Arsenal Women star Daniëlle van de Donk has revealed how the club are trying to keep players fit during the Coronavirus lockdown.
As with the men’s game, the women’s game is on hold until at least April 30th as the UK battles to control the spread of the virus.
This means that, like the rest of the population, footballers find themselves locked in isolation at home until the situation calms down.
That isn’t ideal for footballers, who need regular training and exercise to keep at the peak of their game.
They’ve been forced to adapt their strict schedules to working out at home, and van de Donk has revealed just how they’re doing that at Arsenal.
“We receive a whole program from the club,” she told Eindhoven Daily.
“And we facetime with the physical coaches who guide us through the exercises as online supervisors.”
“I can’t do much with my ankle yet, so it is tough at the moment. I think it is going in the right direction.
“I hope the swelling and pain subsides this week and that I can run a little again next week. Then we’ll do that.
“What makes it difficult is that I no longer have daily physiotherapy, I try to make the best of rehabilitation via FaceTime.”
For now, van de Donk and her fellow teammates are left sitting and waiting to discover whether football returns at any point.
At this stage, it is looking unlikely that the April 30th deadline will be met, with Covid-19 continuing to spread at an alarming rate.
The hope is that the new lockdown measures introduced by Boris Johnson can help stem the tide and bring life back to normal sooner rather than later.
The focus now is on saving lives, a sentiment the Arsenal star shares with her colleagues from the male game.
“I’ll wait it out. It can change every day. I hope so, but here it is also about people’s lives,” she added.
“What is in my head now is that we must all defeat the virus by living by the rules as best we can. I also hope everyone does that. If we have addressed that, we will see further.
“Then we have the first European Championship qualification on the schedule.
“We still have to qualify before we start talking about the European Championship again. Everything has to wait and see.”
