Vikings appoint LJMU PhD student as nutritionist

Professional rugby league club Widnes Vikings have appointed LJMU PhD student James Morehen as the Club’s new nutritionist as part of their partnership with the University.

Morehen, started work at the Vikings last week as Head of Strength and Conditioning Jon Clarke kicked off the players’ pre-season. The LJMU student will be working primarily with the First Team but will also spread his knowledge and expertise across the whole of the Club, including Under 19’s, Scholarship players and even passing on advice to youngsters’ parents.

The work Morehen undertakes in the Vikings’ elite environment will go towards a PhD in Sports Physiology and Nutrition at LJMU and a number of research projects which he hopes will gain the recognition to be published.

He said: “I’m delighted to have joined the Vikings and I’m looking forward to working with everyone at the Club as we head into the new season. To be at a Super League Club, working with elite athletes as a PhD student with Liverpool John Moores is a great opportunity for me.

“I’m here at the Club to help improve the players’ nutritional strategies to aid performances on the pitch. The benefit of me being here is all for the players and the Club. It’s about helping the players to get in a much better shape than they were last year through educated nutritional strategies informed by scientific research and if I can contribute to that then that will help me with my PhD Studies in the Sports Science arena.”

“This role has come about through the collaboration between LJMU, the Vikings, Nutrition X and my Applied PhD. My subjects will be the players. I’ll be doing research through the season and bringing some new ideas to the group. Ultimately I want to improve the players’ nutritional strategies through solid eating behaviours and publish Research and to do that here working with the Widnes boys is massive.”

Jon Clarke said: “It’s an extremely important appointment. The intensity of the training the players undertake is such that we need the right nutrition and to get someone like James Morehen, through our partnership with LJMU and Dr Graeme Close, is a real coup for the Club and James coming on board is a great addition to the team.

“James will be working virtually full-time at the Club. He’ll be around for a lot of the week and on a game day and we have given him the capacity to work with the players and he’ll assess the needs individually and really pinpoint what each one of them needs. This is the type of detail and route we are now going down and I’m excited about James being around. He’s a very knowledgeable person and he’s a good bloke as well who will fit right in.”

Dr Graeme Close, a Reader in Applied Physiology and Sports Nutrition at LJMU, said:

“This is a fantastic opportunity, not only for James and the Widnes players, but also for Liverpool John Moores University to continue to develop this unique partnership. At LJMU we are committed to helping out students gain real world work opportunities whilst continuing their studies ultimately helping them gain full time work in the industry. 

“We firmly believe that if we can combine academic excellence with applied experience we can help to develop the ultimate practitioner. James is a very talented, highly motivated person who I have no doubt will help Widnes to continue their rise through the Super League table. I am therefore delighted to be involved in this project and work with Jon Clarke who is an exceptional strength and conditioner and the ideal person to support James through this process.”

For further information about postgraduate study at LJMU please visit http://www.ljmu.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate-courses.htm