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Team physician reflections from traveling to Africa with USA Wrestling

By Daniel Clearfield, DO, MS, FAOASM | September 18, 2022 | General Sports Medicine | Tagged: wrestling, usa wrestling, olympic wrestling, united world wrestling, freestyle wrestling, women's wrestling, men's wrestling, greco roman wrestling | 2 Comments

As I watched the completion of the United World Wrestling World Championships today, I reflect back on my recent trip with the team. In July 2022 I went on an 8-day long adventure in Tunisia, Africa with the USA Wrestling men’s and women’s freestyle wrestling teams for the World Rankings 4 Tournament, aka the Zouhaier Sghaier Tournament. It was the first time most of us had been to Africa, and we definitely felt the heat, but more so the humidity!

The trip itself started with some hiccups. I flew from DFW and connected with most of the men’s team in Chicago before we flew into Germany and then Africa. We ran into many delays in customs (crazy how so many people will cut ahead of you without any thought of it being rude) and a handful of people on our team had missing baggage (including our athletic trainer who did not have her clothes or supplies the first few days we were out there).

While Tunisia is part of Africa, the area we were in was not the plains or the desert, but we were in fact right on the ocean! Our team stayed at a resort with an amazing view of the ocean, a relaxing beach, and a great assortment of foods freshly cooked at every meal. Like many of our international travel trips, we had to proceed with caution to avoid food and water-borne illnesses. While the accommodations were overall nice, the air conditioning in most areas was horrific, notably in my hotel room! With the humidity it always felt like the inside of a bathroom after a hot shower. I don’t think me, or my roommate (the USOPC Strength & Conditioning Coach) even untucked our sheets the whole time we were there as we laid on hot & sweaty sheets every night!

This area of Africa’s natives predominantly spoke in Arabic or French. There was a heavy aroma of cigarettes almost anywhere you went, making you appreciate the clean and smoke-free air most places in the USA can provide these days. Whenever I travel internationally with a team, whether to a first world or third world country, I always prepare myself like I will not have access to any conventional supplies. This was the case in Tunisia, as items such as toilet paper were not supplied at public locations nor the venue where the event was being held. Also, for whatever reason, the urinals in the men’s rooms were all way elevated off the ground. I am 5’8″ and I nearly had to get on my tiptoes to use them! The Tunisians did not seem like an inherently tall people, so thought was an interesting thing.

After our first day of travel, day 2 the men’s freestyle team and I went down to the beach. They were able to work out and drill on the beach, and then we utilized the resort’s gym and steam room (unfortunately no dry sauna was available at our hotel or in the local area). At night we had dinner and a team meeting. Day 3 the women’s freestyle delegation arrived. The hotel made a makeshift practice room in one of their banquet halls, and the team was able to practice and drill. Day 4 was filled with practice time, injury evaluation, and I performed A LOT of OMT on the athletes and coaches for various conditions, but notably performance optimization. Day 5 was much the same, but I was able to go with our medical team to join the coaching staff at a restaurant on a beautiful beach. After dinner we had team meetings to prep for the upcoming competition.

Day 6 was Friday, and we started the day with weigh-ins at the hotel, then an hour later we traveled via bus to the venue. The bus was a pleasant trip as it was the first time we encountered functioning air conditioning on this trip! The venue was located about 45 minutes from the hotel, and it was a large coliseum with three mats set up at the center for the competition. Upon arrival I

surveyed the medical resources and identified the local medical staff. There was a local Tunisian doctor and physiotherapist who I introduced myself to and they showed me how I could implement an emergency action plan should the need arise (fortunately it did not!). Between matches there were two warm-up rooms where we essentially established camp, rested, ate, warmed-up, and treated the athletes all in this small area. The women’s competition this day went off without a hitch, and our team performed well and escaped with only a few minor injuries. Most of the team did not get back to the hotel until 9:30pm, but those who had to undergo drug testing did not get back until 12:30am!

Day 7 started with weigh-ins for that day’s competitors, and then we traveled over to the venue. There were many more injury evaluations that myself and our medical staff had to do this day. Fortunately, there was nothing that we could not manage ourselves. One of the issues we had to repeatedly deal with was dealing with the United World Wrestling (UWW; the governing body for international wrestling) rules not allowing us on the mat until the event physician asks for us. The event physician was from Turkey, was able to communicate with me in English mostly. Prior to the competition she demonstrated to me she had some basic supplies needed, but as someone who has been working with USA Wrestling for over a decade, I knew her supplies were insufficient for our typical needs (notably bleeding). This would come into play as we had some athletes who suffered laceration injuries and/or bloody noses. I attempted to initially intervene when these occurred, but I would be waived off by the officials until the UWW doctor realized she was unable to manage the injury. This delayed proper care for our athletes, as well as gave their opponents more resting time (USA athletes tend to be in much better cardio shape so this works against them). I am really hoping this policy can change. If a team brings their physician/medical staff with them then that respective staff should have the first opportunity to treat their athletes. Ok, soap box over on that!

Day 7 concluded the women’s competition, and they were catching a red-eye flight out, so we bid them adieu and prepared for the next day of the men’s freestyle competition. Day 8 was the final day of competition, and we had 5 athletes competing. There were some surprise upsets, but our team was mentally strong and bounced back and all 5 guys medaled!

As the competition wrapped up Team USA performed great with the women taking home 3 gold, 3 silver, and 1 bronze and the men taking home 4 gold, 2 silver, and 1 bronze medals. Great job Team USA! It has been an honor and a privilege to work with Team USA at the highest of levels. While many of these athletes professionally aspire to become an Olympian, as a sports medicine physician I have professionally aspired to work with Olympians. Going on trips like this is me living out my professional dream, and I am so thankful and blessed that I have had these opportunities!