After a stress fracture in the back curtailed his season last year, Sydney FC midfielder Calem Nieuwenhof is raring to go in season 2021-22.
We caught up with him to see how his comeback is going.
Q. How is the injury progressing?
A. It’s progressing very well. It has been about four months now and it’s finally starting to show some real improvement.
Q. Is it painful?
A. It’s a stress fracture in the back so it feels like a dull achiness but that’s all starting to fade and it’s feeling a lot better, so I’m starting to progress in the gym and soon to be on the field.
Q. What sort of treatment have you been under-going?
A. I’ve been doing some real core and glute strengthening exercises to prevent reoccurrence of this injury in the future.
Q. Why is it taking so long?
It’s the type of injury which varies quite a bit amongst different people and I guess I’ve been a bit unlucky that it has taken this long to heal but it just needs time.
It makes me even more excited to start training with the team again and playing games.
Q. How have you been keeping busy?
I’ve been doing re-hab in the gym and a lot of stuff with the help and guidance of the medical staff.
Q. What’s the plan from here on in?
Finally I’m starting to really step it up. I’ll start jogging next week and from there it will be all up hill and hopefully in about four weeks I can start training with the team and eventually back to 100%.
Q. What are you targeting?
At the moment I’m aiming to be 100% fully fit by the start of the season and really looking forward to playing a lot more games for the club.
