LookAtVietnam – The health of athletes in general and football players in particular is not only their responsibility but that of their clubs.

Sport doctors who take care of players are an indispensable part of professional sports. (Photo: VNN)

“Sport doctors take part in selecting athletes and helping coaches plan and evaluate their training. More importantly, they carry out physiotherapy exercises that help players to recover and avoid injuries during their training and competitions,” he said.

The importance of sport doctors has been recognised in almost all football teams in Viet Nam.

One example is Dr Dong Xuan Lam, who used to work for the national team, and is now working for former V-League champion Hoang Anh Gia Lai.

Lam undertakes care of players’ health, nutrition regimes, recovery schedules and first aid when they are injured.

Before every match, coaches consult Lam over the capacity of each player and his ideas are taken into consideration when deciding who plays.

Recognising his importance, the team managers recently promoted Lam to deputy head coach, the only doctor occupying this position in Viet Nam.

Hoa Phat Ha Noi have signed up German Dr Danny Marek to take care of their players.

As part of his role, Marek has developed a menu for players and devised exercises for each individual player.

“Preparing a nutrition regime for players is a significant part of the job as a sport doctor because nutrition plays a key role in building strength,” Phu said.

“Building a good nutrition regime is not easy. Doctors must have knowledge about metabolism, motion physiology and values of nutrients as well as eating habits of players.

“To each player we have to apply an individual regime because their demands and absorbtion abilities are different.”

Among Vietnamese clubs, Dong Tam Long An is the first team to hire two experts from Portugal to give lectures to their doctors and nurses.

They brought the most up-to-date information and techniques for treating and avoiding injuries.

The team also has a contract with a Singapore hospital which will take care of serious injuries, although such cases can be costly.

Apart from physical strength, sport doctors also take care of players’ mental health.

Nervousness, stress and shock are three elements that strongly affect players’ performances. In some cases, they are called diseases and need to be treated.

Sports psychologists are also in high demand.

“They are present in all international football teams but not in Viet Nam,” said Tran Binh Su, former technique director of Hoa Phat Ha Noi.

“Consulting and advisory activities for players are very important because players need good health and stable psychology to play well,” Su said.

“Viet Nam is trying to professionalise the football system; I think that psychology doctors are needed for local and national teams.”

Su’s ideas were echoed by Vuong Tien Dung, head coach of The Cong team.

“In Viet Nam at present, coaches help players solve their mental problems,” Dung said.

“In my experience as a coach, I found players suffered two kinds of nervousness: too excited or too worried. A specialist in mental problems is high priority,”

Former national team member Pham Nhu Thuan agreed.

“Sometimes I got into trouble with psychology,” Thuan said. “I had to go to my coaches and head of the team to look for a solution.

“But they were not experts so they could not understand everyone’s problems.

“Sometimes I had to play with the troubles in my mind and it made me fail to reach my peak.”

Sport medicine is new in Viet Nam. The number of sport doctors has been increased, but demand is outstripping supply, said Dr Nguyen Quy Phuong, director of the Viet Nam Sport Science Institute.

The quality of Vietnamese sport doctors was low because of poor training, infrastructure and conditions

Nevertheless, the industry had been receiving more attention from the Government, plus help from countries with modern sport health care systems, such as Russia, Germany and France.

Official academic training courses for sport doctors had been organised and the first 13 trainees are now working in different localities nationwide.

The Sports and Physical Training Health Institute was continuing to enrol 15-20 students every year.

And Dr Phuong hoped that in 5-10 years Viet Nam would have enough qualified doctors who also would benefit from foreign lecturers and training abroad.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News