doha diary
ComFortAbLe mAtrAS A study of human endurance naturally requires some human subjects. With AspetarÕ s focus on the performance and recovery times of athletes operating in hot climates, the ideal Ô guinea pigÕ should be athletic and also a stranger to the often oppressive weather of this region. Due to the predominantly cardiovascular nature of the exercise required to take part in high-level football, footballers make ideal subjects for this kind of study. All that remains is to find someone unused to hot weather Ð someone diametrically opposed to hot weather, indeed, seems to be of interest to Aspetar judging by their choice of participants: a group of footballers from Denmark and, yet further north, the Faroe Islands. The Faroe Islands are an autonomous province of Denmark situated in the North Atlantic, between the tip of the UK and Iceland with a climate that could best be described as Ô bracingÕ : mean summer temperatures are about 10 Centigrade and there are on average 260 days of rain a year. But the 49,000 hardy souls that call the islands home have a passion for football and this passion is ably demonstrated by the
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presence at the Aspetar facility in Doha of Kl¾ mint Matras. Midfielder Matras, 29, is a Faroese who has played for the national team on a couple of occasions and currently captains his club side, B36 Torshavn, who play in the IslandsÕ top division. Ò IÕ ve been playing football all my life,Ó Matras says. Ò IÕ ve spent my entire career playing in the Faroe Islands but even though this is an amateur league, thatÕ s never been an issue. I play because I enjoy it.Ó Matras spent 12 days with Aspetar last month engaged in the study; including travel, a fortnight which kept him away from home, his family and his day job as a carpenter. I mistakenly assumed that this would be a well-rewarded busmanÕ s holiday for Matras and his acolytes, but when the subject of recompense was broached, the player seemed genuinely bemused. Ò IÕ m not really sure what theyÕ re paying me,Ó Matras said, scratching his chin. Ò A daily rate, I think, and some expenses. ItÕ s not important, but the study Ð thatÕ s important. WeÕ re very excited about the tests. Sure, itÕ s hard physically, but itÕ s a great experience for me.Ó
were the main criteria for selection. Their performance levels were monitored by Dr Nybo, himself a Dane, who, “[took] the biopsies, muscle samples, designed the whole set up. What we are doing,” Nybo says, “is asking the question: how does the human body and brain function when exercising in this climate? “We see that it’s not necessarily ‘dangerous’ to play in this sort of climate. You can play, but you will slow down. Will the player recover as quickly after a match in this heat? – this is an important question to which you must know the answer if you are able to say: ‘this is safe’. “As to whether the ‘standard’ of professional football played in these conditions would suffer, I would say ‘no’. The players will run less, but we might get more goals as a result of more mistakes being made. We see that it will be necessary for football coaches to adapt their team’s tactics to deal with the conditions and the inherent effects that they will have on the players. “There are ways of mitigating the effects of the environment: proper acclimation, diet and the body can physically be cooled down before exercise and afterwards,” says Nybo. The relevance of this study is twofold. Firstly, as you may have noticed, Qatar will find out next month if it has been successful in the bid for the 2022 World Cup. If Qatar does get the nod, the results of the Aspetar study will be invaluable at the local level. There is the feeling outwith these borders that perhaps the 2022 bid is a bridge too far for this country – we will know soon enough if FIFA concurs – but this information will be invaluable to professional athletes and coaches all over the region and anywhere else where it gets unreasonably hot. Secondly, and in Racinais’ words, there are the “practical applications” of the upcoming verdict of the study. “This exercise goes beyond football; it’s about understanding general physiology, the limits of the human body. It’s very good to better understand what the human body can and can’t do,” he concludes. To have Qatar-based research assume importance all over the world will be a credit to Aspetar and also to Doctors Nybo and Racinais n
Qatar Today November 10
11/1/10 7:54:12 PM