The ITFC and The Hub Collaboration

Ex Premiership Footballer – Jason Dozzell

Features and News by Nino Severino

I have often talked about a divide between athletes that earn large amounts of money, and those that do not, and how there is a movement in Ipswich to bring this sporting diversity together. I am so very pleased to say, that Ipswich Town Football Club and The Hub are leading the way in this quest.

As director of the Hub, I was tasked with the project of developing a collaboration across ITFC and The Hub, this took shape as a programme fusion of sports science and football specific training. It initially started as an idea that came from a brain storming session at The Hub. When tackling innovative and unique ideas, it is really important to work with open minded professionals, this is what I found when discussing this with our Hub team members, who were all very excited about this project and embraced it totally.

For me, this is how things get done, working with individuals who are willing to back something that is, just that little bit different! So, what does the ITFC, Hub collaboration programme consist of? The programme is about giving local junior and senior football players the taste of a high-quality support programme in the surroundings of a Premiership standard set up, and although, presently, ITFC are not in the Premiership, I can tell you, without doubt, the facilities are of Premiership level. I can talk from experience, as during my time as programme training developer, I travelled to many football clubs, including the world-famous training set up at Carrington, the Manchester United Training ground.

Inspiration and motivation are a massive part of development, and I thought that the training environment was key, with this in mind, I approached ITFC and asked if he they would consider giving the football community access to the multi-million-pound training facility on Playford Road, they said yes, and now fully supports this project. So, between us, we had organised the venue, now I needed to put together the team, and I am pleased to say, that we have an outstanding team supporting the delivery of this project. Heading the football specific area of the programme is the ex-professional Premiership football player, Jason Dozzell. Up until the end of last season, my relationship with Jason, consisted of a polite hello and good bye as we passed each other during our duties at the training ground, but over the closed season this changed quite dramatically, unfortunately, not for the right reasons.

I was asked by the ITFC first team physio Matt Byard to work with our young rising star Andre Dozzell, unfortunately, this was because he was coming through the phases of rehabilitation, and the club wanted him to include progressive movements drills in his programme. This meant over a period of 6 weeks I worked very closely with Andre, and I’m very pleased to say that Jason, played a big part in this process, attending all the rehab sessions with Andre. These two have an incredible relationship, and it truly was a wonderful experience as a sporting coach, to see the process of a seasoned footballer, supporting his son, in a very thoughtful and valuable way. It’s obvious that Andre has huge respect for his dad, and as a dad myself, it was plain to see that Jason is so very proud of Andre and all he is accomplishing.

So as many things in life, the beginning starts with a point of ignition, and the relationship I have built with Jason, started around his son Andre! I am very proud to say, that since supporting Andre, I have got to know Jason very well and we talk about many things, and I can say that he is humble, as he never talks or boasts about his playing career, but Jason Dozzell, is a true Ipswich Town legend, playing an outstanding 340 times for the Town, scoring 53 goals, he then went on to play for Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, at the highest level, in the most famous league in the world, The Premiership! For me, when I took into account my relationship with Jason, his football background, and the standard of his coaching, I was 100% sure who I wanted to head the football specific area of this project. I approached the ITFC senior coaching team, and asked if I could offer Jason this this opportunity, and to my utter delight, they were fully supportive and gave it their blessing. The other members of this project are Team Hub, and they overlook all the nonspecific sports science areas of the training session.

Confirming the venue, team and programme, we could now deliver our first pilot session, with the aim of increasing power, speed, agility, reaction, mental toughness and the footballing skills of the football community. This meant that we needed a football team to attend, this came in the shape of Ian Brown’s Under 18-year-old Suffolk football team. After an incredible session, I am pleased to say that I believe we have a programme that could massively benefit the junior and senior football players out there in the footballing community, that are looking for that unique development edge!

The Hub training, support and education is delivered from multiple sites, by The Hub team of experts