By Andrew Tidswell
Spalding United player and Elite Sports Academy MD
Christmas and the New Year is mainly a time for families to get together and enjoy each other’s company while giving gifts, receiving presents and sharing special moments.
It’s also a time to look forward to indulging yourself with many delicious foods and drinks – while not having the feeling of guilt afterward.
Although I look forward to all of those things as well as most of you readers do, I always have to keep one eye on the upcoming football fixture list.
Lots of people get extended time off over Christmas and New Year in order to be with their family.
However, as a non-league footballer, the thought of playing five matches in ten days over the festive period is also in the forefront of your mind.
This season, fixtures were scheduled for December 26 and 28, as well as January 1, 3 and 6. If games hadn’t been called off, this would have been a gruelling time for us physically.
As a footballer in non league, this kind of schedule has always been common – so this year hasn’t surprised me. Although you wish to be able to spend Boxing Day and New Year’s Day carrying on the celebrations of the days previous, you quickly have to switch onto game mode and doing what you’re paid to do.
You can still enjoy tucking into the Christmas turkey and enjoying the mince pies afterwards, but you also need to make sure you’re not overdoing it.
That’s because you need to be prepared for the quick-fire matches which can give you the momentum heading into the business end of the season.
Not only is it about preparing right for the one game, but straight after playing one match you need to again be prepared to play again within 48 hours. So whatever you refuel your body with and how you rest become increasingly vital.
Of course, you could end up preparing and sacrificing the family time and some of the foods on offer, just for the match to be called off due to bad weather – but that’s a price that comes with the profession.
I have seen a lot of talk from managers and players in the Premier League over the Christmas period. Some are unhappy with the fact they have to play so many games close together.
However, on the non-league scene we just get on with it – and that’s without the riches of what the superstars get.
I agree that when the body becomes fatigued you are more prone to injury.
But do we really want the festive football to stop?
Sometimes in life we need to be careful of what we wish for.
