Stoke City players kicked off their pre-season training camp with a day of physical checks and testing at St. George’s Park.
Mark Hughes’ squad were put through their paces in the high performance lab while the national football centre’s team of sports scientists gathered data that will set the Potters’ fitness benchmarks for the rest of the season.
Hughes said: “We did checks today and functional work to get baselines on the guys to see where they are at.
“We did checks at the end of the season so we know where the guys should be and so we are looking to see what condition they are in at this moment.”
Stoke City's Thomas Sorensen in St. George's Park's high performance lab
Hughes explained that St. George’s Park’s array of high performance technology combined with the highly-skilled personnel working on site meant that it was perfect setting with which to start their pre-season campaign.
He added: “It’s a great facility, everything we need is on site and there’s the expertise here that we needed, so it lends itself to a professional operation very well.
“We could do a lot of the work back at our training ground but there are some elements of it that we would have had to bring in, so we find that everything we need is already here.
“The environment you bring the players into makes them understand it is a serious day in our working calendar. I think it sets the right tone.”
Stoke City's Jonathan Walters in St. George's Park's high performance lab
With Romanian Champions Steaua Bucharest and Championship side Norwich City having already used the £105 million facility to kick-start their pre-season preparations, as well as the news of FC Barcelona's imminent arrival, Hughes believes the reputation of the centre in footballing circles is growing.
The Welshman said: "I have read about the teams that are likely to come here in the future so you can see the word is getting out.
"Obviously the football grapevine is very strong and when there is a facility that people can use where everything is on site, the reputation grows."
