ABOUT

Hey it's James! Owner and Director of Matchfit Football (formerly known as Matchfit Conditioning).

Thanks for stopping by!

I guess the best place to start is to tell you a little about me and how I came to found Matchfit Football.

I studied BSc Sports Science at University before going on to qualify as an S&C coach and completing both a Diploma and Masters in Football Strength & Conditioning from the Football Science Institute.

As part of this I was within a specialist network of football conditioning coaches and taught directly by sports scientists and nutritionists working at some of the worlds biggest clubs - including Real Madrid, Barcelona and PSG.

As a player, I spent 9 years at English professional club Wycombe Wanderers and represented England Schoolboys before suffering a (what I was told was) a career ending labral tear hip injury at age 19.

I refused to follow my doctors advice and give up on my dream, but at the time could I barely run for 5 minutes without crippling hip pain.

I spent the next 5 years training by myself, studying and experimenting with different training strategies until I finally cracked the code and began to see major progress with my injury.

Within 12 months of mastering my programme, I was able to make a miraculous return to competitive football at the age of 24, playing in Australia and facing the Hyundai A League Champions Brisbane Roar in my first comeback season as captain.

Given that I was told I would never play again and had nobody else to guide me, you can imagine the euphoric feeling I had when I was finally able to step back out on the pitch in that match.

In the space of 12 months, I had gone from unable to jog for 5 minutes...to playing 5 times per week, completely pain free, and getting paid for it - all thanks to what I had learnt through studying Sports Science and Football Specific Strength & Conditioning.

From my personal experience I realised how important it was to teach players from an early age about the critical role that strength and conditioning, nutrition and mindset has in enabling elite performance to become possible (and maintained for an entire career).

So in 2013, I began coaching players my methods 1-1, and due to the incredible progress they were making I built a team of coaches to help spread my message and impact players at a greater scale around the world.

In April 2016 we officially became known as Matchfit (players would always come up to me saying that they wanted my help to get "match fit", and so the name was born!)

We are based in England, UK but train players worldwide online.

To date over 50,000 players from all over the world have followed our programmes and guidance to become standout players in their team, overcome injury issues once and for all and in some cases even step up to pro and international level.

Our mission is to educate footballers about the importance of fitness, nutrition and developing mental resilience in order to reach the highest level.

Every year our goal is to help 100 players sign their first pro contract or get called up to their national team through our training programmes, we would love for you to be our next success story!

>>> You can learn more about my personal story HERE.

>>> Connect with me on LinkedIn HERE.

Meet the rest of the team...

Yianni: Strength & Conditioning

Yianni has an MSc in Strength & Conditioning, is an Accredited Strength & Conditioning Coach from the UKSCA and a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist from the NSCA. He has experience in providing conditioning support in pro football at Leyton Orient FC and academy football at QPR. 

Barney: Sports Psychology

Barney has a Masters in Sports Psychology and is a member of the British Psychological society. He also works with the youth academy at a top Premier League club, supporting players mental performance all the way up to first team level. 

Shaun: Sports Nutrition

Shaun has an MSc in Sports Nutrition, a BSc in Nutrition and has worked privately with several top-level footballers since completing his Masters. During his time as a Performance Nutritionist with Science in Sport (SIS), Shaun was closely linked with Manchester United -supplying players with personalised advice on supplements and complete nutrition plans.

Anze: Sports Nutrition