AfricaPress-Tanzania: TAIFA Stars Head Coach, Etienne Ndayiragije has insisted on his players to maintain their physical fitness during this period of league suspension.
Tanzania, like so many other countries in the world, has suspended all sports activities as one step to contain the spread of Covid-19 which continues to hit hard in many parts of the world.
But, speaking recently in the city, Ndayiragije said players should not only consider about psychological well-being but that they should do whatever is necessary to maintain their physical fitness before the league resumes in the near future.
“They need to be careful and ensure that they have not gained weight which can ruin their performance upon resumption of sports activities and he wants them to ensure they train hard as per recommendation of their teams’ coaches before they were released to go to their homes,” he said.
He added that for the case of national team players, they must make sure that their individual training sessions go hand in hand with their professional levels, adding they must be disciplined and watchful with what they consume.
“As you know, our players had a busy league schedule which saw them playing matches frequently without enough time to recuperate hence in the first two weeks when the suspension was announced, they were supposed to perform training sessions at least three times per week.
“This depends on where the players live such that if they reside at a place where there is enough space to run, they should not hesitate to run while at the same time balancing with what they eat,” the Burundian trainer said.
Again, Ndayiragije said Tanzania has not severely been affected by the Covid-19 to the extent that people are not allowed to go outside calling the situation as an advantage for players to go where it is safe to train without necessarily be in groups of many people.
Moreover, Ndayiragije urged those players who will be performing jogging sessions to do them for not less than 45 minutes according to their pace levels.
“When they keep on to run for not less than 45 minutes, they should be eager to surpass that time limit in the next training session for them to be really fit ahead of the resumption of the contest,” said he.
He continued: “The most important thing for the players during this period is that in whatever training programs they are implementing, they should thrive to avoid getting injuries which in the end can lead them to be out of good shape when the current suspension time will be over.”
“They will be having minimal contacts at their home hence most of them will be back injury free which is very important for them,” he lamented.
Under his tutelage, Ndayiragije has succeeded to drive Taifa Stars to African Nations Championship (CHAN) finals which was supposed to be played in Cameroon this month but was suspended until further notice due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Tanzania is in group D together with Zambia Namibia and Guinea.
