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Leeds Met strengthens partnership with Bradford City Football Club
09/11/05
Leeds Met is delivering sport science support to Bradford City Football Club through the partnership developed between the university and the club.
Graham Turner, Senior Lecturer in the Carnegie Faculty of Sport
and Education and former Director of the UK Strength and Conditioning
Association, has been working with the club’s Youth Development
Manager Jonathan Pepper to optimise the physical condition of
Bradford City’s players of the future.
The collaboration began in April this year when the new intake of school leavers, prior to beginning pre-season training in June, participated in a pre-habilitation training programme to prepare them for full-time professional training. This was followed in May by a visit to Headingley Campus, along with the current youth side, to participate in an end-of-season fitness assessment, resulting in an individually prescribed Off-Season Interval Training Programme. Consultancy also provided guidance for periodisation of Pre-Season Training, encouraging continuous adaptations to progressively more demanding training stimuli.
This culminated in match practice in Holland during the pre-competitive phase where the team participated in the internationally acclaimed Ado Den Haag Pro Youth Tournament in Holland. Graham was invited to travel with the squad and implemented strategies to promote rest and recovery between games.
This week the team are preparing for the first round of the
FA Youth Cup on the back of a successful period in the league
comprising of an unbeaten run stretching back for nine consecutive
games and resulting in nine consecutive victories. The team will
take on Dunston in the 1st Round of the FA Youth Cup, the most
prestigious competition in youth football, at the Bradford and
Bingley Stadium on Wed 9 November, kick off at 7.45pm.
