… Jaguars physio lauds attendance, feedback from cricketers

By Clifton Ross

GUYANA Jaguars physiotherapist Neil Barry Jr said his virtual training sessions with the national team have been coming along nicely, despite the physical limitations due to lockdown.

Barry, who heads up the Jags’ strength and conditioning sessions, told Chronicle Sport yesterday that he has been enjoying the time spent virtually with his players, as it has been helping to somewhat keep track of what players have been doing during their downtime.

“We’ve been online since the premature end to the 1st class season and restrictions started to be implemented. Virtual sessions have been good to help maintain some aspects of the player’s fitness, taking into consideration access to different training too,” he stated.
Speaking on the pros and cons for this virtual method of the training, Barry said that the online forum keeps players in a good mental place while maintaining the social distancing guidelines.

“One of the cons is that everyone will not have the same training space or equipment available, so it allows us to innovate while still trying to maintain professional standards. Another good reason is that it allows the players to still foster a bit of team spirit even though we’re all practising physical distancing”. Barry outlined.
The Jaguars stars have been enjoying their time off while having to use their living spaces for makeshift training. The physio also gave insight regarding the logistics behind the sessions.

“So far the sessions have been well attended and we’ve been getting good feedback. We’ve been working on injury prevention, muscle strength and cardiovascular conditioning among other aspects of training.

The feedback from the players has been great and some have talked about feeling leaner and stronger,” said the team physio.

With the uncertainty looming over the entire world with regard to the pandemic and its aftermath, Barry said he has been working on ways to ensure – should virtual sessions become essential – he’s fully prepared for the long haul.

“Everyone is assessing the situation and taking it in stride. As the world develops more mitigating factors, chances are some restrictions will be lifted so online sessions are likely to reduce over time. Ultimately the players need the opportunity to practise their skills, so they need to be able to return to training facilities as soon as it is safe.”
Barry said looking ahead to the future, to a post-COVID-19 world, working and rehabbing players will have to undertake a new chapter.

“Even the physiotherapy world has resorted to something called tele-rehab so for now all interactions are done remotely. Rehabilitation is a very hands-on field so as soon as it is safe we would want to return to that type of practice.” he concluded.

Guyana Jaguars team physio Neil Barry Jr has been conducting virtual sessions with team members.