Taper is a planned drop in training load before an event so the body arrives fresh, not a week of extra table work.
In 📝Sports Therapy it is event-timed 📝Load Management, distinct from a 📝Deload week that is not tied to a race or game. Cutting volume while keeping a little intensity is common; filling the taper with deep work often leaves the person heavy. A taper does not guarantee a personal best, freshness, or injury prevention. Acute pain in taper week still follows the 📝Referral Rule.
Clients feel less cooked, not detrained. Anxiety that fitness is vanishing is the usual miss.