Revealed: Why Wales Are Taking No Chances With Gareth Bale – Thanks To A Revolutionary Training System

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At their training camp in the rolling Cardiff countryside, the Wales players are having a game of head tennis.

The mood is relaxed and convivial. Muscles are stretched and limbs loosened. Craig Bellamy shares a joke with his recent on-loan Cardiff colleague Aaron Ramsey. Gareth Bale, the nation’s great hope, looks anything but a superstar in the silver leggings hugging his gangly yet sculpted physique as he takes part in a separate light jog.

It is Monday morning, five days before the intensity and emotion of the Euro 2012 clash against England.

In coaching parlance, Wales are having a ‘recovery session’. Later in the afternoon, some of the players will have a swim, some a round of golf, others a massage. There will be no contact with a football until the following day, 48 hours into their get-together and 72 hours after Saturday’s round of matches.

It is the second training camp organised by recently appointed manager Gary Speed. Subtle changes are taking place as the building blocks are assembled for a new era which Wales hope will take them all the way to World Cup 2014 in Brazil.

“We are working towards being the best prepared team in the world,” explained Wales’ head of performance Damian Roden, showing Goal.com UK around the team’s hotel base for the build-up to the game. “Whether that transfers to a better team remains to be seen. We are trying to put the foundations in place to allow us to compete.

“We are fully aware it’s not going to be an easy task. The main thing is to be in a position to qualify for the 2014 World Cup and for the major tournaments thereafter.”

Inspiring images and slogans litter the ground floor corridors of the luxury retreat to create an elite environment. Yet science and technology are at the heart of the bid to annex 53 years of tournament hurt.

Every day before training, the players file one by one into a team room where they provide information for a database which Wales’ backroom staff claim is the most state-of-the art in world sport.