Phill O`Donnell......A New Slant?

[Zitelli`s Heid!]

Is it possible that there has to be a new training strategy aimed at the over 30`s?

He played for the Mankies, so any heart abnormalities should have been picked up then. (sent to L.A. for a twisted knee etc)

How can a 35 year old train as hard as a 20 year old? It`s not fair or feasible, really...........

I`m basically getting to the old pit pony theory, aye, as fit as a butcher`s dug, but nearly twice the age...

Do we over-train these days? How hardy is the human body? How much can it take? Do we over-do it? His Dad seems as fit as a fiddle, Heart attack at 35 seems crazy for a chicken/pasta, hard-working dude, sorry for the can of worms, do we expect too much?

Pit-Pony? Or shit luck? (Latapy the exeption)

Is there such a thing as too fit?
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I`m basically saying, did his heart beat once too often, for his years, due to the demands of modern football?

Thoughts people?

RIP P O`D.

[shandongreen]

Originally Posted by Zitelli`s Heid!
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Is it possible that there has to be a new training strategy aimed at the over 30`s?

He played for the Mankies, so any heart abnormalities should have been picked up then. (sent to L.A. for a twisted knee etc)

How can a 35 year old train as hard as a 20 year old? It`s not fair or feasible, really...........

I`m basically getting to the old pit pony theory, aye, as fit as a butcher`s dug, but nearly twice the age...

Do we over-train these days? How hardy is the human body? How much can it take? Do we over-do it? His Dad seems as fit as a fiddle, Heart attack at 35 seems crazy for a chicken/pasta, hard-working dude, sorry for the can of worms, do we expect too much?

Pit-Pony? Or shit luck? (Latapy the exeption)

Is there such a thing as too fit?
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I`m basically saying, did his heart beat once too often, for his years, due to the demands of modern football?

Thoughts people?

RIP P O`D.

everyone diffo dude,i think just a tragedy
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[BurbankHibee]

These things happen. About three weeks ago, a laddie about twelve collapsed and died at PE at one of the local schools here in Burbank.

[Zitelli`s Heid!]

Originally Posted by BurbankHibee
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These things happen. About three weeks ago, a laddie about twelve collapsed and died at PE at one of the local schools here in Burbank.

Sorry to hear that one BB, aye there are cases like that, life is indeed an utter ****, but do we over-train people nowadays?

As before, I believe we have so many heart-beats, so many steps, stamped on our foreheads at birth, when both reach the limit...........time has come.

Am pretty stoned the noo, so forgive the pish, and am really sorry for the wee laddie. `S no` fair.

as was said once.........I wasn`t afraid of birth, I never knew it was coming, so, death?.........what`s the difference? I don`t know when that`s coming either.

[KABULHIBBY]

Originally Posted by Zitelli`s Heid!
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Is it possible that there has to be a new training strategy aimed at the over 30`s?

He played for the Mankies, so any heart abnormalities should have been picked up then. (sent to L.A. for a twisted knee etc)

How can a 35 year old train as hard as a 20 year old? It`s not fair or feasible, really...........

I`m basically getting to the old pit pony theory, aye, as fit as a butcher`s dug, but nearly twice the age...

Do we over-train these days? How hardy is the human body? How much can it take? Do we over-do it? His Dad seems as fit as a fiddle, Heart attack at 35 seems crazy for a chicken/pasta, hard-working dude, sorry for the can of worms, do we expect too much?

Pit-Pony? Or shit luck? (Latapy the exeption)

Is there such a thing as too fit?
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.


I`m basically saying, did his heart beat once too often, for his years, due to the demands of modern football?

Thoughts people?

RIP P O`D.

Heart problems are difficult to diagnose, especially if the problem is deeper and not picked up on the various cardio tests that run on general medicals. Specialist routine cardio checks may now be required by football clubs, especially as they/the players will be hit by higher med insurance premiums, however having spoke to a cardio surgeon about the reported facts of this case he reckons it was just one of those things and there wouldn't have been much more they could have done to diagnose/prevent this happening especially as outwardly POD was fit and healthy.

As for the other points, it is possible for a 35/40 year old to train as hard if not harder than a person half their age, they have better stamina reserves for a starter, in fact if you look at most long distance runners they don't come into their peak until their early 30s
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[BurbankHibee]

Caldwell has some issues with all of this;

Gary Caldwell has revealed the unspoken fear of every top-class footballer in Scotland right now – that they run the risk of dying on the pitch, like Phil O’Donnell did last Saturday, and that they are putting their lives in danger in the pursuit of excellence on the field.

The confirmation yesterday that the cause of the Motherwell captain’s death was a heart attack has made O’Donnell the second high-profile footballer in Europe this season to die. Antonio Puerta, the 22-year-old Seville defender, who had arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, died in August, three days after he suffered a series of cardiac arrests during a Spanish league game.

Caldwell believes there are too many modern sportsmen whose deaths are unexplained. The Celtic and Scotland defender, who publicly spoke last year of how he had lifted his fitness to new levels since moving to the Scottish champions, admits that everyone in the profession has seen an unwelcome glimpse of their own mortality by O’Donnell’s death.

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I think maybe his observations are not totally unfounded.

