HydroMassage and CryoLounge+: Enhancing and improving recovery

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The art of recovery has become an integral aspect for strength and conditioning coaches to manage, with clubs implementing different strategies when it comes to recovery sessions.

Whether that would include players completing a range of exercises or managing their workload after a long game, we have now seen technology such as HydroMassage and CryoLounge+ come into the fold to help athletes recover.

HydroMassage and CryoLounge+ are products of Tees Valley Innovation, a leading UK supplier of innovative fitness and wellness products and leisure consultancy.

They also work alongside WellnessSpace Brands to offer convenient, technology-based solutions for post-workout recovery.

HydroMassage is an innovative water massage lounge and bed for wellness and muscle recovery, utilising powerful waves of heated water massage to target specific body areas.

The personalised full-body heated massage has an interactive touchscreen that controls the speed and pressure of your massage, while also having the option to design your own massage.

Some of the benefits of HydroMassage include:

  • Temporary relief from minor pains and aches
  • Reduce stress and anxiety levels
  • Reduce muscle soreness, stiffness and tension
  • Increases circulation in local areas where massaged
  • Enhances feelings of well-being and deep relaxation

CryoLounge+ is an advanced recovery chair with complimentary cold and heat zones. The cold zones can lie between -1°C to -3°C which targets soreness or minor aches and pains. Whereas, the heat zones can be between 35°C to 46°C and can be applied in other areas of the body to provide a comfortable and safe experience.

This advanced technology to improve cold and heat treatment also has an interactive touchscreen that controls many features such as temperature, leg compression heat and cold to different parts of the body, and the auxiliary pad.

CryoLounge+ offers convenient and accessible treatments that can be customised to the athlete’s demands. They can select certain areas to ice while heat somewhere else on the body to reduce the discomfort often associated with targeted cold recovery.

These products have been used in places such as Leeds Beckett University for its students and community members who compete in sports or attend the gym and need a source of recovery. HydroMassage and CryoLounge+ can also be used at selected gyms and health and leisure centres that provide these products to their members.

Mark Dunstan, Interim Head of Sport and Active Lifestyles at Leeds Beckett University said about HydroMassage:

“We wanted to go a little bit beyond just putting another piece of fitness equipment,” he said on the Tess Valley Innovation YouTube channel.

“We wanted to broaden the service offers that we’ve got and when we came across HydroMassage, it just seems something that would really tick a massive box in terms of student health and well-being rather than just their physical health.

“It can also look after mental health by providing relaxation massages and it’s going to benefit students in many ways.”

For decades, various forms of massage such as cold and hot treatment have been mainly labour-intensive and can prove to be somewhat difficult to provide to certain athletes and clubs each day. However, with the introduction of HydroMassage and CryoLounge+, they both share similarities in their functions.

Both don’t need any specialist staff and it’s time-efficient only requiring 10-15 minutes of the athlete’s time. Therefore, a large number of athletes can access on-demand massages and cold or heat treatments whenever needed.

With the use of HydroMassage and CryoLounge+, sporting organisations and clubs can optimise the way they deal with recovery sessions. They won’t have to rely mainly on staff to deliver their massages and with these products, more athletes can potentially improve their game on the pitch with the right resources at their disposal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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How Musco Lighting is Transforming the Game

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Image Credit: Musco Lighting

Lighting quality, uniformity, and control are three of the most important elements a football venue must master. Done well, they elevate the standard of play, enhance the fan experience, and ensure world-class broadcasts. 

Modern football demands more than just traditional floodlights. From community fields to elite stadiums, facilities need solutions that combine performance, efficiency, and reliability.

Musco Lighting believes their systems, which are engineered LED technologies, modular mini-pitch packages, and advanced control platforms are the key to achieving these goals.

Musco’s “Projects Made Simple” approach offers complete, tailored lighting solutions designed for every level of the game. Central to this is Total Light Control for LED, a system that provides precise light distribution while reducing glare and minimising environmental spill.

Complementing Total Light Control for LED is Musco’s Mini-Pitch System, developed in the U.S. Soccer Foundation. These compact, all-in-one facilities combine fencing, goals, benches, storage, and integrated lighting, transforming underused spaces into safe, vibrant football environments.

Features of Musco’s lighting include; uniform illumination across the pitch, therefore eliminating dark zones; advanced glare reduction, which ensures comfort for players, spectators and surrounding areas of the pitch; and smart monitoring, which allows operators to remotely control and schedule the lighting. The lighting company also uses sustainable practices with the ability to have energy savings of up to 60%. 

Musco’s systems have already been used by some of the biggest names in football.

At Emirates Stadium, home of Arsenal FC, the installation of Musco’s SportsCluster Green LED system has been transformative according to Arsenal’s Stadium and Facilities Director, John Beattie.

“It is important for both players and fans alike that we have top-quality lighting for the club’s evening fixtures and Musco’s new floodlights provide just that.” he said. 

