Coventry University welcomes Birmingham City Women FC for midseason strength testing

The squad of 24 players visited the university’s Alison Gingell building, alongside medical and performance staff from the club, to use the university’s state-of-the-art equipment.

They made use of the sport science facilities, including the isokinetic dynamometers (IKDs) which evaluate muscles for any weaknesses or imbalances. Muscle strength deficits may be an injury risk for the athletes, so the testing may spot any issues and allow the staff to implement preventative measures.

Students from the Sport and Exercise Therapy and Sports and Exercise Science courses helped lead the session to gain experience using industry-standard technology in a real-world situation. By using the equipment on the footballers, it allowed students to apply knowledge and skills from their course in a professional environment.

Andy Frampton, Assistant Professor and Associate Course Director for Sports and Exercise Therapy:

“We’re very fortunate at Coventry University to have two dynamometers which means we can support squad-based testing like this. We’re proud of our biomechanics setup here at the university and it means we can offer a robust profiling and testing service to sports teams and organisations. Both the men’s and the women’s teams have come to the university to do some of their testing and the relationship has grown over the past few years.

“Students were given the opportunity to support this testing, allowing them to get hands-on experience with real-life athletes in an applied setting. Under supervision we let them take control of what’s going on, so they get to experience what it’s really like to work in the industry while also developing their professionalism and skills before they go out into the sports industry and to work.”

Coventry University is now one of the largest in the UK and has a global network with 50,000 learners. Coventry University works with more than 40 different countries and has partnerships with 150 higher education providers worldwide. Coventry University Group now also delivers access to services and partnerships through bases in London, Scarborough, Belgium, Poland, Egypt, Dubai, Singapore and Africa. In September 2023 a new campus in China opened in cooperation with the Communication University of China.

Birmingham City club captain Louise Quinn:

“We’ve done IKD testing which can test the strengths of your quads and your hamstrings on both legs, and gives you a general gist of the strength of them. It also helps to say if they’re in balance as well – if maybe one leg is stronger than the other. This all goes into then adapting your gym work and what you do with your club to make sure that your body’s in tip top shape. It’s tough but it’s short and sweet and they guide you through it very fast. So, it’s a bit of a push in terms of pain, but it’s all helpful.”