Bodymoor Heath

Bodymoor Heath is a small village in the North Warwickshire district of the county of Warwickshire in England. It is situated on the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal close to the much larger village of Kingsbury. Bodymoor Heath is also the home of Aston Villa Football Club's training ground.

Bodymoor Heath Training Ground

The training ground site was purchased by former Aston Villa Chairman Doug Ellis in the early 1970s from the farmer who owned the land. It lies in proximity to The Belfry Golf Club and Kingsbury Water Park, just a few hundred metres from the M42 link to Tamworth.

The ground is situated near Fazeley by the side of the Fazeley canal, within walking distance of Drayton Manor Theme Park and Middleton Hall, complete with its own lake and working quarry.

Situated in the more rural part of the Midlands, many of the past and present Aston Villa players have taken up residence in various palatial homes within the area, enabling them speedy travel to training sessions.

The ground itself is surrounded by fields on three sides and the A38 on the fourth, and when built was considered a modern establishment well advanced from the old training facility in Trinity Road, Aston.

Planning permission has been a huge problem in the club's intent to modernise both the training facilities and the ground itself.

Redevelopment

Although Bodymoor Heath was state-of-the-art in the 1970s, by the late 1990s the facilities had started to look dated, which prompted then-Villa manager John Gregory to criticise Ellis, stating that he believed he was "stuck in a time warp", [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/1090109.stm Gregory plays down chairman row] ] citing the Chairman's reluctance to invest. But it wasn't until 2005 when development plans for the training ground were introduced.

In November 2005, Ellis and Aston Villa plc announced an £8 million redevelopment of Bodymoor in 2 phases which, it is said, will bring the now antiquated facilities up to the standard of the best in the world.

But before the largely disappointing 2005-06 Premier League Campaign on behalf of the team, Ellis had revealed that the club had budgeted for 10th-12th place [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/aston_villa/5015430.stm Villa chief gives O'Leary backing] ] (eventually finishing 16th), and as a result the construction on the new development came to halt, on a project that had already been scaled down from its original plans.

However, once Randy Lerner purchased the club on 18 September 2006, the club announced that construction on the redevelopment of Bodymoor Heath would continue.

The new training ground, designed by HB Architects, was officially unveiled on 6 May 2007, with the Aston Villa squad moving in for the 2007-08 Season.

Like United and Chelsea at their respective training compounds in Carrington and Cob-ham, Villa have installed HydroWorx aquatic therapy pools - the HydroWorx 2000, the Thermal Plunge and the Polar Plunge - at their new development. The technology combines the therapeutic effects of warm and cold water with innovations such as an underwater treadmill that allows players to walk or run naturally, placing less stress on the joints. The directional water jet system allows users to exercise at various intensities while an underwater video provides instant analysis of leg strains and injuries. Their new £13m training facility includes:

-A performance lab looking out to the gymnasium, complete with bicycle machines and free weights, where Jim Henry, who heads up the Villa fitness team, can devise programmes specific to players’ needs

-An 18m swimming pool with a deep end of 7ft; HydroWorx aquatic therapy pools including hot and cold water tubs and underwater treadmill; sauna

-A three-quarters size indoor pitch with an adjacent running track containing a device called a ‘force platform’ to measure jumping and acceleration capacity

-Refectory where players must have their lunch after training, with three chefs employed. Foods are organically grown and pastas, potatoes, white meats, vegetables and fruit are staples. Steak and chips are not on the menu

-Machines for Henry to measure body fat. He previously worked at Celtic where he found Roy Keane, with a fat level of 5.2%, the leanest player he has ever worked with. The average in the Villa squad is 8%. [cite web|url= http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/aston_villa/article3646334.ece|title= Aston Villa's appliance of science|publisher= Times Online|date= 30 March 2008|accessdate= 2008-08-13]

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