The club invests between 150,000 and 200,000 euros on cardiac tests for young players
Villarreal CF worries about the health of the youth footballers in the entire Castellón province. For this reason, the club has put into motion their own initiative this season, giving around 1,500 cardiac tests to the First, Reserve and Academy team footballers (700) and players from the 41 clubs supported by the Endavant Futbol Provincial agreement (800). The objective is to detect any type of arrhythmia or any type of heart disease that could be responsible for a sudden death.
The tests consist of a medical consultation and electrocardiogram and echocardiogram test. The club will subsidise this effort, which will cost between 150,000 and 200,000 euros per season to put the initiative into effect, which will be carried out as a community project under the club’s ‘Endavant’ philosophy.
Villarreal CF is one of the few clubs at the elite level that can boast a cardiologist within their medical services. Óscar Fabregat is responsible for the health care of all the talented youth footballers in the Endavant Futbol Provincial agreement and also for the Yellows, for all of whom he carries out this preventative cardiac abnormality programme. From players of 11-12 years and up, Óscar Fabregat carries out all consultations and medical revisions of all footballers, doing electrocardiogram and echocardiogram tests and finally the ECG Holter test, to detect arrhythmias or any type of heart disease that could be responsible for a sudden death. In the case that something abnormal is detected, further tests would be conducted.
In the lower categories –U8s and U10s– a less thorough assessment is carried out, as the young players have not developed fully enough to be able to detect cardiac abnormalities.
The Endavant Esports athletes will also do the cardiac tests
Before long, the Endavant Esports athletes will also pass through the cardiac tests to detect any type of arrhythmia or any type of heart disease that could be responsible for a sudden death.
Medical coverage for the Endavant Esports athletes
The elite individual athletes who form part of the Endavant Esports initiative can count on the same treatment as a Villarreal CF First Team player: the same doctors, physios, machines and corresponding treatment. The club also covers the clubs that form part of Endavant Esports. Last season around 250 consultations were given to athletes from the sponsored clubs. Starting this season all medical appointments for the Endavant Esports clubs take place in the Pamesa Training Ground (Ciudad Deportiva Pamesa), increasing the number of consultations with respect to last season due to the growth of the project and the addition of more athletes. All this involves an expenditure of 50,000 euros per season paid for by Villarrreal CF. And well worth the effort.
To listen to doctor Óscar Fabregat just click on the video tab attached to this report.
