MALAWI FLAMES TO ACCLIMATIZE

March 4th, 2009 | by: sscouser |

The Malawi Flames are going to camp in Salima, Malawi in order to acclimatize to Ivory Coast’s hot weather. The Malawi Flames will play against Drogba and the Ivory Coast Elephants on March 29, 2009.

Acclimatization is the process of an organism adjusting to chronic change in its environment, often involving temperature, moisture, food, often relating to seasonal climate changes.

When humans move from a cool or temperate environment to a hot, dry desert environment or vice versa, they should spend up to seven days acclimatizing to the change in their environment. This lets the body make internal adjustments (homeostasis) to compensate for the change in environment conditions. If the acclimatization process is ignored, then the person is at higher risk for heat related injuries (heat stroke, heat cramp, pneumonia).

To minimize the adverse impact of hot, humid conditions, the coaching and training staff must address three issues: 1) a rehydration strategy, 2) an acclimatization strategy, and 3) lifestyle issues. Since this post is about Acclimatization, “Preparing athletes for competition in the Heat: Developing an Effective Acclimatization Strategy” Article explains it all.

I hope the Flames Coaching and Training Staff will learn a thing or two from the article.

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Comments

By Ryan | March 4th, 2009 at 12:22 pm

What if you live in a country that has same cool temperature all over the country?

Posted from United States

By sscouser | March 4th, 2009 at 3:31 pm

Ryan, if Malawi didn’t have a ‘hot area’ they would go to Ivory Coast a week before the game to acclimatize. If they have funds to camp in Salima for almost a month Am sure they would have funds to camp in Ivory Coast for a week. Since they would go there earlier than required, they would make their own arrangements. Earlier last year FIFA decided that teams should make own arrangements whenever they play away following complaints of maltreatment of visiting teams when they played away in some countries.
http://www.gov.bw/cgi-bin/news.cgi?d=20080519&i=Countries_fend_for_themselves

The main problem I see is that it would be hard to find a training pitch earlier than 3 days before the game. The hosts try to demoralize away teams in any way possible. The other problem is that foreign players are released by their respective clubs just a few days before the game.

Please note that training in a ‘Hot Area’ is not the only solution. Sometimes normal training also helps: Regularly raising your core temperature by hitting an intensity over 50 percent of your Vo2 max with strenuous interval training or continuous exercise will invoke heat acclimatization responses, but eight to 12 weeks are needed to really do the job.

Posted from United States

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