Doctor, coach worried with successive playing schedule of Cesafi high school teams

The USJ-R Baby Jaguars battle the UC Baby Webmasters in a Cesafi Partner’s Cup semifinal game on August 1, 2019. The Baby Jaguars are set to play again on August 2 against the Ateneo de Cebu Magis Eagles. CDN Digital photo | Jonas Rey N. Panerio

The Cebu Landmasters-SHS-Ateneo de Cebu Magis Eagles and the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Baby Jaguars doing battle for the title in the Cesafi Partner’s Cup, less than 24 hours after they emerged victorious over their respective opponents in the semifinals, have caused coaches and doctors to question the scheduling of the games.

Game 1 of the high school finals is on Friday, August 2, 2019. 

However, it was only on Thursday evening, August 1, that the finalists were known after Ateneo de Cebu and USJ-R overcame the University of the Visayas (UV) and the University of Cebu (UC), respectively, in the semifinals.

As a matter of fact, the Ateneo de Cebu and UV match concluded at past 9 p.m. already.

“For one, these are not professional players. They are student athletes, who after playing a hard fought semifinals game, have to wake up before 6 a.m. to go to school. At their age and activity they should get around 8-10 hours of sleep which I know they were not able to get because of their academic responsibilities,” said Jon Inot, the resident physiotherapist of Ateneo de Cebu.

He also explained that normally, the body needs a substantial amount of time to properly recover.

“The body needs roughly 48 hours to recover from a hard activity. Not doing so increases the risk of physical and muscular injuries because it is expected that their bodies are not close to 100%. It may not show up now or tomorrow or the next day but it is still very possible that they can get injured in the days to come just because of the insufficient recovery time.”

Inot’s explanation was backed by a well-known Cebuano doctor, who requested anonymity, in an interview with CDN Digital.

“Doing exercise or engaging in physical activity like sports causes a lot of changes in a person’s body. Major changes include depletion of energy stores, muscle tissue breakdown and fluid loss. Recovery time allows the body to replenish energy stores as well as give time for our musculoskeletal system to repair itself. 

“If there is no sufficient time for recovery then, there is the possibility of decreased sports performance as well as our musculoskeletal system breaking down thus leading to injury. Injuries may range from muscle tendon and ligamentous tears. Common muscle tears include the hamstrings and the calf muscles. Achilles tears for tendons and the dreaded ACL tears for injuries involving the ligaments,” the distinguished Cebuano doctor said.

USJ-R assistant coach Eduard Sumampan, said the schedule that they have to play is indeed “exhausting.” However, they are left with no choice but to just comply.

“Yes it is exhausting since the team is not yet fully recovered from the awesome game last night against UC team. But we have to be prepared for this championship championship game because this is a huge opportunity for us. We have to tell our players that this is it. This is the goal that every team is competing for, the chance to fight and win the championship,” Sumampan said. /bmjo