Hi all, just a quick note FYI.

As you may or not be aware, I will be in Hobart to cover all the teams competing at the nationals.

Thanks to the generosity of Pieter van der Woude, I have been offered accommodation on his boat and as such am able to bring some  physio students with me to help. They are Bachelor & Doctoral  students from Australian Catholic University [Sydney], Fontys [NED] and the George Washington University [USA] who are spending time with me to learn and fulfill  part of their formal requirements for their  professional qualification  as well as a steep learning curve into the world of Underwater Hockey.

Hence their ‘volunteering ‘for the exercise . Their cost are covered by external research sponsorship as well as Pieter’s generosity.

My main  aim for  bringing them with me is to follow up on the work I did  in Hobart this march at the training camp in terms of screening and injury prevention. I followed up  with  some  US students in QLD at the Trans –Tasman comp and hope to continue this at Hobart 2013. I will need your support in helping me  get access to all of the  Australian team members during the comp for screening / follow up and continued implementation/ refinement  of preventative injury strategies. I will  also be issuing all competitors with a USB containing all the  necessary exercise regimes etc.

I am documenting all I do for the purposes of validating proven injury  prevention strategies for this sport. I have done this in the past for Triathlons, Surf Life Saving, Touch Football & Endurance Paddling [ refer attachment example]. I also aim to have  this ready for formal publication in an internationally  peer reviewed  sports medicine journal for  the ultimate benefit of the sport.

When I attended at Coimbra last year 23 of the 24 athletes [2 teams] turned up with some form of injury and I had my work cut out for me getting them game ready.  I had some surprise help for two days from an ex- student who flew herself down from Eindhoven [NED] to assist, keen to work with me again.

As there will be  up to 7 teams scheduled for Hungary I do not want to be faced with a similar situation as the resources would be definitely overstretched. [I have some European students keen to volunteer their time at their expense to help in Hungary. For those of you who were in Coimbra, Jola was first to put her hand up again for 2013]

I will be flying into Hobart  early Tuesday 22^nd Jan. I can be operational  from Tuesday PM as soon as able .

While I expect to be working primarily poolside I am staying  only 8 mins from the pool and can work wherever, if not from the boat.

My contact phone is 0412 167 976.

Text me on this number if you need any of your players seen to plus to organise a suitable time to re –screen and  capture any new  Australian  team players who may not have been seen before by my crew.

Our Availability will be anytime and fit in to suit games/training/meetings etc as far as possible. We will also be available  on the 29^th as we do not fly out until  Wed 30^th AM.

If you have any  questions or queries,  or injury concerns closer to the time, please do not hesitate to send me an e-mail (steppo@tpg.com.au) or use the mobile text  if urgent.

Please pass this info on to anyone who needs to know for Hobart & Hungary.

Thanks and looking forward to catching up with you in Hobart.

Nick Stepkovitch,
Sports & Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist