With Omri Caspi returning to full fitness and activity, both he and Maccabi Tel Aviv hope that this time both sides will be able to enjoy the forward’s ability over time. Caspi will still play in the near future with a 21-minute limit in each game – a routine for any player who has recovered In the case of Caspi, the one who is actively involved in determining the share of the minutes is the insurance company that insures his contract.
According to sources in the basketball industry and the insurance world, this is an exceptional case that is not remembered in professional sports. Important to note: Caspi’s minute limit is solely related to recovery from a knee injury, and has nothing to do with the illness he recently suffered from.
Team coach Yannis Sapropoulos admitted in an interview with Nir Kaplan before the game against CSKA that the decision on the minutes of the game is made jointly by the medical staff and the insurance company. Caspi himself also confirmed the information in a brief interview at the Euroleague studio a few weeks ago. Maccabi paints a slightly different picture.
“Every player returning from injury has a recovery protocol,” explains a team source. “The medical team builds a gradual plan of returning to activity that includes a load table, fitness training, when the player returns to work with a ball, when training with touch, when full training and when for full play. The insurance is updated in this protocol and if there is a change in the rate of recovery, then it must be updated. ”
This procedure is valid only in the case of serious and unusual injuries, or those that may recur. However, in the case of John DiBartolommeo, for example, who suffered two particularly serious injuries in one year – the insurance company did not request and was not involved in the player’s recovery protocol, and this was handled exclusively by the club’s medical staff led by Dr. Guy Morag. Even in the case of Yuval Sussman, who tore the back thigh muscle and was returned by Maccabi to activity earlier than expected and then injured again at the same place – there was no insurance involvement in the way the player returned to activity.
The reason why Maccabi Tel Aviv chose a type of rare insurance policy is directly due to the height of Caspi’s contract, which is considered one of the highest earners, so in the case of Dibertolomeo and Sussman, who have much lower contracts, Maccabi did not consider insuring them with such a rare and expensive policy.
It is important to note, in more than one game this season, Caspi felt he could play more than the limit set upon returning from injury, and discussed this with the medical staff. After reviewing, it was decided to raise the limit to 7 minutes for 3 quarters and the insurance company was updated on the change.
Rare insurances, even on championship grants
The company with which Maccabi insures the players’ contracts is the international insurance giant “Lloyd’s of London”. It is one of the largest and leading insurance companies in the world, providing special policies that are usually not available in Israel. In the past, Maccabi Tel Aviv even insured the degree grants with the company: the club would pay a monthly premium to the insurance company, and in return the company itself pays the winning grants to players and professional staff. So it turned out that Maccabi actually paid less money thanks to the policy, but if not won the title Somehow – the money was paid to the insurance company anyway.
A legal source who is well acquainted with what is happening in the insurance field explains: “It is known and accepted that insurance companies are not willing to insure a certain type of injury, or a recurring injury. It is also customary for a player who is injured to be paid a higher premium. A player, or the minute share should be done with her full consent. Do not know of such a case in any professional sport. Probably that was Lloyd’s condition in this case. It could very well be that no insurance company was willing to insure the player with his injury sheet, and then came “Lloyds and agreed – but on the condition that the recovery protocol be done with her full consent. Therefore, although it is very, very unusual – it is not illegitimate.”
In other teams in the league the working method is completely different. The standard contracts of most Israeli players are insured with regular Social Security insurance, and large contracts with large groups are usually backed by private insurance. Foreign players are insured either in a Social Security foreign employee policy, or in private insurance. There are players who insure themselves with private insurance, regardless of the insurance that the team pays under the contract itself.
As far as is known, in no case is the team obliged to inform or get the insurance company’s approval for the protocol back to the activity of a player recovering from an injury, and certainly not to get approval for minutes of play. However, since Maccabi Tel Aviv has contracts of hundreds of thousands of dollars per player, as in any Euroleague team, then naturally the insurance will also be more expensive and complex.
Maccabi Tel Aviv responded“Omri Caspi has a clear protocol for returning from the injury to his knee. As part of the protocol, his minute limit is currently 21 minutes, as Omri noted at the press conference last Monday. The protocol and rehabilitation from the injury is the manager of Maccabi Tel Aviv’s medical team. “Updated only at the level of notification in the rehabilitation process. Not beyond that.”
“Therefore, the claim in the first paragraph, according to which: ‘Whoever is actively involved in determining the share of minutes is the insurance company that insures his contract’ is incorrect. An insurance company or any other foreign entity does not determine player minutes, but only the medical staff – in case of a returning player From injury, and of course the professional team. “
“It is important to note that the protocol was recently limited to up to 5 consecutive minutes in each section, and after Omri felt better and asked to be raised, the medical staff confirmed this and as mentioned the protocol now stands at a limit of up to 7 consecutive minutes in each section. We wish Omri a speedy and safe recovery. .