September 2025

Inside Arsenal's Return to Play Process

For coaches, the toughest calls often come during rehab: is this player ready for more, or are we pushing too soon?

Apex 2.0 plays a major role in the process for Tom Allen and his performance staff.

Individualised Rehab Targets

At Arsenal, return-to-play is built around player-specific benchmarks. A winger hitting 35.5 km/h pre-injury won’t follow the same plan as a centre-back - individualised thresholds ensure each player is exposed to the right speeds at the right time.

Live Data Matters

Pushing for league titles leaves very little room for error, meaning the cost of error can be huge. Apex 2.0 ensures live metrics perfectly match post-session reports. Coaches know exactly what players have hit - no inconsistencies, no doubts - which builds trust in both the process and the coach.

This enables coaches to make confident on-pitch decisions to ensure they hit the right numbers for a given session.

One-to-One with Sonra Watch

For individual rehab, the Sonra Watch puts live speeds and sprint data on the wrist, letting coaches track key outputs instantly without breaking session flow. It keeps rehab player-centred, while still providing the numbers that matter.

Arsenal’s approach is a reminder that in return-to-play, accuracy is everything.

💡Read the full article here.

Training Evolution in Youth Players: What EPL Academies Reveal

A comprehensive season-long tracking of U12–U18 EPL academy players found that weekly training volume and high-speed running increase significantly with age.

• U12–U14 groups averaged around 330–340 minutes and ~20 km per week, while U15–U18 players hit 400–430 minutes and ~26 km per week
• The same jump applies to high-speed activities: U12–U14 squads reached just 6–21 m of sprints per week, compared to 49–123 m in U15–U18 groups

What this means for coaches: Periodisation strategies must evolve alongside player development.

Younger athletes require lower volumes, while older youth players approach workloads similar to adults - without yet matching peak intensity. Adjusting training loads accordingly is crucial to safeguard performance and minimise injury risk.

🔗Read the full study here

Why Liverpool have added this drill to their speed training...

If you caught footage of Liverpool players working through curved sprint drills with a rotated torso, you might have wondered: why train that way? It looks a little unconventional - but the research clears it up.

• 86% of sprints in a Premier League match are curved
• 62% of sprints involve torso rotation (as players scan for space, opponents, and passing options)

These insights come from Caldbeck & Dos Santos (2022), and they highlight an important truth: sprinting in football isn’t straight-line speed, it’s context-driven movement. Top clubs like Liverpool are leaders in bridging this gap - taking academic findings, understanding what players are really doing in games, and building training sessions to reflect those demands.

At Melwood, Liverpool’s fitness staff also layer in live load monitoring using STATSports’ fixed infrastructure. With no setup required, data flows directly from players’ GPS units to the coaches’ iPads. Individualised thresholds then provide a real-time RAG (Red, Amber, Green) system, giving instant clarity on whether a player is hitting the right intensities - or if adjustments are needed.

It’s a perfect example of how research, practice, and technology converge to optimise performance.

Building the Fastest Team in the Nation

From the outset, Monmouth set out to become the Fastest Team in the Nation. Director of Sports Science Gio Grassi built a programme where speed is the culture - with multiple players now surpassing 23 mph and 13 hitting elite sprint velocities.

Data Informed Development

Hawks' coaches monitor loads across the season and track position-specific demands. Absolute and relative metrics ensure every athlete - from linemen to receivers - is challenged appropriately, without risking overload.

Precision Through Profiling

With Force-Velocity Profiling in Sonra, staff can identify whether a player is more “force-deficient” or “velocity-deficient” - tailoring training to unlock maximum speed potential.

👉 Read the full article on Monmouth Football’s speed programme.

Collision Demands in NCAA Football

Research tracking 12 NCAA football games showed just how physically demanding the trenches are: Defensive Linemen averaged 22 collisions per game, with peak collision loads reaching 399.69.

These numbers underline the importance of accurate collision monitoring - not all collisions are made equal.

With validated methodologies first tested in elite rugby, microtechnology now gives coaches in American football a reliable way to capture not just the number of hits, but the true load of each collision.

For coaches, that means better decisions around training load, recovery, and contact exposure - ensuring players are prepared for the realities of the game, without tipping into unnecessary risk.

🔗Read the research here.