This excerpt is taken from an article published by The Athletic, written by Sarah Shepherd. To read the full article, please click the link at the bottom of this shortened version.
It’s July 2023 and Instagram is preoccupied with images of a topless Jordan Henderson hitting a punchbag. Muscles bulging and soaked in sweat, his face is etched in a grimace of extreme exertion. The caption reads: “Summer holiday camp.”
At the time, it was assumed that the then-club captain was sending a message to Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp that he was fit and ready to fight for his place; World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister and Hungary midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai were added to the club’s midfield ranks that summer.
Of course, it didn’t quite play out like that. Henderson ended up signing for Saudi Pro League side Al Ettifaq later that month, at which point his summer fitness work became a message about still being in peak condition as he headed to a lower level of competition.
Although Henderson’s extracurricular training perhaps drew more attention than that of his peers, the former Liverpool man is far from alone in using the off-season to make physical improvements. During summer, it’s hard to avoid social media posts of players sweating it out in Dubai, Spain or Portugal with private trainers, communicating to fans and industry that they’re prepping hard for the new season.
It seems a win-win for clubs and players: all parties want the players to be fit and ready to go when they get to pre-season training. Less understandable, however, is players in top-flight leagues in England, Spain and Germany arranging privately funded fitness programmes during the season. Considering the expertise and facilities available to them at their clubs, why do they feel it’s necessary? And are clubs OK with them going off-piste?
Dr Ben Rosenblatt spent seven years as lead men’s physical performance coach at the Football Association (FA) between 2016 and 2023 before setting up 292 Performance, a company that provides “high performers” with their own support team, including physical coaches, nutritionists, psychologists and data scientists. About 50 per cent of their business comes from elite footballers in the Bundesliga, Serie A, Premier League, Scottish Premier League and Championship. Among those they have worked with are Raheem Sterling and Danny Ings.
One of the current Premier League players Rosenblatt works with, who has more than 200 appearances and 50 goals (292 Performance don’t share names or images of players they work with unless given express consent for a specific purpose), says it was as he got further into his career that he realised he needed to “do things differently” if he was going to keep playing at the top level for as long as possible.
“The physical demands of football catch up with you, especially when you’ve had a few injuries along the way. I knew I needed to look after my body better, manage my training. That’s when I decided to work with Ben and the 292 team.
Rosenblatt set up the company after noticing that clubs and national governing bodies (NGBs) were getting frustrated at the lack of control and quality assurance when players sought external help.
“I also felt that a lot of it was done to self-promote the trainer rather than support the needs of the players,” he tells The Athletic. “I wanted to set up a company that genuinely supports the players over the long term and did that by working really closely with all the people who are involved in their development, be that their agents, management teams, clubs, NGBs, and taking more of a holistic perspective around their long-term development.”
Given that most of 292’s business involves long-term support, their work with players continues throughout the season. But what kind of work can really be done with a player mid-season when they’re playing so many games?
“In reality,” he says, “that might be true for Jude Bellingham or Declan Rice, maybe 10 or 15 players, but the rest of them are fighting to get in the team or the starting line-up. Some of them are only playing once a week. Some of them have been completely ditched out; they have high-asset value for the club but not for the manager, or they will be looking to try and get a move because they’re out of favour.
“Or some are playing very consistently but don’t do any physical preparation because of the manager’s methodology in between fixtures. They want to stay resilient and maintain themselves because that’s what they’re used to doing. But it’s a case-by-case basis. If someone is out there playing 90 minutes two or three times a week then there’s not much you can add other than support them with their recovery.”
“I wanted to set up a company that genuinely supports the players over the long term and did that by working really closely with all the people who are involved in their development, be that their agents, management teams, clubs, NGBs, and taking more of a holistic perspective around their long-term development.”
Once engaged, 292 hold regular meetings with players’ clubs to share insights and information, at least once a month, and avoid overstepping their role. “We will capture and collect their data, but we’ll never tell a player that they have to take a rest tomorrow or that they need to do more,” says Rosenblatt. “It’s the club’s responsibility to prepare them for the next fixture and our responsibility to look after them over the longer term.”
His determination to work in harmony with clubs means he turns down business where players have asked to work with 292 without any communication with the club. “If there isn’t any, that’s when things tend to break down. It’s not going to end well for anybody — especially not the player.”
Rosenblatt’s aim is to “set an industry standard” for this private offering to elite athletes, but he admits they cannot insure themselves to the same level as a Premier League club. “That requires a hell of a lot of money coming in,” he says, explaining that they mitigate their risk by the way they work; signing contracts with athletes, working in collaboration with everyone and keeping detailed records.
“So there should never really be a situation where an athlete or team says, ‘You’re liable for X, Y and Z’. We have detailed records of everything that’s gone on and why, every decision that’s been made and how it’s been communicated with everybody.”
Why would a player feel the need to “do things differently” from how they are being done inside their club? Is there an element of distrust or at the very least a lack of belief in the staff at the clubs?
For Rosenblatt, one of the key drivers is players searching for consistency and stability in an industry where there is very little of either.
“A player might have a 10-to-20-year career, and they might see how many managers, coaches and fitness staff across that period? But they have a sense of the kind of stuff that works for them so they want some consistency around that. They’re thinking about themselves as an individual and how to maximise themselves for the club.
“Equally, sometimes there is a breakdown of trust or personality clashes like there are in all walks of life, and that stimulates players to look elsewhere.”
For the full article written by Sarah Shephard, please click here
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