Amongst all the news today... we missed an important signing (1 Viewer)

AFCCOVENTRY · Jun 28, 2012

A FULL TIME FITNESS COACH!

Thorn is understood to be close to appointing a new physio following Michael McBride’s switch to Bristol City while former intern Sam Heathcote has taken up the full-time post of fitness coach after filling in on a temporary basis last season.

Read More http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/co...ews/2012/06/28/92746-31278873/?#ixzz1z68L3j6f

ccfcway · Jun 28, 2012

saw that, and wondered why, if he had been filling in last season, why did we all think we didnt have a fitness coach and blame all of the last minute goals and tired 2nd halfs on this

AFCCOVENTRY · Jun 28, 2012

He was here part-time as he was working at Leicester Tigers as well...

Sam Heathcote
Fitness Coach at Coventry City Football Club
Leicester, Leicestershire, United Kingdom Sports
Current
1st Team Fitness Coach at Coventry City Football Club
EPDG Strength and Conditioning Coach at Leicester Tigers
Past
Strength and Conditioning Intern at Sheffield United PLC
Strength and Conditioning Intern at Castleford Tigers RLFC
Training Scholarship at Michael Johnson Performance Center
Education
Sheffield Hallam University
Leeds Metropolitan University
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Nick · Jun 28, 2012

We all knew he was here last season anyway?

We'll_live_and_die · Jun 28, 2012

No we didn't Nick. You might've done but I didn't and I'm sure many others didn't.

torchomatic · Jun 28, 2012

I didnt eirher.

torchomatic · Jun 28, 2012

Sorry, sausage fingers on my phone.

ccfcway · Jun 28, 2012

torchomatic said:
I didnt eirher.

http://www.skybluestalk.co.uk/threa...ll-time-fitness-coach?highlight=fitness+coach

Nick · Jun 28, 2012

It was posted up in a thread that he was there along with the matchday squad on the teamsheet.

http://www.skybluestalk.co.uk/threads/16163-Bare-bones!/page2?highlight=heathcote - Thats One
http://www.skybluestalk.co.uk/threads/14558-Lack-of-comparative-fitness - Another

Still, blame us not having a fitness coach for the last minute goals

Sick Boy · Jun 28, 2012

I wonder what new excuses certain people will trot out, I thought that not having a fitness coach last season was to blame for those last minute goals and was nothing to do with 'Thorny'?

crowsnest · Jun 28, 2012

We had 2 part time fitness coaches.

1 was on the bench for each match.

McBride has left because he works with the Scotland international team and as we are now in league 1 we play on international fixture dates. So he needed to move to a Premiership or Championship team.

covcity4life · Jun 28, 2012

Sick Boy said:
I wonder what new excuses certain people will trot out, I thought that not having a fitness coach last season was to blame for those last minute goals and was nothing to do with 'Thorny'?

they will find something to further embarass themselves.

Brighton Sky Blue · Jun 28, 2012

The fitness coach wasn't full time, that's the point.

Nick · Jun 28, 2012

Brighton Sky Blue said:
The fitness coach wasn't full time, that's the point.

It started off as the excuse was no fitness coach, then it was that they were only part time.

Do they really do fitness / conditioning every day for the whole day?

Brighton Sky Blue · Jun 28, 2012

I'm not making excuses for it Nick, but do you think Thorn and Harrison knew the slightest thing about proper conditioning coaching?

Nick · Jun 28, 2012

Brighton Sky Blue said:
I'm not making excuses for it Nick, but do you think Thorn and Harrison knew the slightest thing about proper conditioning coaching?

They had a fitness coach, be it part time. I am pretty sure he had a phone if they needed to know anything when he wasn't there.

i am pretty sure pro footballers also know a bit about fitness and conditioning.

SkyBlueScottie · Jun 28, 2012

ultimatey it depends on the timing, did we have a fitness coach during pre season as this would be the most beneficial time to have one, plus the fitness coach needs to be a good at his job.... So yes we could have had 15 fitness coaches last season, however if they were all rubbish....

Mary_Mungo_Midge · Jun 28, 2012

Nick said:
It started off as the excuse was no fitness coach, then it was that they were only part time.

Do they really do fitness / conditioning every day for the whole day?

As I posted at the time, Nick:

I have posted a couple of features about Northampton Town's full-time fitness coach. Ours works with us, Leicester Tigers and Loughborough University. The demands and muscle usage of all three will be very different; and there's no way he can build familiarity with such a number of athletes reliant upon his experience; compared with someone who's sole experience and remit is a squad of 20 football players

For a fitness coach to even do a rugby team is really, really hard, as each of the players have different demands; the prop will need different conditioning to the flankers, who in turn will need something very, very different to the backs. Just one rugby team is hard.

