[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Kristy Hoggs – Physiotherapist
After being lucky enough to spend my third year as the ACT Under 18’s Team Physio this year at the Australian Hockey Championships in Hobart I thought I’d share the day to day happenings of a Physio on tournament.
We all stay together as a team while we’re away – 18 players, a coach, an assistant coach, a team manager and a Physio. We kick start each day with a morning walk and stretch to get the blood flowing and to wake up the muscles. As I’m sure you can imagine – there isn’t much quiet time with 18 girls together for almost 2 weeks – So for everyone’s sanity I include a 5 minute mediation for the girls on our morning walks too. 🙂
Team breakfast usually follows a morning walk before we start preparing for the days game. This will include soft tissue work and taping.
We travel by mini buses to the ground – and listen to a lot of loud music. We have a pre game prep talk in the rooms and head onto the fields.We warm up, the first half of the warmup the girls are with me and the second half with the coaches before playing where I nervously watch and hope for no injuries. Following the game, we cool down, have ice baths and nutrition recover.
Games are played on most days but we usually fit in a rest day or two. Rest days the girls can spend with families or have a look around whatever city we are lucky enough to be in.
We have a few dinners out as a team and a rookie night to celebrate the newcomers. We celebrate birthdays and have cooking competitions and while these trips are always exhausting – overall we have a lot of fun and I’m always very grateful for the opportunity to be involved.
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