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Women’s Community Football Injury Prevention Project UPDATE

We have recruited 164 Teams across Victoria -> 101 Senior 63 Junior (U16 &18) 116 Metro & 48 Regional

2590 Players recruited from these teams!

We are preparing for a big 2022 season if you are a new player or haven’t registered please

REGISTER NOW.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Many people think that women’s football is a high-risk sport for injury, but little is known about injury rates in community level football. Injury prevention programs within various sports exist, but the use of injury prevention programs in community football is not yet known. The aim of this project is to understand injury rates and how we can support coaches to include injury prevention programs into their training and game preparation.

This project major partners are La Trobe University, Australian Football League, Medibank, and the Australian Physiotherapy Association. Other industry partners include the Australasian College of Sport and Exercise Physicians and Sports Medicine Australia. The project has been approved by the La Trobe University Ethics Committee (HEC-20488).  The project is proudly inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex players and club staff.

WHY SHOULD YOUR CLUB BE INVOLVED?

  • Encourage women and girls to play at your club and best prepare your players
  • Coaches and sports trainers receive CPD points + free professional development opportunities
  • Team officials and players receive training and support by experts in injury prevention
  • Prizes, awards and incentives for participating clubs (e.g. signed jumpers, coach whiteboards)
  • Players sustaining a head and knee injuries will receive a phone call from the research team. Free access to study sports doctor (including appropriate referrals) for those who have not organised care.
  • Connect with your local community – each team has a study physiotherapist from your area, and players may be able to attend free injury clinic for assessment

IS MY TEAM ELIGIBLE?

  • Compete in an U16, U18 or senior women’s community football competition
  • Train at least once per week in addition to match-play

WHAT DOES IT INVOLVE?

Coaches

  • Encourage players to register (gives sports trainer consent to provide injury data)
  • 5 minute survey
  • Attend a workshop (when allocated) between June 2021 and June 2022 at time/location convenient to you

Sports Trainer/Team Rep

  • Attend an online or in-person training session on how to use the App (Smartabase)
  • Reports training activity and injury information

Players

  • Sign-up in pre-season and download an App to record injury and training data