The Hibernian Training Centre

[OwenWright]

Three Hibeesbounce Administrators went on a tour of the fabulous state of the art Hibernian Training Centre up at Ormiston in East Lothian.

The Hibernian Training Centre is a landmark development for the Club. The centre extends to over 50 acres near Ormiston, East Lothian. It comprises five full size greass pitches and a floodlight outdoor FIFA Two star synthetic pitch supported by state of the art changing, medical and sports science facilities within the training centre building which extends to 2,700 square metres. The training centre is wholly owned by the Club.

The Hibernian Training Centre provides a home for all the professional football players and coaching staff at the Club. Having unrestricted access to dedicated facilities is just what the professional staff need and the benefits of this to the Club will be seen for the years to come.

The first class facilities will also become available for use by players and coacing staff within the Hibernian Acadamy. This is a major step forward and is to be welcomed by everyone connected with the training and development of the next generation of professional football players for the Club.

Over time, the Club plans to extend the use of facilities at the Hibernian Training Centre in conjunction with community and other partners.



Pitch Consultants, PSD, developed the Club's initial brief to design an area extending to five international-size grass pitches along with a dedicated goalkeeper training area. Local contractors Alan J Bain Contractors Limited, undertook the pitch works and landscaping.

A network of 125 pop up sprinklers and 9 miles of drainage have been installed to ensure that the pitches can be maintained to the highest quality standards throughout the year.



At a time when we are all growing more concerned with the environment the Club was keen that the development was progressed with this in mind. A key element of this project was that no materials were removed from the site to landfill and that and existing building was re-fitted with the facilities required by the Club. There are also many energy resource saving features of the new facilities.

The outdoor facilities also boast an international size FIFA Two Star synthetic training pitch. This incorporates a floodlighting system that can be operated at two lighting levels dependent on the type of match or training session taking place.



An indoor training area 40 metres long has been incorporated within the existing building utilising the same FIFA Two Star playing surface. This ensures that the players will always have a surface to train on even in the worst training conditions.



This indoor playing area has been fitted out with a specialist rebound board system and also incorporates a dedicated viewing section.



A mile-long synthetic surface jogging trail follows a route around the edge of the site. Two grass Endurance Hills have also been incorporated into the trail to aid general fitness development and to assist rehabilitation exercises for those players who are under treatment by the Club's physiotherapists.



The Club's architects, halliday Fraser Munro, have worked to the Club's original specifications to design the interior of the complex to include all of the facilities that a modern Training Centre could possibly require. This includes multiple changing facilities, a gymnasium and extensive medical facilities including pysiotherapy, consulting, and sports medicine rooms along with a hydrotherapy pool and steam room. There are also lounges, offices, meeting rooms, video edit suite and catering facilities to site.

The refit of the 2,700 square metres building was undertaken by local contractor George Sharkey and Sons Limited.



The impressive 1st Team Changing Room has personalised locker space and facilities for up to 30 players.

In Addition there are dedicated changing areas for coaching staff, U19 players and Match Officials. All of these dressing rooms are fitted with individual digital keypad operated lockers.



Four further dressing rooms have been probided to accommodate visiting or academy teams. These self contained rooms have been designed and located such that they can operate without interfering with the activities of the professional players.



As training methods change and adapt to the needs of the modern game the board felt that a key function of the facility was to ensure that the players are able to rest and recover between training sessions, therefore a large Players Lounge is a feature of the Training Centre.

This lounge has a comfortable seating area where players can relax, watch television, access the internet, play pool or video games or simply chat in a relaxed atmosphere.



A dedicated area is also provided for coaching staff allowing them to meet, review matches, plan training sessions, catch up with paperwork and likewise relax between training sessions.



The Club's laundry facilities have been relocated to the Training Centre and all kit is washed on-site. This area can see as much as three changes of kit per day (including shirts, socks, socks, sweatshirts, jogging trousers, wet weather clothing and of course not forgetting towels.) A far cry from the days when players had one set of kit that didn't match.

In Addition, the laundry service requirements of the Club's Academy Teams making this facility a 7-day-a-week operation.

A requiest from the football department was that the inside of the facility should be a no-boots area. To accommodate this request external boot washing units have been installed to allow the players to clean their boots before entering the facility.



The expansive gym area is fitted out with the latest in strength and conditioning equiptment to facilitate:

• Pre-habilitation - to prevent injury
• Rehabilitation - to recover from injury
• Sports testing - to monitor player fitness
• Group and individual tailored training sessions

The extensive equiptment list includes:

• Spinning bikes for group training, warm-ups and individual training and rehabilitation programmes
• Specialist strength equiptment to focus on Functional Muscle and Iso-lateral Training for upper and lower body
• High performance treadmill
• Cross trainer for cardiovascular and rehabilitation work
• Full range of Olympic style free weights including Smith Machines

This specialist rehabilitation facility is not a luxury item within the centre, instead it is a key tool to help players to recover from strains and other injuries, allowing excercise to take place with the aid of buoyancy. This specialist equiptment had a wide variety of other applications including rehabilitation, cardiovascular training and recovery.



The steam room can accomodate up to seven people at a time and is an important tool in increasing flexibility of the players - as well as being a useful recovery facility.



The Club's medical Team regard the Gym area as a kep aspect of player recovery. The well equipped Clinical Examination and Treatment rooms are located directly in front of the Gym so the Physiotherapists have a clear view of the players exercising.

The Club's medical staff can now work within a totally integrated environment to ensure the players maintain the very best health.



With Video Analysis as a key tool in match monitoring and preparation, a dedicated Video Editing Suite has been provided. This area will also be utilised bu the Club's in-house media team to relay images and audio directly onto the Hibernian Interactive section of the Official Club website.

The Training Centre has also been designed to incorporate all of the modern communication systems required by the coaching systems required by the coaching and administration staff and of course the players. All of the IT and communications systems are fully networked with Easter Road to deliver a seamless communications interface between the two sites.



The facility incorporates a fully fitted-out kitchen so that staff on-site can meet all of the catering requirements of the Training Centre.

A dedicated Dining Area has been made available close to the kitchen to allow up to three meals a day to be served to the players and coaching staff.



The Conference Room enables the Club to hold presentations and meetings for up to 60 people. The room is equpped with Presentation and Audio-Visual equiptment to allow group viewings of match analyses for the football department. The Conference Room can also host press briefings and media events.



In addition there are a further three meeting rooms.



One of the original attrations of the site was the existing infrastructure which included a Car Park with over 50 parking spaces. This was considered an essential element for such a busy professional facility.


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