To do the players at Leicester Tigers, plus our squad, and the runners at Loughborough University - who again need something entirely different - would mean he would be working with some 100 athletes, each of whom would want and expect different things of him.

That is an absolute world away from a full-time coach, concentrating on one sport

Mary_Mungo_Midge · Jun 28, 2012

Nick said:
They had a fitness coach, be it part time. I am pretty sure he had a phone if they needed to know anything when he wasn't there.

i am pretty sure pro footballers also know a bit about fitness and conditioning.

Given the stats posted previously about the age of much of our squad, it's either very naive or disingenuous in the extreme to insinuate the player himself should be able to raise his level of fitness to a level comparable with our peers with full-time professional expert

Nick · Jun 28, 2012

Of course a full time one would be better as they would get to know the individual players more but I note that he worked at Sheffield United also so he would have experience.

Would he have not sat down with each player and done a fitness plan for them to work to depending on their body and given them targets?

thegameaintstraight · Jun 28, 2012

Nick said:
They had a fitness coach, be it part time. I am pretty sure he had a phone if they needed to know anything when he wasn't there.

i am pretty sure pro footballers also know a bit about fitness and conditioning.

You thinking about Freddie there?

Mary_Mungo_Midge · Jun 28, 2012

Probably so. But think about the numbers. If he's taking care of a hundred athletes as compared to, say, 25; he's only got a quarter of the time to revist where they are at any given point. And think about how young many of our players were. If anything, they needed more nurturing and guidance, not way, way less

SkyBlue_Bear83 · Jun 28, 2012

I think the last minute goals were a mental problem with the squad as well as, as our players and Thorn became more experienced we conceded not as many late costly goals in the last third of the season.

Nick · Jun 28, 2012

Mary_Mungo_Midge said:
Given the stats posted previously about the age of much of our squad, it's either very naive or disingenuous in the extreme to insinuate the player himself should be able to raise his level of fitness to a level comparable with our peers with full-time professional expert

I'm no way saying that a youth team player should be an expert. I would have thought each player would have been given fitness plans, targets and things to work towards / do which they could get on with and would have been brought up knowing what they should be doing.

Obviously if we had a full time one it would have been better, I bet Man Utd etc have a team of them in the background but I was just pointing out we did have one and it was better than nothing.

It may well have been lack of fitness that caused the late goals to come in, it also may have been dodgy tactical decisions or mental strength. Didn't Thorn demand that every player was at their fittest last season though?

Mary_Mungo_Midge · Jun 28, 2012

Nick said:
Didn't Thorn demand that every player was at their fittest last season though?

Well of course he did. But there's no way he can devise a programme and ensure it's executed to the letter. And that's not an expectation of many other managers either - again, stats have been offered on here previously with regards all other teams (bar 1 I recall) in the championship having a full time fitness coach. Almost every other chairman in the league saw the wisdom in it.

Or are you saying that you expected Thorn to come in as a rookie manager, survive on one of the lowest wage bills in the league, and do the role of a fitness coach and still keep us up?

SkyBlue_Bear83 · Jun 28, 2012

Mary_Mungo_Midge said:
Well of course he did. But there's no way he can devise a programme and ensure it's executed to the letter. And that's not an expectation of many other managers either - again, stats have been offered on here previously with regards all other teams (bar 1 I recall) in the championship having a full time fitness coach. Almost every other chairman in the league saw the wisdom in it.

Or are you saying that you expected Thorn to come in as a rookie manager, survive on one of the lowest wage bills in the league, and do the role of a fitness coach and still keep us up?

And scouting role

Brighton Sky Blue · Jun 28, 2012

Nick said:
I'm no way saying that a youth team player should be an expert. I would have thought each player would have been given fitness plans, targets and things to work towards / do which they could get on with and would have been brought up knowing what they should be doing.

Obviously if we had a full time one it would have been better, I bet Man Utd etc have a team of them in the background but I was just pointing out we did have one and it was better than nothing.

It may well have been lack of fitness that caused the late goals to come in, it also may have been dodgy tactical decisions or mental strength. Didn't Thorn demand that every player was at their fittest last season though?

I'm sure he'd have wanted everyone in peak condition but that doesn't mean he's the best person to go about ensuring it. If specialist fitness coaches are an irrelevance they wouldn't be so widely sought.

Amongst all the news today... we missed an important signing (1 Viewer)

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