CENTRAL Coast Mariners hosted a special guest this morning, with former professional athlete Matt Murphy joining the 2011/12 Hyundai A-League Premiers for their Thursday morning training run.
CENTRAL Coast Mariners hosted a special guest this morning, with former professional athlete Matt Murphy joining the 2011/12 Hyundai A-League Premiers for their Thursday morning training run.
Murphy has travelled the globe competing in the world-s toughest endurance events, all the while filming an adventure series entitled ‘Search4Hurt- (www.search4hurt.com).
During each preparation phase for his next physically and mentally gruelling test, Murphy has joined a number of professional sporting teams and individuals to discover how their practices and processes can assist him in taking his performances to a new level.
Murphy has trained with the likes of the Qantas Wallabies, AFL outfits Western Bulldogs and Richmond Tigers, Super 15 side Melbourne Rebels, and the Olympic Boomers basketball team in the past.
But today-s session with Graham Arnold-s Central Coast Mariners provided him with his first taste of life with a Hyundai A-League Club.
“Search4Hurt is an idea that I came up with to show viewers at home, for instance, what the A-League guys actually do behind the scenes,” Murphy said.
“It-s not just about rocking up on the weekend and playing, they hurt a lot during the week to be on the money that they-re on, and we should really respect that.”
While Murphy is forthright in declaring his passion for pain, Thursday morning-s session provided the well-travelled former national U-23 triathlon Champion with the opportunity to work on some new skills.
Indeed, Murphy took part in range of drills with the Mariners squad, including small-sided games, as well as passing and shooting practice.
He then joined Mariners players including Anthony Caceres, Brad McDonald, Brent Griffiths and Hayden Morton for some explosive, high intensity running.
Post session, Murphy said he blown away with the coordination the players displayed, as well as the sheer pace at which they execute their skills.
“The speed that they do it all at is just amazing,” he said.
Murphy has built quite the following throughout his global journey, and currently possesses over 15,000 fans on Twitter.
He said he hoped Search4Hurt would help inspire his supporters to be fit and active, and test their personal physical and mental capacities.
“I like to show people what-s out there,” he said. “There are so many great events out there that might hurt a bit, but you recover, so get involved!”
