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Premier League new boys Coventry City FC put through their paces by Coventry University sports science experts and students
Coventry City's Joel Latibeaudiere preparing for a test alongside a Coventry University Sports Coaching student
University news / Student news / Life Sciences
Friday 03 July 2026
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Coventry City FC’s first team squad began preparations for their return to the Premier League in Coventry University’s high-tech sports science labs.
The likes of Ellis Simms, Bobby Thomas and club captain Matt Grimes were put through their paces by staff and students from the university’s sports science courses on their first day of pre-season training.
Lab tests to measure aerobic capacity, body composition and movement competency awaited the players as the countdown begins to the Sky Blues taking on Premier League champions Arsenal in the season’s curtain raiser on August 21. It will be the team’s first game in English football’s top tier for 25 years after Frank Lampard guided them to promotion from the Championship last season.
The information gathered by Coventry University’s sport scientists will be used by the club to tailor pre-season conditioning for the players, identify factors of injury risk and create performance benchmarks to assess changes in the players across the season.
This collaboration with Coventry City FC is highly valuable to our sport‑focused taught programmes and our track record of delivering world‑leading research in sport and exercise science.
It has been a particular highlight to welcome the first team to campus, providing access to sport and exercise expertise alongside our state‑of‑the‑art laboratory facilities to support pre‑season preparation. Through delivering laboratory‑grade assessments of aerobic capacity and body composition to both Under-21 and first team squads, we are contributing data‑rich insights to optimise performance.
Importantly, undergraduate students from our Sport and Exercise Science, Sport Therapy and Sport Coaching programmes were central to the delivery of these assessments. We are committed to developing competent, work‑ready practitioners, and these opportunities reflect the confidence we place in our students by embedding them at the heart of applied, high-performance environments.
Dr Jason Tallis, Associate Course Director for Sport and Exercise Science at Coventry University
It was really special to have the Coventry City players here after watching them week in, week out – it was an amazing feeling to have worked with them.
It’s a great experience to work with Premier League athletes and we are doing testing that we have learned on our course, so being able to put it into a real environment like this is great.
Lewis Parkinson, a third-year Sport and Exercise Science student and Sky Blues fan
Find out more about studying Sport and Exercise Science at Coventry University.
