A lot of coaches don’t have a qualification and a lot of coaches don’t exactly recognize how much being educated can benefit them when it comes to injury prevention and physical development” Fulcher said.

“Kids essentially, are growing and their growing bones will change in response to the amount of load you put through them, so if you do too much, you can actually change the shape of their skeletons over time.”

A full day is spent on youth development as part of OFC/NZF C License (Youth) course, which includes content on physical development, injury prevention, player loading, growth and maturation. 

The Fit4Football team are also working across the country offering guidance and resource through courses and workshops on injury prevention and player welfare.

Comparing kids in New Zealand to overseas children, Fulcher says children are having too much contact time with football throughout the week, which is causing significant problems in terms of player growth and injuries.

“One of the things that’s really important is getting the amount of loading right with children and football” Fulcher said.

“Kids in New Zealand play way too much football, so if you look at our better kids, they play multiple games and train a lot of the times during the week as well, whereas if you look at the kids at the Barcelona academy, they have a structured system, where they train three or four times a week and play one game, so our kids play way more than that.”

“If coaches knew about getting the right amount of loading right in kids and football, we wouldn’t have as much injuries.”

New Zealand Football recommends a maximum of five formal training or game specific contacts at an appropriate intensity per week.  Coaches can gain an overview of the Health and Wellbeing of players, including loading, in the NZF Youth Framework Manual.

For more information on coach education click here

Article added: Tuesday 12 June 2018