In sports, the phrase “Health is a major concern” usually has a negative connotation. It is primarily used when a team has several key players nursing minor or even major injuries.
With the Toronto Argonauts, the phrase is used in a preemptive manner. One enormous factor in the club’s late-season success in 2024 was keeping players healthy as opposed to treating them after they were hurt.
Last year the team achieved that goal in an almost unbelievable manner. At the end of a football season, the wear and tear of playing a collision sport catches up with players and the odds of a roster being healthy are long.
Last year that theory did not hold true.
What are the Argos doing differently? Good luck obviously has something to do with the results, but so does a scientific plan to help reduce the physical challenges of the sport. The man mostly responsible for the Argos attack on injuries, particularly of the soft tissue variety, is strength and conditioning coach Usama Mujtaba.
He was asked to give one specific stat from 2024 that backs up what the Argos are doing.
“We tracked our availability,” he began. “Availability meaning any player who could play in the upcoming game, they count as available. Throughout the year our availability slowly climbed. In the Eastern Final we had 96-percent roster availability, and in the Grey Cup we had a 94-percent roster availability.”
In layman’s terms, the Argos were getting healthier as the season progressed, and the injuries they suffered were not avoidable; Chad Kelly, Quincy Mauger, Darius Ciraco, and Jamie Harry all suffered contact injuries, something that even the best preventative steps could not ward off.
An equally surprising revelation from last season’s data? Argonaut players were actually getting faster as the season progressed. This runs contrary to the belief that players slow down as a lengthy CFL season rolls along.
“You can actually get faster, more powerful, and stronger,” Mujtba explained. “It’s about understanding when to build that stuff into a regular practice structure and finding outmore about where your opportunities are.”
Mujtaba and Kris Robertson, the team’s sport scientist, would analyze data and devise practice suggestions for head coach Ryan Dinwiddie, who would grant the request. The Argos would then do speed training every couple of weeks, contrary to what the old-school coaching methods would suggest.
Players wore GPS vests during practices to track their speed, among several other metrics, and Mujtaba and Robertson were pleasantly surprised to find out that more than just a few of their athletes were posting personal best speeds late in the season.
Dinwiddie admits to being old school but has embraced the scientific approach to practices. He’ll adjust his schedules based on the data, or reduce a positional group’s running amount if the GPS indicates their weekly mileage is putting too much stress on their bodies, which could lead to injuries.
The players will benefit from that on Friday.
“(Friday) is a walkthrough day,” Dinwiddie told Argonauts.ca. “We plan that knowing guys are going to be tired. We understand at training camp we’ve got to get a lot of work in, but at the same time we have to have guys healthy for the season so it’s a little give and take, but when guys are beat up we’ve got to rest them. There’s good conversation between me and the medical team each night.”
The data has made Dinwiddie, who was skeptical at first, a believer in what the data has shown.
“I’m old school, but it’s great to evaluate everything that we can to help us take care of our players. Our priority is to help our players stay healthy, they know we’re taking care of them. If there’s a situation where players could get injured based on the workload, we’ll get on it before it happens.”
The team effort between coaches, the strength and conditioning team, and the medical staff led by Josh Shewell has set the bar high in terms of success in keeping the Argos healthy. The job they did last season was phenomenal and a big reason why the Boatmen were able to win the championship.
ARGO NOTES: The Argos welcomed several hundred students from Guelph to take part ina giant “Huddle Up” anti-bullying event during practice. The 24-year-old program was founded by Jason Colero, now in his 40th year with the Argos, who spoke to the students, as did Chad Kelly, DaVaris Daniels, and Victoria Cleveland, who is with the Argos for training camp via the CFL’s Women in Football program…The team worked at length in red zone situations.