Rob Porter, lead community coach at Oxford United in the Community, discusses the charity’s work with Power Up To Play to help reduce the risk of serious knee injuries in sport.
As a charity committed to inspiring happier, healthier and better-connected lives via football and its power to unlock people’s true potential, participant safety is our number one priority.
Not all our programmes and courses are exclusively delivered on the pitch.
Since the turn of the pandemic especially, we’ve transformed our delivery to impact individuals of all backgrounds and ages, including refugees seeking asylum, those living with a disability and the football club’s older generation.
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Underpinning our ‘off-field’ work are activities which happen on the pitch six days a week led by our team of coaches who engage with schools, grassroots clubs and community organisations across Oxfordshire.
The purpose of the above operation is to provide opportunities to individuals who otherwise may not have the chance to play football in an organised environment, make connections with likeminded people or have positive aspirations for their futures.
One element of sport which does not discriminate, though, is injury.
It shocked me to learn this month that knee injuries in young people which require surgery have increased 29-fold since the turn of the millennium, and that 50 per cent of these injuries could be prevented by the regular use of a simple warm-up programme.
For me, seeing any young person out through injury for a significant period of time does not only mean they miss training sessions and matches, but also lose out on their social life and further opportunities to develop.
While injuries in sport are inevitable, everything possible should be done to reduce to risk of injury participants are exposed to when taking to the field for either a match, training or even a kickaround with friends.
It’s for these reasons we at Oxford United in the Community decided to team up with Power Up To Play – a national charity setup by medical professionals with the aim of improving young player welfare in grassroots sport.
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On Friday, 50 grassroots sports coaches in Oxfordshire gave up their evening to attend Power Up To Play’s first masterclass at Oxford United’s training ground.
The one-hour session explored the charity’s recommended Prevent Injury, Enhance Performance (PEP) warm-up which strengthens important muscles, reinforces strong body positions and improves players’ stability, control and landing.
This process is designed specifically to prevent avoidable knee injuries such as anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) ruptures, which can take 12 months to fully recover from.
Even at the top level of sport, England Women have been hugely affected by ACL tears with Leah Williamson and Beth Mead missing this year’s World Cup as a direct result of picking up untimely knee injuries.
Thanks to our work with Power Up To Play, in Oxfordshire there is now a unique opportunity to take every step possible in reducing injuries of this nature.
We were thrilled with the response to our first session, and as a special treat for their buy-in each guest was invited to watch an Oxford United fixture at the Kassam Stadium later this season.
Plans for our second Power Up To Play knee injury prevention masterclass are already in place with the team due back on Friday, February 9.
We’d encourage any grassroots coach based in Oxfordshire interested in learning more to sign-up by contacting Power Up To Play directly via info@poweruptoplay.org.
The session is entirely free, so you have nothing to lose and plenty of knowledge to gain.
We hope to see you there!
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Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here.
He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire.
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