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.”