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Heroes would be nothing without their sidekicks: VFC’s medical staff keeps players going
September 5, 2024

Injuries are an unfortunate inevitability when it comes to sports. When athletes are putting their bodies through the ringer day-in and day-out to give everything for the love of their sport, it can sometimes be too demanding. There is risk in every sport but the chances for injury grow even more in a contact sport such as soccer when collisions and tackles must be committed too when chasing glory.

Since strains, sprains, and pains are a natural part of sports, there is a vast network of incredible people off the field committed to keeping players running at their best. At Vancouver FC, Indy Khaira, Director of Player Health and Performance, and Amelia Ng, Head Athletic Therapist, both oversee the health and well being of the club’s players on a daily basis. An integral part of their roles is to help players come back from when they have sustained an injury and to also provide techniques to hopefully mitigate the risks.

Amelia Ng and Indy Khaira working on VFC gameday

The nature of their roles is fluid, never really knowing what a day might bring them but being on their toes and accessible to the players is key. “I do it all,” laughed Ng. “It can be as simple as prepping the water, prepping the ice bath, nutritionally, and then just watching practice to dealing with any medical emergencies on the field, in the clinic, clinical assessments, sideline assessments, treatment on and off field, sideline rehab, bringing players back.”

Khaira is a trained physiotherapist who helps with the hands-on aspect of the players’ needs while also working as a director at a physiotherapy at Pulse Physio, providing care for clients in the community. However at VFC, Khaira is also responsible not only for the players, but for the medical team off the field. 

“I head the medical department… for the club so just creating a staff and creating a team that helps keeps our players healthy but also trying to keep them performing at their best,” said Khaira.

Keeping VFC players healthy is an all-hands on deck task as Khaira explains, “[It] involves nearly everyone in our department, so from me or Amelia, we usually more of the hands on, doing manual work on the players, and then there’s Sasha who is working more of a strength and conditioning role, so he is helping with programs and creating daily exercise programs for our players so it’s a combination of a lot of different things that keep the players feeling good.

Indy Khaira, Director of Player Health and Performance

As with any professionals in the health world, having a vast rolodex of knowledge is a must as injuries come in every way, shape, and form as Ng confirmed, “[It] can range anything from ankle sprains to knee sprains to concussions, pretty much everything.

Something as simple as a change in the seasons can bring different challenges and injuries with it, Ng continues, “For example in the summer if you’re on turf, blisters are more likely to occur, so that’s usually the most common thing I see in the summer.”

Khaira and Ng have both made it clear that there isn’t a way to stop or fully prevent injury from happening. However, there are some things that players can do to keep their bodies in the best, most fit condition to handle the necessities of sport and that happens off the field.

“I think the best thing you can do as an athlete is to make sure that you are showing up and do your warm up, that’s not only physical but mentally you have to prepare yourself so that when you go out there, you’re focused, you’re tuned in, you’re dialed in and you’re ready to go so you can take on any tackle, any decision making.

“A lot of athletes think that it’s after you get injured that you start going to the gym but really you need to do your pre-hab exercises to make sure that your muscles are already strong enough before you go into the game,” said Ng.

“You have to put as much time into your craft or trade off of the field,” confirmed Khaira. “That means taking care of yourself as you do on the field and the senior players are really good at that, some of the younger players learn that as they go along and they learn from our veteran players. Usually that is the thing that we would encourage our younger players to do the most is take care of yourselves in the gym and in the clinic.”

If and when the inevitable does happen, the biggest mistake that both Khaira and Ng experience are players wanting to come back into action before their bodies are truly ready. “They get injured and instead of taking the extra three days, they want to jump back in three days early and now they’re out for two weeks,” said Ng.

Amelia Ng, Head Athletic Therapist

“Definitely a common theme that you see is too much, too soon,” affirmed Khaira. “If you have goals in mind, don’t try to just get to those goals with an unrealistic timeline or unrealistic path. Build up to your goals whether they’re athletic or just health goals in general that you’ll be far more successful if you take the right steps. So set realistic goals, maybe short-term goals to reach that end goal of yours and try to do it the right way.”

Although setting realistic goals and expectations are very important, there was one word that came up from both Khaira and Ng that is the most crucial in any recovery process: trust.

“Trust me, that’s honestly it,” said Ng. “If you trust me and you trust that I’m going to bring you back and my team is going to bring you back, give us that extra couple of days. At the end of the day, you’re going to miss more than you think you will if you push yourself past the limit that your muscles are ready for. Just because you feel good, doesn’t mean you are good.”

“It can be frustrating but you just have to have patience and, again, trust the people who you are working with because that does usually take a lot of the stress off of your mind,” said Khaira. “If you trust those individuals and know there is a process that every injury has, usually things will be better and you can always overcome almost any injury that is thrown your way.”

In the same vein of recognizing VFC’s off-field heroes of Khaira, Ng, and the entire medical staff who are working to keep the players in their best shape, Vancouver FC is also proud to support the Langley Community Health & Hospital Foundation (LCHHF)’s Sports Injury Month campaign. Throughout the month of September, the Eagles, along with fellow Langley-based sports teams, are joining forces to raise funds for a new digital X-Ray machine at Langley Memorial Hospital.

Vancouver FC is thrilled to contribute to this campaign and show our recognition of the “Superhero” qualities of everyone who works in the medical fields through various initiatives. These include limited edition Marvel match posters for sale by donation at the game on Friday, Sept. 6 which players can sign post-match, raffling off game-worn Marvel Superhero boots, donated my Macey’s Sports, and awarding them to the winner at the match on Friday, Sept. 6.

Vancouver will also be using the club’s Eagle Kit, which features a stunning feather cape pattern cascading down the back, to support LCHHF’s Sports Injury Month campaign by auctioning off game-worn Eagle kits from VFC’s Marvel Superhero on Friday, Sept. 6 match to the highest bidder and  donating $5 from every Eagle Kit sold for this match on Friday, Sept. 6. All proceeds from these initiatives will be given to LCHHF to help them achieve their fundraising goal of $550,000 for the much needed machine.

 

Other ways that fans can support the LCHHF’s Sports Injury Month campaign is purchasing 50/50 tickets throughout September online here or can simply donate to LCHHF online here.

If you haven’t gotten your tickets to either of Vancouver’s September matches, including our Marvel Superhero Night on Friday, Sept. 6, you can find a special discount code online here which can be applied at the time of purchase on VFC’s website here.