Vikings aiming to be in tip-top condition (From Runcorn and Widnes World)

Vikings aiming to be in tip-top condition

11:16am Tuesday 18th September 2012 in Vikings news

Last weekend, Vikings' Strength and Conditioning Coach Clive Brewer, along with his backroom staff, ventured to London for the UKSCA's 8th annual national conference. This venture was supported by one of the clubs performance partners, USN, who sponsored the clubs staff to attend.

The two day event which was held at the Royal Holloway College, was designed to offer recognised Strength and Conditioning coaches the chance to further develop their knowledge and understanding.

Despite the Vikings' Stobart Super League season concluding over two weeks ago, Clive and his team are keen to enhance their skills within the S&C field, in preparation for the clubs 2013 campaign. And, with the pre-event hype suggesting the London get-together was likely to be ‘The Best Ever', it was clear the group were set to learn from the best, and share their experiences by presenting research undertaken with the first team squad at the event.

With a wealth of experience under his belt, Brewer explains in further detail the importance of attending showcase events such as these.

"We have achieved a lot this year, but you never stop learning, and we need to get better - we are constantly evaluating what we do against the world's best practice, and looking at how we can get the best from our players and our environment.

"With so many people to learn from here, from 4 continents and a range of sports, the opportunities for us to speak to people and listen to what their experiences are is an invaluable one".

Whilst on their fact-finding mission, Clive and his colleagues were able to learn from the leading National Strength and Conditioning Coaches, many of whom worked in close partnership with members of the successful London 2012 Team GB squad.

Speaking of how he and his staff felt about this opportunity, the Vikings S&C coach revealed: "It was great that USN provided us with the opportunity to bring all the guys down to the conference.

"We were definitely the best represented organisation at the event, which shows the importance that the club puts on the performance department. The students who work with me have also worked really hard on presenting a research poster that analyses an important aspect of our programme, which is great experience for them."

The annual get-together (which saw Clive re-elected to the board of the UKSCA by his peers in the industry) also had a plethora of invited International experts on-site, who were more than willing to answer questions and provide practical advice to those in attendance.

Such an experience was priceless, according to Clive: "We have heard how the physical conditioning and monitoring was undertaken for Olympic medallists in Hockey, Track and Field and Taekwondo, looked at rehabilitation strategies led by a specialist at the Olympic medical institute and seen innovative practices from Judo.

"With over 400 coaches and visiting experts from overseas, the chance to sit down and discuss practice in an informal as well as formal environment is invaluable.

" The challenge is now to use this learning, and the contacts that we have made, to enhance the training that we do next year.

"As Denis has emphasised, finishing the game at Warrington started next season for us, and we are now wholly focused on that challenge."