“I’ll give it a go’ ‘It doesn’t feel too bad’ Up until three years ago, these quotes were totally alien to myself and my colleagues at The Newry Clinic. Coming from working with Premiership football clubs like Sunderland and Birmingham and also professional rugby league players at Gateshead we came across a species, not totally unique toGAA, but very, very common!

The ‘Partially Fit’ player!

The partially fit player in the GAA is someone who may for example feel that if they are75% fit then they can play for 75% of the game. This is far removed from the truth.

First of all, it is important to point out that the partially fit player, by definition, is still injured! The extent of injuries are not quantified by percentages. Where a decision

regarding a return to play must be made then the extent of the injury of that player (his

fitness!) can be judged by his level of function i.e. can he run / jump/ twist / turn /

kick / tackle etc? Can all of these actions be carried out at full pace over the required

distance, for the required length of time? A player just returning from injury may have

lost some overall conditioning and be able to carry out all of the above actions at full pace

but if fatigue sets in then the risk of recurrence of injury increases.

Often we hear of players ‘passing a late fitness test’. This is for the benefit of the

physio or manager to see how well the injured player can function i.e. run / twist /

turn etc. A fitness test is not for the purpose of finding out how a player feels. They are

injured and are going to feel pain on certain activities.

A fitness test should only be carried out if the physio feels that the risk of further injury to

the player is acceptable. An example of an acceptable risk would be a player recovering

from a grade 1 hamstring strain playing in a big game at the end of the season. The risk

here would be that the player aggravates the injury to a grade 2 strain and therefore needs

6 -8 weeks recovery. An unacceptable risk would be a player with a grade 1 knee ligament sprain and subsequent instability where the worst case scenario of further damage would most likely require surgery. 

 If the player cannot perform the actions of running / jumping etc at full pace then the manager must decide if this is an acceptable risk to the team and hence the outcome of the game.

 Is the partially fit player you have decided to play better than the fully fit player he is marking?  Or is he better than one of your fully fit substitutes? 

 I remember how one former premiership manager informed me that he would carry out a fitness test on a player by “Looking in his EYES!!!!”.

 When deciding if someone is fit to play or not, be specific, use objective markers not subjective! Weigh up the advantages and disadvantages to both the player and the team. Always remember though that the physio will always aim to protect the best interests of the player.

 P.S. although we always referred to the player as “he” and “him” in this article, the same applies to you ladies out there too!