Jess Fay plays a pivotal role in ensuring Wolves’ youngsters are at their peak physical condition heading into the new season and are able to maintain those levels throughout the campaign.
The under-21s sport scientist has been at Wolves for six years having first started with the under-13s and 14s lower down the academy following her transition from Leicester City’s academy. Fay has since progressed through her own ranks at Compton, working with the 15s, 16s, under-18s and taking on the under-21s role this summer where she works on getting the players prepared and into their best physical condition so that they can perform on the pitch.
Fay says the focus this pre-season is really pushing the players and stretching their boundaries so that when they do go out on loan or progress into the first-team, they’re able to cope physically with the demands placed on them.
Speaking at the end of the academy’s pre-season training camp in Bratislava, Fay has discussed a number of topics including the importance of going away for the week, what she looks for from the players and her typical day at work and duties.
On being away for the week
“It’s really important. It helps the players to get to know each other a lot more. They’re spending every day with each other, they’re training together, getting through hard times together and it allows us to get a lot of sessions in throughout the day.
“We have access to the gym and it’s just nice to get away to a different environment. It’s a change of scenery for the guys where they know they’re going away and training to perform and get better.”
On what she looks for from the players
“I just want them to work really hard and be open-minded to what we’re asking them to do. We want them to keep going when it is difficult.
“We’ll support them physically so if they need stuff, we’re always there to help them and develop their mindset to get better and better.
“When we go back to the training ground, we want them to be in a better position to what they were before.”
On her typical day at work
“A typical day would look like me putting the wellness form into the groups in the morning, so checking how the players slept, if they’ve got any soreness from the previous training session, if they’ve got any stress. We then pass this onto the physios and other members of staff.
“We have a meeting in the morning where we discuss each player to find out how they’re doing, if there are any issues and what their day looks like.
“From there, we go into a coaches meeting where we plan the day, go through the session, discuss the loading and what we’re looking to get out of the session physically. We work together to make sure that we’re aligned in what we’re looking for on the football pitch as well as what our physical targets are.
“We may have a gym session which will be activation before the session, so getting the muscles that are going to be used within the session working. We use similar movement patterns to what are going to be used in the session.
“We’d also have the warm-up prior to the session where we look at a physical focus, so targeting something like speed, agility, change of direction. We then assist the coaches with the load throughout the session to make sure the players are working at the intensity that we need them to.
“After that, there might be a gym session where we’re looking at lower body strength or power.”
On building relationships with the players
“The relationship has to be quite good with the players just because you’re asking a lot of them. We’re asking them to push themselves further than they potentially have been before physically, so getting to know them is really important.
“It’s important to know where their limits are, if they’ve had any potential issues previously. It helps us tailor the programme specifically to them.
“We look at their physical testing values as well to make it specific to their strengths and weaknesses, whether that be in the gym or on the pitch.”
On how tough the week has been
“It’s been very demanding, it’s been a very tough week for the guys. We’ve pushed them more than they’ve probably been pushed before.
“We’ve had three training sessions on some days, gym sessions, team building exercises where we’re psychologically testing them.
“It’s been really tough for the guys but they’ve took it on board, really embraced it and worked hard.”
On communication between staff
“We’re communicating all the time. We all get on really well so it’s easy to have little conversations and formal meetings to make sure the information is passed on to the appropriate staff which gives them the best chance to help the players.”
On her progression at the club
“Starting with the younger age groups and progressing all the way through those age groups in between definitely shows there’s opportunity.
“To have been able to do that has been great. I’ve known a lot of the players since they were young so it’s really nice to follow their pathway and see them develop, progress and hopefully go further into the first-team as well.”
