Sports science and everything it entails has become heightened in sport in the last decade.
Every team is looking for whatever edge they can get on their opponent when it comes to them 90 minutes on a match-day.
With all the technology which is now available to football teams, there is no excuse for not coming up with a game plan each and every week, meanwhile improving training for their own crop of players.
This is where Mike Atkinson steps in.
You may think that a team in the sixth tier of English, women's football would not be working on sports science but you would be wrong.
Since the start of the season, sport science graduate Mike has been working on strength & conditioning in training, as well as performance analysis on match-days.
From one-to-one's with players in training to data collection on computer databases, Mike covers all for Chester, bringing something new to the team for this season.
“I’ve been with the squad since September," said Mike. "Overall, in terms of sports science, it’s broken down into strength & conditioning which is the bread and butter of what I do really.
“I work with the team on Tuesday, Thursday (training day's) and on game day as well. Leading all the warm up's and cool down's.
However, this is just the basics of Mike's contribution to the team.
In September, he worked with manager Martin FItzsimons and the club to test the players on different compounds and find out what they needed to improve on in the upcoming season, as Mike explains.
“We tested all the players to find out where their weaknesses are and then planned appropriate programmes from there, that’s what I work on for Tuesday and Thursday.
“On a Tuesday I run the strength and condition fitness session with the girls, which is usually 20 minutes to half an hour of a circuit or something different working on a compound. We know what to work on through testing that we done when I first came into the team."
Gaffer Martin Fitzsimons has certainly seen a huge difference this season.
He believes the influence Mike has had in such a short space of time has really lifted his side in all areas.
“He’s been magic," exclaims Martin. " Since he’s come in to the club we’ve gone on to another level, in terms of fitness and everything we’re doing in and around it.
"He’s doing lots of testing at the minute, something that the women have never had before. It’s given them (the players) a baseline. "For the rest of this season, it’s a case of getting everything that we need to then push on for next season. It’s been really helpful to us."
Of course, what the players and fans want however is positive results on game day, and it's the work Mike does then which adds another dimension to sports science at the club.
“On the Sunday I do performance analysis, tracking the games," Mike explains. "Usually Martin will give me a task or something he wants me to look at.
"Using my laptop and the computer programme I devised at university, we track key player movements and later go back and analyse.
"We then use that to provide Martin with a game strategy or advice about the players."
For this to work, the relationship between Mike and Martin has to be a good one, as the two must work in tandem and constantly communicate ideas with each other.
"I usually spend the first 5-10 minutes of the session just talking to him (Martin) or I’ll message him privately.
"With the performance analysis stuff, he’ll let me know before the game what areas he would like me to track, so then I can modify the software to suit that. "For the strength and conditioning, I’ve taken the lead on it and he’s been really supportive allowing me to do what I want, giving up chunks of his own session to allow me to do it so I’ve been very grateful.
"He’s been open to ideas and we’ve bounced off each other".
As a result of all the hard work put in by the coaching staff on this, they have seen positive results.
"In terms of performances, we’ve been able to press with a bit more intensity, and the intensity in training has picked up from that," explains manager Martin Fitzsimons.
"It’s all going in a positive direction."
Even the most experienced player at the club, Sarah Gill, admits that she was sceptical at first, but she's been impressed with the benefits its brought to the team.
“At first I was apprehensive about taking up all that training time with it (strength and conditioning). But I think it has benefited them (the players) in games and made them stronger and sharper.
“The warm-up has changed and there’s loads of different things that he has brought in, and stuff in the background that the girls don’t know about.
"The game analysis that he’s done has been really helpful, he’s highlighting where we need to improve and I think it’s a benefit for the coaching staff and the players.”
It's not just the club and players who have benefited, the experience has been so valuable for Mike, who coming out of university has needed the real-life experience of testing his sports science expertise.
“I’ve loved it," Mike says smiling, "It’s been a challenge for me coming out of university.
"(Normally) I’d be working with four or five sports scientists, where we could each take an area.
“This has been a good learning curve for myself that I’ve had to sort of do everything. It’s also been good getting that real work-experience.
"it’s quite easy to know what tests to run and why you are testing for stuff, but players and athletes pose questions that you wouldn’t normally come up with."
The only way to describe it would be a match made in heaven.
Through talking to the people closest to the club, you expect that Martin and Mike's excellent relationship will continue to benefit each other, and most importantly, the team and results on the pitch.
Check out the full interview here:
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