The first EuroLeague Team Doctors Meeting could not have been more timely as preparations for a healthy 2020-21 season dominated an agenda that attracted medical professionals from all Turkish Airlines EuroLeague clubs to an in-depth group discussion on Friday.
The meeting, held by video-conference, was part of the 2020-21 EB Institute Annual Workshops, which for a decade have brought together professionals from EuroLeague and EuroCup clubs to exchange information in their specialties and plan collectively for the future.
"The entire priority, goal and philosophy is that the league and the clubs help and support each other, sharing best practices, for the benefit of EuroLeague Team Doctors individually; for the medical staff in our clubs; and ultimately for our clubs as a whole, so that we can help stay healthy and best recover players as well as other club staff in the best way possible," Eduard J. Scott, Euroleague Basketball Chief Operations Officer, said.
The meeting was led by Dr. Ignacio Muro, Euroleague Basketball Medical Officer, who emphasized the crucial importance, after a season that couldn't be completed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, of cooperation between all clubs. "We need to have this network of communication so that the team doctors can talk to each other to know exactly what the situation is in the different cities before traveling next season" Dr. Muro said. "We all need as much information as we can have, as soon as possible." Also of fundamental significance, Dr. Muro affirmed, is the need for team doctors to anticipate providing more medical services than ever to players who were forced to lessen or even stop their athletic activity for the first time in their careers.