“Hell” is the phrase famous sports activities therapist Everald “Eddie” Edwards used to explain the troubling harm state of affairs that lots of the nation’s junior monitor and subject athletes have been going through through the years and believes it is going to solely worsen if nothing is finished to guard the children.
Edwards, most notable for his work with the world’s quickest man alive and Jamaican dash legend Usain Bolt, at the moment operates the Quick Restoration Human Tecar Therapy Centre in Kingston the place he helps within the therapy and rehabilitation for individuals with accidents.
He has been part of Jamaica’s technical workers to a number of main occasions together with the Olympics and World Championships and has additionally handled the likes of Jamaican stars Asafa Powell, Chris Gayle and Andre Russell.
Edwards paints a grim image of what he described as a gross overworking of among the island’s younger athletes, caught on the fallacious aspect of the pursuit of glory.
He informed the Jamaica Observer that the coaching strategies being performed by some highschool coaches are destroying the youth.
“Many of the exercises that a few of these youngsters that come to my workplace are doing, I can not imagine it…once they present me proof (all I can) say is that is insanity!” Edwards mentioned.
“How are you going to have 13, 14 and 15-year-old youngsters run twelve 300 metres, twenty 200 metres (in coaching); that’s insanity. You’ve got youngsters coaching from Monday to Sunday!”
Edwards, disheartened by the massive variety of injured scholar athletes that he treats frequently, says some coaches ignore the athlete’s way of life, when getting ready their programmes.
“These youngsters are college students first so that they need to stand up early within the morning. Some eat breakfast, some don’t. They need to go to class, they need to go up stairs, a few of them don’t eat correctly or have sufficient fluids then they go to coaching, operating all these 300m and stuff,” he mentioned.
“Then they return house, some don’t eat correctly as a result of they don’t perceive what it takes to construct again muscle groups and tissues when they’re broken, they need to do homework, go to mattress at 11 pm, get 5 hours sleep and stand up again at 6 am to go practice and a few practice twice per day. A few of these athletes are operating near what the professionals are doing whereas nonetheless being a scholar. It’s very stressing on them,” Edwards added.
He says among the injury that his student-athlete shoppers face leaves him distraught.
“One morning, a feminine affected person from a outstanding highschool got here to my workplace and she or he mentioned she acquired twelve 300 metres to run and a outstanding senior coach was at my workplace on the time and mentioned that this might not be true as a result of he coaches professionals and essentially the most they might get is 5. A 14-year-old informed me he acquired twenty 200 metres, that’s an excessive amount of,” mentioned Edwards.
“Dad and mom come to my workplace and their youngster is simply shaking, they’ll’t sleep of their mattress as a result of they’re tossing and turning, their youngster wets their mattress. That’s how critical it’s on the market,” he added.
Seven years in the past, Edwards says he tried to alert the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Affiliation (JAAA) of the state of affairs after working with the group on the World Below-20 Championships, however says he was ignored.
“Many of the athletes have been injured. After doing all that work, I wrote a letter to the governing physique…Nobody responded. Now these athletes who acquired injured and wanted assist, some fell by the wayside and a few are nonetheless battling on the market however they might have been doing so significantly better in the event that they acquired assist,” Edwards mentioned.
The state of affairs, he believes, is pushed by the first goal of most coaches on the secondary stage – success at the highschool championships.
“A coach is at a faculty for his wage. That college wants efficiency, so the coach will do no matter he must do, to get the efficiency. If a person needs 30 factors in Class Two and 60 factors at Class Three to win Champs, him don’t enterprise. It’s the unhappy actuality,” Edwards reasoned.
The therapist says along with making an attempt to convey the difficulty to the JAAA, he has additionally provided to assist in elevating consciousness and training amongst coaches; efforts which have been largely ignored.
To make sure a clean transition to the senior stage, Edwards is proposing that the JAAA invests in not less than 100 junior athletes islandwide and maintain their most urgent bills, whereas monitoring their coaching and preparation.
“There are three counties; arrange areas the place these athletes can go and ensure diet is taken care of. You possibly can have physiotherapists and medical doctors in these three counties which can be accountable for the juniors so you realize if you happen to get injured, you possibly can go to that particular physician and physiotherapist and also you don’t must pay as a result of JAAA takes care of it. They will go to Puma and say we have now 100 athletes in our junior programme that we’re caring for so that they ship sneakers, coaching gears, luggage, no matter,” he mentioned.
He additionally believes involving the likes of world-class coaches like Glen Mills and Stephen Francis would profit the athletes so far as session is anxious.
“Name a gathering with the highschool coaches and inform them these are the variety of meets you possibly can run, monitor their coaching and perhaps a few times a month, meet at GC Foster School or Jamaica School and have them practice collectively and the person coaches can come after which the senior coaches like Mr Mills and Stephen Francis also can come and control what’s occurring, give their recommendation, have seminars and so forth,” Edwards mentioned.
Edwards believes the JAAA must intervene as quickly as potential earlier than the state of affairs worsens.
“A few of the egos of those coaches making fallacious choices to win in any respect prices is costing the athletes and the nation. We’re happening a foul path so we have to tackle that, we have to have some seminars with the coaches, allow them to understand how the physique features and hopefully they take heed,” he mentioned.
“The governing physique must step in and shield these athletes.”
