Cobblers will do all they can to support any players observing Ramadan
Kevin Nolan says the club will give all the support required to any players observing Ramadan this month.
During Ramadan Muslins refrain from food and drink in daylight hours, which presents a challenge for professional athletes. This year Ramadan started last week and ends on March 29th.
Ali Koiki is one Cobblers player who observes Ramadan and Nolan says the club will give him and anyone else in the same position the support they need.
He said: "I’ve had experience throughout my career in terms of playing with lads who are muslims and observe Ramadan and I’ve seen how they’ve dealt with it and what they’ve got to do. We have a couple of lads who observe Ramadan in the squad so what we’ve got to do is give them the support they need.
"We’ll help them with anything when they need it and when they want it and I’ll see myself how it goes. I think the night games are probably better because they can eat but it is what it is and we’ll just support the lads because it can be a tough month for sport athletes.
"We’ll be there for them and their nutritional needs and all that type of stuff. My lads – Joe (Power, strength and conditioning coach) and Ash (Adebayo, strength and rehabilitation coach) – are right on top of it so I know it’s not something I need to worry about.
"I’ll just see with my eye if we need to take them out or if training’s too much and that’s what we’ll do. We’ll make it work so there’s no risk of injury because it depletes the body when you’re not getting the right nutrition and fluids and your body isn’t recovering as fast as it normally would.”