Bowdon X1's Visit Manchester United
Bowdon's mens and ladies 1st XI squads had the opportunity to learn from the best recently when Manchester United invited the club to spend an afternoon at their Carrington training facility. The afternoon was hosted by Club Doctor, Steve McNally, and included a mix of presentations and discussions with key coaching, medical and training staff. Topics discussed included injury prevention and recovery, nutrition, training programmes and pre-season fitness and game preparation techniques. Goalkeeping coach at Manchester United, Eric Steele, gave insights into training techniques and particular overlaps between training a football and hockey goalkeeper, with Roger Newcombe making copious notes!
The day concluded with a tour of Manchester United’s training facility where United’s Chief Fitness Coach, Tony Strudwick, described the typical day in the life of a premiership football player through the use of pitch time, gym exercises and the extensive use of video as a coaching and development aid. The Bowdon players and coaches were made extremely welcome by the Manchester United staff which was remarkable given their season run-in yet testament to their support to their local community and hockey in particular. The players left in awe of the facilities and professionalism of the set-up but also took on many lessons learned for the season ahead.
