International tournaments and injuries

photo: Elly Wendrich
Tim Bakker: broken Achill tendion

International tournaments and the statistics of korfball injuries
In autumn 2011 the World Championship korfball will be held in Shaoxing, China.

Result
The result of the tournament is important for the participating Countries; not only to defend the pride and prestige of the korfball nations, but also because the best eight Countries will be admitted to participate in World Games in 2013.
The selected players and coaches will have to do a lot of work to show their best in China.

Costs
For most countries China is far from home. The costs of the travel and accomodation are high. I hope that despite of these high costs, the quantity and the quality of the selection will not be effected. Policymakers who are serious about their sports, should not let this happen.

Injuries
The chance that a team is facing an injury from which a player is not able (temporarily or for a longer time) to play is 4.6 injuries in 1000 hours playing korfball.

Facts and Team selection
The statistics of korfball injuries can play an important role in the selection of the players (the number and types of players). In this light, it is important that the coach, while making a selection, takes both the number of hours played during the preparations and the games in China into account.

Preparation program
Most teams start their preparations in June or July. Other countries will begin in September. Most countries will have an intensive preparation program to finish.
It is important that coaches organize their programs to motivate the players. I have noticed an apparent connection between the players chance of injury and the commitment or involvement in the training. When players show involvement and commitment, the chance of injury seems to be lower than when players are not really involved in the program. Players who are really involved in the program seem less bothered by overtraining, which is one of the important causes of injuries.

The risk of injury remains high, however the training and competitive program are compiled. The figure of a 1000 hours of training alone during the preparations is easily achieved.
Besides this, the physically and mentally though game series in China must be taken into account. Every coach should count on injuries, and thus involve substitution players. One of the key inputs in the composition of the preparation program is the program of the World Championships (games and practices during the tournament)
During a tournament a team trains and plays every day.
This means, for most teams: 3 hours per day korfball and a recovery within 24 hours.
The recovery is often underestimated, and most injuries result from poor work and rest balance. Maybe this is because the balance between work and rest are not well trained.

A simple mathematical insight:
If a team with 16 players in a World Championship works 2 times a day, then the team plays a total of 16 x 3 hours = 48 hours per day
This means that during a tournament of 14 days 48 x 14 = 672 hours are played, which comes down to a total of 3.22 chance of injury during those 14 days

Selection of players
The number of players that participate in the selection period should be quite adequate to cope with injuries. Coaches are  best prepared when they start the preparation with 24 players. Short before the departure to China, they can check back to 18 or 16 players.
Besides this, I think that the IKF would do well to broaden its rules: A selection should be able to consist of 18 players

The type of player that should be selected, should be more than an average good all rounder with a perfect specialization.
It is therefore advisable not only to select many bears and tigers.
Also regarding the defense must be precisely selected. Not every great center can play guard.