Bruins utilize new stretching program to head off injuries
Team hopes routine will keep them in shape throughout season
By Adam Karon
Daily Bruin Staff
Practice lasts just a little bit longer for the UCLA football team this year.
At the end of each practice, including grueling two-a-days under the harsh Southern California sun, the entire team gathers around strength and conditioning coach Mike Linn to stretch.
Using green cords and each other’s assistance, each member follows strict instructions on how to properly cool down.
“It’s just something that Coach Lynn came up with,” said senior linebacker Robert Thomas. “He’s always coming up with good things to help us out as far as staying injury-free. He’s doing a really good job this year of preparing everybody.”
Perhaps the new routine has something to do with last year’s rash of injuries. Thomas himself was hampered by a lower leg problem throughout the year. In addition, defensive linemen Rusty Williams, Ken Kocher and Kenyon Coleman all suffered injuries, leaving Bruin fans to wonder what might have been had the team stayed healthy.
“I’m looser, more flexible,” said defensive lineman Sean Phillips, who filled in last year for injured teammates, of his experience with the new program “The more flexible you are, the less likely you are to get injured.”
While a simple stretching routine seems like common sense, some college teams leave post-workout stretching to the discretion of the athletes. In many cases, players forget or neglect to stretch on their own.
According to fitnesslink.com, a health-and-fitness-oriented Web site, “stretching will not only increase your flexibility and minimize your chances of pulling or tearing muscles, but it will also improve your performance.”
Not all of the Bruins are sure that the increased emphasis on stretching comes as a result of last season’s injuries.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with last year,” Williams said. “Most of those injuries were not preventable.”
Such injuries included a broken clavicle suffered by quarterback Cory Paus and running back DeShaun Foster’s broken hand. Preventable injuries usually come in the form of pulled or strained muscles.
Williams, whose shoulder problems last year required offseason surgery, believes that the stretching is merely another way for the team to gain an edge.
“Anytime you can get an edge on somebody it makes a difference,” Williams said. “If you’re stretching, and the other team is not, then it helps.”
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