AFC Bournemouth faced the challenge of upgrading their facilities following promotion to the Premier League in 2015 but Club General Manager Liz Finney said the company’s product was crucial.

“We needed to install a new pitch lighting system to meet the requirements of both the club and the Premier League in a fairly short space of time. Musco delivered on all counts.” Finney said. 

Elsewhere, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Audi Field in Washington D.C. have reported improved player visibility, enhanced broadcast quality, and major energy savings following their adoption of Musco’s technology.

Australia’s football landscape presents unique challenges. Facilities often serve multiple sports, grassroots participation is rapidly expanding, and professional leagues increasingly demand higher broadcast standards.

Musco’s systems offer important benefits to help with this development, these include mini-pitch installations, which could expand access to safe well lit spaces in urban areas, which would help to support grassroots growth.

Another benefit could be that elite stadiums could meet higher broadcast standards to match international scale games. Finally, using Musco would create energy savings and have a reduced environmental aspect.

Musco’s football lighting solutions are much more than a technical upgrade, they also represent a shift in how football is played, viewed, and experienced. By pairing innovation with reliability, they support the game from grassroots fields to international arenas.

As Australia looks to strengthen its football infrastructure, Musco’s proven effective technology could help bridge the gap between community play and world-class competition.

Overall, the use of Musco Lighting systems could greatly improve football in Australia, whether you are playing or watching the game.

GIS Industry Masterclass Highlights Pathways for Women’s Sport

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Image Credit: Soccerscene

This month, the Global Institute of Sport (GIS) held an industry masterclass with guest speakers discussing the future of development in women’s sport.

The masterclass panel had two key speakers:

  • Chantella Perera, General Manager of Sport at KOJO.
  • Yael Reed, a sports marketing consultant who has worked with Newcastle Jets, Football Australia and Netball NSW.

These two industry experts, representing different areas of the women’s sporting world, delved into answering the event’s important goal of growth and sponsorship in women’s sport.

The role that media and commercial partners have in elevating women’s sport was a key point. Discussion was centred around the importance of encouraging broadcasters to invest in women’s sport directly and not just through male sport avenues.

Yael Reed spoke about the importance of media revenue being invested into women’s sports.

“Media partners with broadcast and commercial revenue is ultimately what is invested in the sport, and you need to invest to grow,” she said.

“Broadcast and commercial revenue also contributes to paying the players

“Media and coverage revenue is what is invested into the sport and their support is needed to help sports to grow, but also to benefit from, Women’s sport is no longer the steak knives.”

Chantella Perera, a former professional sportsperson and with KOJO a big leader in women’s sports events, outlined the position of women’s sports:

“From grassroots we see more equity with facilities and infrastructure for girls now. From my field in the event world lens, the investment from clubs and leagues is improving year on year. The disparity is still huge,” Perera said.

“There must be money invested to grow it. Yes, it is changing—a lot more females can do it as a job.

“But I feel we are still talking a lot but not doing a lot. People can make action, and it doesn’t have to be huge actions. Making those small steps towards that change is where we move forward.

“The Matildas’ success at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup has sparked a rise in interest towards women’s football in the country.”

Perera, however, commented on the slow impact it has produced:

“It did have an impact with the eyes and traction, but we are still waiting for the influx of cash,”

“I’d challenge the effect and ask: two years on, have we seen enough from it? I just want to see if we can get more from it.”

A key point regarding investing in women’s sport and central to the discussion was how to invest in the differences between men’s and women’s sport.

Reed expressed her key ways in which this step can be tackled:

“It’s important for brands to consider Who they are trying to connect with? The benefit of women’s sport is it’s fresh and new (compared to men’s sport). There’s a lot to be unexpected. There are amazing people playing the sport and their story needs to be told,”

“I think when you can connect with athletes, with clubs, and harness that promotion and opportunity that’s there with women’s sport.

“The opportunity in women’s sport is to expect the unexpected.” Reed highlighted.

The important question of brand alignment became central to the discussion, with the equation for branding being relevance multiplied by emotion equals impact.

To harness the sponsor’s relevance to the team and the sport, harnessing that emotion and being relevant to the fans and showing up for them and having an impact promotes any brand.

An example presented by Reed was the Suzuki partnership with the Swifts:

“By putting players in their content and in the car the swift has been really positive,”

“The business case is there. We now have a greater asset in women’s sport to take your brands to the next level

“To have a women’s demographic is such a good asset for business branding.”

Women’s sport has faced challenges in gaining support and funding to expand and delve into the ever-growing popularity of the women’s game.

Sponsorships and businesses trying to grow their portfolio and market shouldn’t underestimate the power that women’s sport and football have.

It is unique and it is unexpected, as was discussed centrally in this masterclass.

The ways to grow women’s sport are there, and the benefits are evident. Sponsors need to take the necessary step and will undoubtedly reap the rewards if they do so.

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