Reading stars past and present were in the town on Wednesday, May 26 to support their former medical staff’s latest venture.  

Southampton goalkeeper, Alex McCarthy, and Royals defender, Tom McIntyre, were among the big names who helped launch GoPerform’s new facility in the town.

The sports injury and performance centre has doubled in size, upgraded its facilities and installed the latest high-tech equipment, after recently moving into its new home in Britten Road.   

 

READ MORE: Reading sports performance centre expands into new home

 

Academy graduate McIntyre said: “When you first walk into this space your jaw drops because there’s so much space and the equipment is all brand new – I’ll definitely be using it as some stage, for sure. 

Goalkeeper McCarthy, who left Reading in 2014 and went on to win an England cap, said: “I’d used their old site a few times, and I thought that was awesome but, coming here today, you can see that they’ve really stepped it up another level and they should be really proud of it. 

“The facilities here are amazing and you get one-on-one treatment with the same people I’ve worked with at Reading, so you’re really being helped by the best.” 

 

Reading Chronicle:

 

GoPerform was established in 2017 by former Reading FC medical staff, Luke Anthony and Dan Buchanan, who were at the club during both famous Premier League campaigns. 

Jem Karacan, Alex Pearce, Simon Church, Jimmy Kebe and many other former players were in attendance to support the pair. 

The specialist centre now boasts a 4G Astro area, extended running tracks, a mezzanine, treatment rooms and changing area, to offer an even better product to clients. 

Director, Dan Buchanan, said: “We’re really excited to be able to move the company forward in this way.  

“We can literally have double the number of people using our facilities now, which means we can serve the local area even better.” 

 

Reading Chronicle:

 

With the financial support of former colleagues and players, they set up a state-of-the-art sports injury and performance centre for local club athletes, schools and surgeons, alongside the elite athletes they were accustomed to working with.  

Clinical Director, Luke Anthony, said: “We typically have around 10-15 people on our rehabilitation programme at any time and provide a comprehensive programme with daily access to our team and the use of specialist equipment, such as the anti-gravity treadmill.  

“I’m delighted that we have now been able to significantly expand into this much larger facility and can now grow our team in support of the people of Reading and beyond.”

 

Reading Chronicle:  

Luke and Dan spent two decades working at Premier League football clubs, including Watford, Norwich, Reading and Derby County, and they wanted to offer the public the opportunity to train and rehab like the professionals. 

Mr Buchanan said: “We wanted to develop a multi-disciplinary team and environment - much like the training grounds we had worked at in professional football, where any individual could access high-quality care after injury, as well as training programmes to help them reach their health and fitness goals.”