[egb_hibs]

i tend to agree that this is at minimum worthy of further investigation. the amount of athletes that pop it is appalling too; although in many cases there's a wee bit (to say the least) of chemical assistance implicated in the process when it comes to track and field atheletes.

[wee 162]

I'm really far from sure that there are more deaths now than previously in football tbh. What I do think is that there tends to be more awareness of the players that die through us hearing about it nowadays. 10 years ago how many folk would have heard that someone playing for Seville died for example...

I'm also far from convinced that the tiny percentage of those who die whilst playing football is even more than you would expect from the population as a whole. How many folk play at a professional level every week in the UK just for example? 3,000 or so? Add in reserve games from players in squads etc and you will more than likely have many thousands more.

I would have a wild guess that professional players are far far less likely to die than other folk of their age.

Obviously a complete tragedy with Phil O'Donnell, but I really wish as soon as things like this happen people would stop looking for something to blame. We just have to accept that occasionally someone dies and there is no rational explanation for it happening, and just as importantly no way of ever stopping it happening.

[egb_hibs]

Originally Posted by wee 162
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I'm really far from sure that there are more deaths now than previously in football tbh. What I do think is that there tends to be more awareness of the players that die through us hearing about it nowadays. 10 years ago how many folk would have heard that someone playing for Seville died for example...

I'm also far from convinced that the tiny percentage of those who die whilst playing football is even more than you would expect from the population as a whole. How many folk play at a professional level every week in the UK just for example? 3,000 or so? Add in reserve games from players in squads etc and you will more than likely have many thousands more.

I would have a wild guess that professional players are far far less likely to die than other folk of their age.

Obviously a complete tragedy with Phil O'Donnell, but I really wish as soon as things like this happen people would stop looking for something to blame. We just have to accept that occasionally someone dies and there is no rational explanation for it happening, and just as importantly no way of ever stopping it happening.

good post Al. last para contains a wisdom our society increasingly shys away from.

you may be right about the other stuff, i dunno. i'd restate that imo it's worth further exploration, but i'm quite prepared to believe we'd find out you're right.

one thing that struck me with the lots of photos of o'donnell following what happened, is he looks prematurely aged.

called to mind a documentary i saw which said that the progeny of the irish diaspora in scotland often literally age faster and die younger - micro evolution in action and a fall out from the deprecations of the famine.

the sins of empire, it seems, continue to be visited on the sons of those it overtly fucked over.


another reason, to paraphrese jello biafra, hibby huns can fuck off.

[Colr]

Originally Posted by BurbankHibee
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Gary Caldwell has revealed the unspoken fear of every top-class footballer in Scotland right now – that they run the risk of dying on the pitch, like Phil O’Donnell did last Saturday, and that they are putting their lives in danger in the pursuit of excellence on the field..

Caldwell should have no worries then.

[hibs1986]

IIRC, Kanu's congenital heart defect was picked up by routine screening when he was a young player in Italy. He then underwent major heart surgery which enabled him to 1) probably extend his life, and 2) resume his career - although this was far from certain at the time.

There's an ongoing campaign in this country to screen young people for the same condition (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy? I think), as is done in Italy and some other countries. The counter-argument, and the government's position, is that the number of deaths annually is small and mass screening can't be justified. Not an expert on this, but I think that this condition accounts for a decent percentage of sudden deaths in otherwise healthy adults - not just sportspeople.

Don't know if this is relevant to the Phil O'Donnell case though.

[KABULHIBBY]

Originally Posted by hibs1986
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IIRC, Kanu's congenital heart defect was picked up by routine screening when he was a young player in Italy. He then underwent major heart surgery which enabled him to 1) probably extend his life, and 2) resume his career - although this was far from certain at the time.

There's an ongoing campaign in this country to screen young people for the same condition (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy? I think), as is done in Italy and some other countries. The counter-argument, and the government's position, is that the number of deaths annually is small and mass screening can't be justified. Not an expert on this, but I think that this condition accounts for a decent percentage of sudden deaths in otherwise healthy adults - not just sportspeople.

Don't know if this is relevant to the Phil O'Donnell case though.

If HC(b0llox to spelling that all the time) is a genetic condition then there is a case to be made for allowing those most at risk to receive proper screening. Precedence is already set with certain cancers being linked to genetics and it is accepted that heart conditions are also prone to following family lines.

[Colr]

Originally Posted by hibs1986
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IIRC, Kanu's congenital heart defect was picked up by routine screening when he was a young player in Italy. He then underwent major heart surgery which enabled him to 1) probably extend his life, and 2) resume his career - although this was far from certain at the time.

There's an ongoing campaign in this country to screen young people for the same condition (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy? I think), as is done in Italy and some other countries. The counter-argument, and the government's position, is that the number of deaths annually is small and mass screening can't be justified. Not an expert on this, but I think that this condition accounts for a decent percentage of sudden deaths in otherwise healthy adults - not just sportspeople.

Don't know if this is relevant to the Phil O'Donnell case though.

Asa Hartford had his hole in the heart picked up in a pre-transfer medical in the 70s .

I understand that increased exercise can make your heart muscles over enlarge leading to heat attack so being superfit can be counter-productive.

[Stew the Hibee]

what we also have to remember is that many teams have been playin 2 or three times a week recently. put all that on top of the training and it would seem the player is being worked out, especially for a 35 year old.

RIP Phil O'Donnell