Football season well underway

Football is flourishing in WaiBOP region. Photo / Supplied

Talk Sport with Mark Christie, Waikato Bay of Plenty Football chief executive

The winter football season is well and truly under way, and we hope everyone is getting into their groove.

On the senior side of the game, there were some great results for our region's clubs in the ISPS Handa Chatham Cup recently, which have led to some exciting second round ties.

Meanwhile, the Loaded WaiBOP Premiership, WaiBOP Championship and other local leagues are ticking along nicely.

The majority of our junior and youth leagues got under way at the start of Term 2, while the new WaiBOP Junior U-12 league, which kicked off in April, already seems to be an unqualified success. The weather has had an impact, and we can only hope it sorts itself out soon.

Concussion is getting a higher profile these days across all sporting codes, and as a result, ACC is playing a part in the awareness and management of concussion, to reduce the number of incidents.

New Zealand Football has recently released a Concussion Policy for the football community. It is important, as parents and club administrators, to keep an eye out for concussion incidents and to manage them accordingly, because concussion can have long-term health effects.

We are strong supporters of the FIFA 11+ programme, a complete warm-up programme designed to reduce injuries among players.

Developed by an international group of experts, the programme should be performed as a standard warm-up at the start of each training session at least twice a week.

FIFA 11+ takes about 20 minutes to complete and has been scientifically proven to reduce the risk of all injury by 30 per cent and severe injuries by 50 per cent.

You can find out more about the FIFA 11+ programme on our website, www.waibopfootball.co.nz/coaches/fifa-11/, or contact Louise Trappitt, injury prevention specialist for the WaiBOP region, at Louise.Trappitt@nzfootball.co.nz to discuss booking a free course.

We receive a lot of comment around cancellations during the winter. We do not want to cancel any games because it interrupts the season and upsets everyone's plans, so please be assured we do not cancel games unless necessary.

WaiBOP organises games on fields across 12 local authorities. Each council provides different ground qualities, standards, weather conditions and policies.

Our staff does a great job of managing the information flow between the groups involved. WaiBOP Football is guided by council staff and other people on the ground.

Hopefully, the weather plays ball for the rest of the season.