Sylvain Distin stays fit during Everton FC's worst injury run

12 November 2009 00:00
Sylvain Distin 300[LNB]ALL season players have been dropping like flies at Everton Football Club.[LNB]The injury list at Goodison Park has been described as the worst in physio Mick Rathbone's memory, while at several times in the campaign the Blues have had a full starting XI of senior players sat on the sidelines.[LNB]But, like the Duracell bunny, Sylvain Distin has played on and on.[LNB]Since he signed from Portsmouth just before the transfer deadline, he has played every single minute of every match.[LNB]That's 15 consecutive matches, including one particularly gruelling spell of five games in 14 days, but the French central defender has bounced through it all and can't wait for Premier League action to resume again after the latest international break.[LNB]So what's Sylvain's secret?[LNB]The laid-back Frenchman, showing the footballing equivalent of a laissez-faire attitude, shrugs and says: 'I like to keep fit and I love competition.[LNB]'I have never had a big injury in my career. So I guess it's maybe my dad I need to thank for my good health for passing it on to me, that and my lifestyle as well.'[LNB]Of course there are other factors apart from mere good fortune, and Distin is perhaps being overly modest when discussing his freedom from injury.[LNB]'Well I always played sport when I was young,' he added, 'and I try to eat healthily.[LNB]'I don't really pay that much attention but I try to eat a bit of everything and I love to go the gym and do a lot of work on prevention.[LNB]'I believe that prevention is better than cure. I do everything before it happens.[LNB]'It doesn't mean I never get any injuries, but the strengthening work and all those kinds of exercises seem to work for me.[LNB]'I don't have a really strict lifestyle. I try to relax . . . and I am happy also which helps.[LNB]'I'm kind of laidback and relaxed, too, so I guess that helps.[LNB]'But mainly it's the work in the gym and all the strengthening. I do that and feel much better.[LNB]'The older I get the harder I work. Really.[LNB]'It's like you're fighting it. I don't want to get old![LNB]'It's a mix of everything and lots of hard work I suspect.'

Source: Liverpool_Echo