Chiefs planning for possible return of football
Before the season was suspended in March because of the coronavirus outbreak, Chiefs were leading the Absa Premiership standings, with eight games to go before the end of the season.
Ernst Middendorp (head coach) during the Kaizer Chiefs training in Naturena. (Photo by Lee Warren/Gallo Images)
Kaizer Chiefs team doctor Hashendra Ramjee has revealed that they are in regular contact with Amakhosi players, technical staff and management through various platforms during the lockdown.
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Before the season was suspended in March because of the coronavirus outbreak, Chiefs were leading the Absa Premiership standings, with eight games to go before the end of the season.
“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 Chiefs’ official 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 symptom screening via WhatsApp. We connect individually via telephone if there are any individual aspects that we need to manage,” he continued.
“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.
“The medical team [including physios], 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.”
Ramjee also revealed that the Amakhosi medical team is also keeping in touch with the developments abroad.
“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,” Ramjee commented.
“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,” concluded Ramjee.
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