FA Fitness Trainers Award – Lilleshall

Thanks to Gary Phillips I was able to spend a whole day with the delegates attending the Fitness Trainers Award at Lilleshall. They displayed tremendous fortitude in having to listen to me for the whole day as we explored the background and rationale behind athletic development for the football player. The practical work undertaken gave them a snapshot of screening and intervention and from their questions and observations it was clear that there is plenty of work to do.

It is a difficult environment for the fitness / athletic development specialist as they negotiate for time to actually get their job done properly in a skill centred sport. For some of them the ideas on athletic development were very new indeed but for others you could sense the acceptance of the process and their willingness to ‘grasp the nettle’. The Football Association is in a prime position to create a worthwhile process of athletic development and there can be no doubt that they have in their midst a generation of practitioners hungry for change and equipped to make a very significant contribution should this potential process be instigated.

I am looking forward to working with the FA’s Mike Healy and his national team of Physiotherapists later in the year. The coordination of Sports Medicine and Athletic Development is a crucial process and Mike informs me that this national crew is ready to see the overview of athletic development and the contribution they can make.