Boyz healthy ahead of friendly
MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina — Just over 24 hours to kick-off of the friendly international match between the Reggae Boyz and world super powers Argentina, team doctor Carlton Fraser has given the 18-man squad a clean bill of health after initially expressing concerns about the ill effects of the long travel to the South American country.
“All systems are on go and we are looking positive,” declared Dr Fraser shortly after tending to two players around 1:00 pm (11:00 am Jamaica time) yesterday.
“I would say good… If you’re measuring ideal as the ultimate, I would say we’re at good. What I have been doing… is assessing them daily, because it’s really touch and go to see how much they have recovered because usually we would have rested them for at least a day-and-a-half before we did anything even easy.
“But we did things that were really intense, so it’s really experimentation to see how resolute and how fit they actually arrived here and that is what has been rewarding because it seems as if the players came here in reasonably good condition because that’s the only way they would have survived and still showing statistical evidence that they are not too badly off for a game coming three-and-a-half days after arriving here,” explained the highly-rated veteran doctor.
The Boyz travelled for more than 28 hours to get here, after 90 minutes from Jamaica to Miami, another nine hours to Buenos Aires and then a five-hour bus ride to the resort seaside town here.
Head coach Theodore Whitmore then ordered a training session where the players engaged in scrimmages just over an hour after settling in at their Hermitage Hotel.
“Travelling that long, especially at night when it is during our rest period usually has a more detrimental effect than probably travelling during the day for a similar period, but we have tried to get the players to co-operate with the importance of adequate hydration by making sure that they stick to the protocols of drinking as much fluids, not just water, but fluids, because we still want them to at least drink a lot of fruit juices and water,” explained Dr fraser.
He noted that the recovery of the players had not been as ideal, but he doubted it would have any “real detriments in the game that would be related to inadequate recovery”.
“We did a little effort training a little before I had expected the first day that we were here, I thought they really looked sharp considering that they had just come through over 20 odd hours of travelling and then the following the day the training was even more intense, but going through them today (yesterday) and last night (Monday), I found that a lot of them were complaining about fatigue, which is definitely expected.”
The fact that the game has been pushed back two hours, Dr Fraser believes, has helped the team. “If it was a game tomorrow in the day then I would have had a lot of reservations and apprehension about it, but as it is I think they should be ready for it.”
In the meantime Dr Fraser has done everything medically possible to help the players get to optimum physical ability. “What we have been doing is making sure those who are very dehydrated rehydrate themselves and of course we are supplementing them especially with potassium because travelling, training, all of these things really contribute to some deficiencies, especially in their electrolytes and more specifically in their potassium, so we are definitely supplementing them with that.
“We have been carefully monitoring them also. We have been using blood pressure statistics to aid us in our hydration estimations and at the same time we have been doing a lot of rest impulses to see how they maintain their levels of fitness.
“Regarding fatigue, we can only help them by letting them rest during the rest periods and we have been giving them heat treatment so as to cause muscle relaxation…
“The squad is 18 and I would say at least six players were noticeably dehydrated, so we are working on those players right now,” Dr Fraser said.