Chiefs prepare for return to training

Kaizer Chiefs doctor Hashendra Ramjee believes the squad will be better prepared than most Premier Soccer League sides when football resumes in the country given the interventions that have been made to assist players.

Apart from fitness regimes and strength work, the Chiefs medical team has also been working hard on the mental aspect for the players, ensuring their well-being and that they stay motivated to train.

This will hopefully pay off in the long-term, according to Ramjee, who believes it is an important aspect for the players.

“As a General Practitioner, my work includes working closely with other doctors in the mental health field and providing support during the Covid-19 pandemic,” Ramjee told the club’s website. “Our other Kaizer Chiefs doctors are also much more involved in the medical ‘frontline’ work.

“The players and technical staff all provide us with daily feedback regarding symptoms screening via WhatsApp. We connect individually via telephone if there are any individual aspects that we need to manage.

“We have also been monitoring our players’ psychological well-being during this challenging time. We join the weekly technical team online meetings. And as earlier mentioned, we connect with players daily via WhatsApp. One of the things that we do regularly is speaking to the players regarding medical care, when needed.”

While it is unclear when players will be able to return to training, Ramjee says the medical team are preparing for different scenarios.

“The medical team, Sports Science department, technical team and club management have been planning for various training scenarios for when we are permitted back to train at the Chiefs Village, including plans for ‘post-lockdown'.

We have also been involved in advising the club regarding policies and protocols for everyone in the organisation.”

He adds that they are taking lessons from leagues abroad to create these best practices.

“We have been closely monitoring the international football ‘landscape’ with regards to policies and plans that are being proposed and implemented insofar as the pandemic is concerned.

“Regarding the European leagues, there the situation is different to ours in SA. They have potentially passed their peaks of infections and their rates of local transmission of Covid-19 is reducing. They are also going into their summer months and thus moving out of their flu season.

“It is important to note that the European leagues have much more resources and testing capacity compared to South Africa. The initial lockdown levels have served their purpose to ‘flatten the curve’ and to prepare our medical system.

“However, as lockdown levels are reduced further, the Covid-19 infection rates are expected to increase.”