Man masterminding Daniel Sturridge's recovery hails his 'incredible work ethic' and says his future is bright
The man masterminding Daniel Sturridgeâs battle to regain full fitness today spoke of the âincredible work ethicâ which is setting the Reds striker up for âa very bright future.â
Scott Schrimscher, based in Phoenix, Arizona, is the personal trainer responsible for trying to help Liverpoolâs ÂŁ12m forward back to full health â and back to a Reds line-up which has had its attacking options left severely depleted in his absence.
Sturridge and Liverpool FC have turned to the performance team credited with much of the success of Germanyâs 2014 World Cup winning team to try to achieve that goal.
The Reds striker this week shared a picture with his social media followers with his recovery trainer Schrimscher.
The 25-year-old striker hasnât played for Liverpool since August 31 and that impressive 3-0 victory over Spurs at White Hart Lane â with much of Liverpoolâs disappointing first half of the season attributed to the successive thigh and calf injuries which have left him with just three appearances in 2014/15.
Sturridge told fans: âTired eyes as usual with my bro Scott. Thanks for everything. Another hard dayâs training. This guy is A1 at his job.â
Schrimscher is a specialist with EXOS, a top level fitness and recovery group who run nine elite performance centres across America. He specialised in Movement Science while at the University of Michigan.
He told the ECHO: âDaniel has an incredible work ethic and is wonderful to work with. He is a class act and has a bright future ahead.
âThe methodology we utilized with Daniel is supported by four main pillars: mindset, movement, nutrition, and recovery and it is that holistic and seamlessly integrated system that helps players of all levels improve their performance on the pitch.â
Formerly known as Athletesâ Performance, EXOS celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2014 and claim to âdo things differentlyâ.
âWe move you to new places. We are pioneering human performance,â they proudly say in their mission statement.
Big claims and rather grandiose perhaps, but if they manage to bring Daniel Sturridge back to anything like his performance levels of last season â 24 goals in all competitions â there wonât be any arguments from Reds fans who have watched the flamboyant attacking force of last year replaced with a team often lacking real firepower and goalscoring threat.
Schrimscher, who is part of the performance innovation team at EXOS, says he manages projects âto enhance the lives of our elite athletesâ.
He says he is âunbelievably honoured and humbledâ to be working with Sturridge and sounds confident the strikerâs hard work can help put his problems behind him.
The EXOS group are also heavily involved in preparing future NFL stars for the all-important college Draft, with 11 of their athletes picked in the 1st round in 2014, including the overall first pick. Tens of millions of dollars worth of contracts are on the line â they take fitness unbelievably seriously.
But it is their work with the German football team â which stretches back more than a decade to JĂźrgen Klinsmannâs managerial reign â which will resonate most with Liverpoolâs followers.
Four members of the EXOS team travelled with Germany every step of the way in Brazil last summer, managing training schedules and even travelling plans, and many of Joachim Lowâs players including captain Philip Lahm have paid wholesome tributes to their influence.
Closer to home, "The Chosen One" was a strong advocate of their work while at Everton, where they continued to have a relationship untillast year while Steven Gerrard will hear their name regularly when he departs for the USA â EXOS are the fitness partners of his new team LA Galaxy.
Schrimscher said: âEXOS is no longer supporting Everton as of this season, but greatly enjoyed our years supporting the team with the same integrated training system that weâve used for the past decade with the German national team, including during their recent World Cup title run, and with the last four MLS champions LA Galaxy (3 in 4 years) and Sporting KC.
âWith todayâs news of Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard heading to the LA Galaxy this summer, weâre looking forward to the opportunity of supporting him in our role as the Galaxyâs official performance training provider.â
One of the four experts assigned to that German team, EXOS founder Mark Versetgen, claimed last summer that at times their team was running up to 113km per game compared to their opponentsâ 100km.
âThat almost equates to having three-quarters of another person on the pitch,â he told the Guardian at the time.
Success with Germany also persuaded Arsene Wenger â perhaps influenced by the likes of Lukas Podolski and Per Mertesacker â to recruit another of the four, Shad Forsythe, to join Arsenal last August as a fitness coach.
Daniel Sturridge appears to be doing everything right to make that much-anticipated return to the Redsâ line-up later this month â and for fans it wonât come a minute too soon.
Like the Germans, just run Daniel, run.
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/man-masterminding-daniel-sturridges-recovery-8402191Some interesting stuff in this piece for anyone curious about sports science.
