Southern View: June 16, 2022

Thursday June 16 2022 7
Football players affected
by shortage of training
grounds with lights
• By Emily Moorhouse
A GROWING football
club is making a bid
to have more playing
space with lights to
accommodate for training.
Cashmere Technical
Football Club teams often
have to sacrifice mid-week
training due to lack of
ground space for players.
Club representatives
Caroline Mason and Lisa
Young presented to the
Waihoro Spreydon-Cashmere
Community Board
to discuss how green space
is allocated in the area
and having grounds with
lights.
“Our numbers go up every
year. We’ve got nearly
1600 kids down there but
I’ve got 40 kids on the
waiting list because we
really haven’t got anywhere
else to put them at the moment,”
Young said.
“We constantly say no
to teams that they can’t
train during the week because
we’ve only got three
grounds with lights.”
The grounds with lights
the club uses are Garrick
Park, ​Whittington Ave and
Somerfield Park.
The club has players
from ages four through to
over 50s and often has to
close grounds used to train
on due to bad weather to
keep it in good condition
for weekend games.
“In the winter it gets
dark so training grounds
with lights are at an absolute
premium so that affects
the number of teams
we can have playing,”
Mason said.
Mason said by having
more space with lighting it
would create more opportunities
for other activities
such as walking football
for older members.
Mason said space for
playing has been an ongoing
issue for the club, particularly
due to not having
a lot of green space that
drains well on the South
side of the city.
Young said around 50
per cent of the grounds
used by the club can’t be
played on when it rains
and they sometimes have
to move to other spaces
such as Hagley Park.
Mainland Football chief
executive Martin Field
Dodgson said there comes
a challenge with finding
adequate participation
space during the week under
lights, particularly in
the south-east, north and
south-west of the city.
“It has got to the point
where we have clubs
SHORTAGE: Somerfield Park is one of three
grounds that has lights for Cashmere Technical
Football Club’s mid-week training.
Lisa Young
Caroline Mason
with waiting lists which
ultimately means we have
residents of Christchurch
(many of whom are kids)
sitting at home not able
to engage in physical and
social activity at their local
football club,” he said.
Dodgson said while
there is plenty of access to
fields during the weekend,
very few of these spaces are
lit, which means they’re
not accessible during the
week.
He also said there has
been an increase in players
wanting to participate in
mid-week games rather
than the traditional weekend
games.
Cashmere Technical
Football Club has a “catchment”
covering Hoon
Hay, Spreydon, Cashmere,
Waltham, Roimata,
Martin Field Dodgson
St Martins, Woolston,
Opawa, and extends to
Governors Bay and Diamond
Harbour.
Mason and Young
suggested looking at how
grounds are currently allocated
and used and the
potential for additional
grounds with lights.
The club also has a long
term vision of having an
artificial surface football
pitch.
Community board chair
Karolin Potter suggested
the group presents to the
city council as the issue
goes beyond the community
board’s area.
“You’re talking to us and
we’re one of seven boards
and this is a Christchurchwide
problem . . . I think
this is an issue for the
wider population of elected
members,” Potter said.
“We have emphasised
green space on this board
for quite a while now
because of the intensive
housing to compensate so
that kids have got places to
have fun and games and
climb on trees.”
However, Potter noted
the board will still request
staff advice on the network
plan for sports ground
availability and discuss
options for potential sites
with artificial turf and
lights.
&
McMaster Heap
Veterinary practice
THE IMPORTANCE OF
GIVING BLOOD
Recently my wee Macy, two year old Black
Labrador, gave her blood in the hope of
saving a dogs life. Lola donated blood
frequently in her earlier years before she
got kidney cancer and had chemotherapy,
rendering her unsuitable.
Macy used to be needle phobic and it
would take a lot of persuading and many
treats just to get her still enough to take her
own blood for testing. She has watched
me lots pulling blood from other dogs, so
this time around she was brave. Firstly we
needed to blood type her to make sure
she was a match for the patient. The dog
requiring her blood had
already had one past
transfusion, so this time
around we needed a
perfect blood match.
Luckily our external
laboratory move fast to
cross match the blood,
so within the hour we
knew Macy was going
to be a donor. Both
were DEA 1.1 negative.
Macy was then sedated
and prepared for her
transfusion. Blood is
taken via a large bore
needle from her jugular
vein and it takes 10-15
minutes to pull so she
needs to lie perfectly
still, hence the sedation.
She wasn’t readily
giving up her blood
but we managed to
get about 400mls to
transfuse. Immediately
the transfused Whole
Blood is administered
to the dog needing
it, slowly infused
via a pump system.
Often the recipient
immediately feels better and has more
energy.
The main reasons we transfuse a patient
is for ANEMIA (where a patient has a
reduced number of Red Blood cells) and
COAGULOPATHY (clotting dysfunction).
RBCs deliver oxygen to tissues so we can’t
do without these.
ANEMIA can be acute (road traffic
accidents) or chronic (as in cancers, poisons
like rat bait and Immume mediated
disorders). The dog Macy helped out
had Immune Mediated Anemia and
Thrombocytopenia (low platelets).
COAGULOPATHY can happen with
poisoning like rat bait, shock, cancers,
parasites, liver disease and acute blood loss.
To see whether a patient needs a
transfusion we clinically and physically
evaluate them. There are blood tests
we run to check RBC numbers, platelet
numbers and clotting times. Blood
products are not a benign treatment
and do come with potential risks, and
are also a financial consideration to the
patient’s owner - choosing the best time to
transfuse to provide the maximum benefit
is also essential, especially if finances are
limited for multiple
transfusions.
Then we need to
decide what blood
product to give. A few
types are fresh whole
blood FWB, fresh frozen
plasma FFP, packed red
blood cells PRBCs and
frozen plasma FP. The
patient in question got
FWB from Macy. This is
blood collected from
the donor in whole
form and contains both
red blood cells and
plasma elements. It is
easily collected and
requires no processing
before transfusion.
Main purpose - acute
blood loss or active
bleeding, as it replaces
what is directly being
lost. Unless transfused
to the patient within
6-8 hours of collection,
it is a poor source of
clotting factors. Main
indication for use is
anemia.
Blood transfusions don’t happen every day
but when a patient does require blood, it
needs to happen then and there if we are
to save a life. Many of the staff pets have
been blood typed so now we have a pool
of donors to call on if needed. Obviously
they need to be healthy, fully vaccinated,
the right weight to give up 1/2 litre blood
and not receiving chemotherapy or
immunosuppressive drugs.
A great gift to be able to give another dog,
I’m very proud of my Macy.
Dr Michele McMaster
Open 7 days Cnr Hoon Hay & Coppell place ph: 338 2534
e. mcmasterandheap@yahoo.co.nz www.mcmasterheap.co.nz