I had the pleasure of spending the 17th and 18th of February at Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club training ground thanks to Stephen Hunt.
It was an opportunity to get an in-depth look at behind the scenes operation of a premier league club in the modern era. Wolves Sir Jack Hayward training is in the top five training grounds in the premiership in terms of facilities and expert staff.
-3 strength and conditioning coaches
-3 three physiotherapists
-2 sports scientists
-1 sports physiologist
-1 yoga teacher,
-2 masseuses.
The facilities were an equal impressive match.
-VO2 max testing Treadmill,
-Alter G anti gravity running machine allows players coming back from lower limb injuries to run at 10%, 20% 30% of their bodyweight or desired level of impact.
-Current pool which is basically a large tub with current system built in so you can swim or jog against the flow of water ideal for rehab.
The list goes on.
Luckily for me and not so lucky for Stephen, he was injured, so I got to act as his shadow as he went through his daily regiment.
He clocked in at 9.30 where physiotherapist Alan Peach wrote on the white board his routine for the day.
First he was assessed on his injury and received ice and massage treatment, then off to the gym for foam rolling then, upper body weights and some bodyweight step-ups and lower body stability exercises.
.Next off to the yoga teacher upstairs for 30 minutes of yoga and 15 minutes of hands on flexibility
.He went back into the physio room after yoga for more treatment which included electro pads and massage.
Lunch was next in the canteen, no carbohydrates for Hunty as he wasn’t expending much energy in comparison to when he is fully fit.
After lunch it was back to the physio for a final look and then finished by 2.30.
He was hoping to do some running on the Alter-G but as he was suffering from a stomach bug he was sent home.
I also spent some of Thursday morning with John Iga the clubs sports physiologists.
He was performing the monthly body fat reading and measurements with the academy players.
Showing me their data base in terms of orthopaedic screens, functional assessments, on all the players on the clubs books.
Every month they retest body fat and re measure muscle size and look at the players movement screen.
Every 3 months there’s a full NCT of the body.
I spent Friday morning alongside X-Villa and England International Tony Daly the clubs Head Strength and conditioning coach.
He went through some fitness testing with Micheal Kighty who was making his way back from a patella tendon problem. He performed a T-shuttle run test then rested 5 minutes and performed a seven sprint repeatability test over 30meters.He then had a 3 hour break before they tested his V02 max.
We then went upstairs to his office which overlooks the training pitches where he flipped open his laptop and he was able to view the current heart rate of every first team player out training that morning. It showed the percentage of their maximum heart rate that they were working at which basically gives an indication if anyone is slacking or else if their heart rate is abnormally high due to illness, overtraining or over partying.
The majority of the staff is in at seven am to train and Big Mick himself starts the day with a 60minute mountain bike ride and bit weights when he reaches the training ground.
They set a great example for the players and the academy boys coming through the ranks.
I was very fortunate to get an insight into the goings on at the club and would like to thank Stephen and all the staff at the Sir Jack Hayward Training Ground who were very welcoming and patient answering my questions and allowing me to get an insight into their daily work schedule.
