Internship role

As part of my role at the club I am to monitor the players through a variety of methods. As a key factor to physical performance hydration status is recorded for each player through osmolality testing each morning. This ensures the players are adequately hydrated in order to perform throughout the day while also teaching good habits in terms of self preparation for throughout their career.

Each player gives a urine sample each morning which is then tested for hydration status. A score of below 200 would represent over-hydration, a score of 200 - 600 represent hydrated, and over 600 representing dehydration.

This analysis at first didn't seem necessary but as the weeks have passed it has highlighted how many of the players were actually dehydrated before training and even match days. This will have a negative effect on their performance and such measures are not only made to target the ones who are dehydrated but educate them as many of them seemed to feel they were hydrated when in fact they wasn't. This can be attributed to poor knowledge on how much and what type of fluids to drink. This feedback enables the sports science staff to educate the players on how to properly hydrate and ensure everyone is following good habits.

As part of the monitoring process player wellbeing is also addressed through a self assessment questionnaire. This information is useful as it allows the coaches to make informed decisions on the training load, etc. for the day. Muscle soreness, area of soreness, sleep quality, fatigue, mood, total quality rest, recovery methods and rate of perceived exertion are all asked of the players.

I thought this was an effective way of monitoring the players as it addresses both physiological and psychological characteristics as the questions are based on the physiological aspects that could lead to poor performance but also as the players themselves complete the questionnaire it highlights how they are feeling psychologically. If the coach was to fill out the questionnaire based on the training undertaken it could give inaccurate readings as everyone would react differently to the training stimulus due to age, powers of recovery, and psychological aspects such as emotion, etc. One of the players seemed to report poor wellbeing scores in comparison to other players although participated in the same training. However this individual was from Australia and turned out to be homesick, which could of possibly gone un-noticed and acknowledged as poor ability where as this was a personal issue effecting performance.


Following monitoring the players travel to Gawthorpe training facility for football training. The players will first undertake a warm up instructed by the sports scientist in which I will observe and assist with. The warm ups are often based around certain attributes to the sport such as speed, agility, power, etc. so the players will not only be prepared for the session ahead but will also benefit from the training stimulus provided.

During all football training sessions Heart Rate is monitored with Polar heart rate monitors. Each players are individually assigned a monitor which is then uploaded onto a database using Team 2 Polar Software which allows the information to be saved and analysed to assess training intensity and duration. As conditioning is paramount to a footballers success such analysis is second to none.

The warm ups precede the training session and Conditioning drills are either incorporated during or after technical games, particularly during the preseason.

Using the heart rate monitors allows for sport specific conditioning drills to be formulated matching the heart rate intensity for a given duration. This would reflect over most sports and I feel is an extremely useful tool not only to assess the players fitness but to formulate training methods to specifically match the sport.

Conditioning being undertaken after technique corresponds with the fact that fatigue induces performance defects and therefore poor technique.