Not that there was much ‘training’ going on – with the squad being edged in gently by the medical staff armed with clipboards, laptops and stopwatches.
read more
read more
”Time to test ourselves in the Championship’ – Wigan Athletic CEO
About to club doctor, Jonathan Tobin, for a unique insight into what went on behind closed doors.
sign up to our daily newsletter
Tom Naylor is put through his paces at Christopher Park, watched by Charlie Wyke
“It’s basically checking body fat, undergoing routine screening, a session with the physios looking at their range of movements and their joints – an examination, in essence – and then into the gym for a strength test and jump scores,” he explained.
“What we’ll be doing is getting baseline data which we’ll use for the season ahead.
“The lads will go into the gym and do a warm up and then a whole load of testing – jump, squatting, jump up vertically, left leg, right leg, hamstring strength, quad strength.
“Then it’s screening tests, the physios will get them on the bed and look at what their ranges are, looking at their joints, and their backs.
“All that provides is a baseline so when we get our inevitable injuries down the line, we know what the numbers should be.
“The thing is that everyone is different, so if you don’t have that initial data, it’s hard to know what you’re trying to get back to.
“We’ll compare that data at various stages, every six weeks, to measure progress and change, to try to prevent injuries.
“The coaches won’t get involved on the first day, this is just for the medical staff.
“There’ll be no outdoor running, all of that starts on day two, and the really hard work will start in Spain next week.”
If that all sounds very technical, it’s a long way from when Dr Tobin started his career in football.
“This is my 20th pre-season, and looking back to the first one, players used to come back in all sorts of shapes and sizes…even some with pot bellies,” he smiled.
“I can promise you none of our players will have come back in that state!
“They all get an off-season, where they’ll let their hair down and themselves go for a couple of weeks.
“But then they’ll all get back to work…there won’t be a single one of them who hasn’t been working off their own back.
“You just can’t afford to come back into pre-season any more having not done anything.
“It’s actually surprising how fit they are when they come back after being away.
“When we do their testing now, they won’t be far off what they’ll be at their peak further down the line.
“You compare that with 20 years ago, and they’d all be miles off it.
“There’s just no hiding place in football any more.
“But you’ve got some players who are just so naturally fit, like James McClean or Max Power, you just can’t afford not to do the work.
“You’d look like you’re flagging right from day one, and everyone wants to impress the management right from the off.”
As well as providing a ‘baseline’ of each player’s individual levels, Dr Tobin says it also plays a crucial part in the prevention of injuries over the next 12 months.
“Part of the reason we do this is to implement what we call prehabilitation,” he revealed.
“And we’re finally getting back to where we were prior to administration.
“Admin seems to have gone from a lot of people’s memories, and that’s a good thing in many ways.
“But in a lot of ways we’re also still recovering from the damage that was done.
“Every player should have their own individual program of what they should be doing, based on their days from this testing.
“For example, one player who has a bit of an ankle problem, his program may focus more on that.
“You may have another player, who maybe has a bit of a back niggle, and we’ll try to focus his prehab on there.
“We’ll create the individualization of the program based on what we find today, and what we feel may turn out to be issues down the line.
“Years ago it was all about making massive gains, but now it’s more about eking out small percentages that can make a big difference.
“This is what it’s like at Championship level, and this is what we’ll be competing against.
“But this is exactly what we needed in terms of getting back up to where we were pre-administration.
“This time last year we only had a handful of players to do the testing on, and we never really got that back because of Covid as well.
“It’s been so nice to come back in today and have a really structured programme, which we’ve been planning for the last six weeks.
“And the atmosphere around the place is great…it’s like the first day of school…having all had a fantastic school year last time, with great GCSE results!”
The players and staff will only be at Christopher Park for a couple of days, before jetting out to Spain for a warm-weather training camp on Saturday.
On their return to the UK, it’ll be straight back into the pre-season fixtures, with a number of local games scheduled.
Latics open up on Tuesday, July 5 at Bamber Bridge (7.30pm).
Seven days later, Latics travel to Hyde United (7pm), before facing Oldham at Boundary Park on Saturday, July 16 (1pm).
Then, on Tuesday, July 19, Latics play Accrington Stanley at the Wham Stadium (7pm), ahead of the Championship opener against Preston on July 30.
