Dawn of a New Age of Fitness (Dawn Scott)

An interview with the sports science specialist who supported England’s women from 2001 and has been performance director of the United States national team since 2010. Scott recalls that when the FA employed her and physio Louise Fawcett there had been no full-time performance or medical support at all, no monitoring of training intensity and no recovery guidelines, with players holding full-time jobs. Educating coaches and players to get their buy-in came first; heart-rate monitors were among the earliest introductions, one of which Sammy Britton called her personal trainer and which let Karen Walker train in a gym to spare her knees. She describes building a network of strength and conditioning trainers, filming players at Euro 2005 for UEFA, and daily contact through wellbeing questionnaires.