CINCINNATI – The MLS season is long and intense. The schedule doesn’t always make the most sense, but the challenges within it aren’t really negotiable. It’s either deal with it, or be dealt with. 34 regular season matches, more with cup competition, playoffs and continental competition (if you are so lucky to be entered into one, as FC Cincinnati has been the last two years) makes for a lot of games and months of training to prepare for them.
With more games played, comes more wear and tear. More games means more training, which means more intensity and minutes logged. And while some may have the herculean gene to be totally unphased by that workload, many…most, will find themselves laboring more with games piling on.
But the workload is not just about staying healthy, FC Cincinnati players need to be at their best week-in-and-week-out to perform and get results on matchday. They need to be ready to play regardless of time between matches, and they need to be ready to play after 19 games and after 34. The season is a series of sprints that make up a marathon, and work needs to be done to prepare and manage that.
And injuries happen. It is, unfortunately, an inevitable part of not just soccer but professional sports in general. It’s not that injuries are inevitable but sometimes things happen outside of your control.
There are ways to try to mitigate negative outcomes though, and methods to help athletes be at their best so the injuries or struggles they do sustain are not "catastrophic" or “accidental” in nature. In 2025, FC Cincinnati’s Athletic Training Staff have looked to revamp their recovery process to best support players and strengthen them to be consistent, healthy contributors to the squad.
“We believe that the guys need to be robust athletes, and we view robustness as creating strength, mobility and power to prevent injury. That's the idea and that’s what we believe as a club,” FC Cincinnati Athletic Train Dalton Davis said in a sit down conversation in the training room at Mercy Health Training Center. “That all starts with recovery.”
Recovery, according to the Athletic Training Staff at FC Cincinnati, is all about readiness. It is the baseline of work done to manage player output and keep them prepared to continue performing. Whether it be a training session or match, players put in a hard day's work. Recovery is the work done to help players prepare for that hard day's work or return to "homeostasis" after the fact.
Davis, a Cincinnati native and Recovery Science Manager & Assistant Athletic Trainer at FCC who has risen through the organization after starting as an Academy trainer, was tasked at the end of the 2024 season with revitalizing the way FC Cincinnati tackle recovery. With the support of the organization and led by VP of Sport Performance Garrison Draper, Davis has helped push the club to industry highs by approaching recovery in a player-based, individually tailored method that attempts to optimize outcomes for each player based on their needs.
The concept of “recovery” can be a little hard to pin down given the general definition of the word. But in the athletic training world it has a specific viewpoint it looks to address. All of the work done by the FC Cincinnati Athletic Training Staff is done in conversation with each other, but this is the most holistic and general approach the team takes with everything else more specifically stemming from there.
“We use the analogy of a cupcake when introducing some of these ideas,” Davis explains. “If you’re waiting to bake a really good cupcake, you need to have a really good base. The batter needs to be quality or else things fall apart. The icing, the sprinkles, all fall off the cupcake if the base isn’t solid. The base for us is nutrition, periodization, and then sleep. That's the cupcake, so we start from there.”
Sleep and nutrition generally speak for themselves, but even in 2025 the club has updated the way they approach those. In a partnership with Ohio State, the training staff have distributed Whoop bands for players to wear that tracks the quality of sleep they get. From there Davis and the staff can analyze the sleep data and provide recommendations for helping the players improve their sleep. The club also brought in Ally Maher, Director of Sports Nutrition, to upgrade the club's nutritional planning. She is able to track players’ meals and medical testing data to best optimize what kind of meal options to recommend, or what supplements or nutrients players need to help fuel their bodies. Periodization is about tracking athletic output and providing support to the player so that the next time they need to perform, they are at their best.
As a point of clarity, recovery does not address players who are injured, at least not specifically. Rehabilitation is a process defined by medical necessity, and it’s done to specifically address a player's injuries. “Recovery” aims to handle the player’s day-to-day management, rather than an injury concern.
The definitions and details the training staff at FC Cincinnati would give you of their work is as nuanced as you’d hope any medical process would be. There is a distinct difference between recovery and rehab, then words like “treatments” or “modalities” fall from there. Not all treatments are for recovery, and not all recovery requires treatment, but the idea is that just like every player is a complex and specific individual, the work done to keep them on the field is equally complex and specific.
Recovery is maintenance. Recovery is taking care of the little things and strengthening players so as to avoid (as best one can) injury. Stopping the small things from becoming big things. It is an everyday process. Some instincts, like the one this writer falsely brought into researching this story, would have you believing that recovery is something done after a match to get a player back on the field after a particularly challenging night. Or handling a specific injury with a specific fix. But recovery is done every day. Every training session, every match, days off it is all a part of the process.
“The important thing to remember about recovery for these athletes is there is no magic to it,” First Team Head Athletic Trainer at FC Cincinnati Pat Tanner said in the training room on a morning where FCCincinnati.com was invited to observe the team in action. “It is a process, and the process never stops. There is no magic thing we can do to make guys better, or a treatment that will fix everything, but there is a way to consistently work to help them feel stronger. And if we stack enough days and weeks in a row, it can lead to strong outcomes.”
FC Cincinnati have always looked to push the envelope in terms of providing medical and athletic support to their athletes, and have become industry leaders in doing so in recent years. But entering this season, in an effort to continue to innovate, the staff looked for ways to continue to plus up their operations.
In the past, recovery methodology has been more of a blanket approach. They knew certain treatments or approaches worked and they would utilize them so long as they continued to see results. If you did X exercise, you do Y to recover. If you put in a hard day of running on the training ground, you went to the cold tub, for example. It was as simple as that. Maybe it changed a little to account for more veteran players, but generally speaking it was a simple formula.
The process was started in 2024 when Phil Keehne, Head of Sports Science & Nutrition, introduced some more bespoke elements to the process, but when Davis and Draper started to dig into some of the newer research, specifically on the use of cold tubs, they decided it was time to expand on that work and take a new approach.
“We found that sometimes that blanket approach was detrimental to athletes. That it had the potential to impact their performances in other areas that weren't ideal. So if our goal is to create robust athletes, we needed to do something to match the athlete,” Davis explained.
After doing that analysis, Davis was charged with implementing a new process for recovery and ensuring that it is integrated in all of the things they do cross-functionally.
So at the start of 2025, The S.H.I.T Method was introduced to the players.
The S.H.I.T method, so named to be both memorable and fun for players while also being an acronym, represents the four types of physical and mental identifiers players can report for the Athletic Training Staff address.
Stiff, Heavy, Irritated and Tired.
The process works as such: each morning players report to the training staff which of the four – or any combination of the four – they are feeling, and then after consulting a meticulously collected data set that takes into account an array of qualitative and qualitative metrics about that particular player, the staff will set out a plan for the player to follow that will address their reported concerns.
Effectively, based on the data, the staff can consult a long flow chart of treatments or modalities they can provide to the players to help them recover from that reported feeling. That answer tree is then cross checked with previously reported information and data from the previous days and weeks of match and training efforts to provide an informed and specific routine based on each player's needs and body.
There are some staples in the plans. For example, some kind of cardio work is always a part of the plan but from there, as many as eight different options for each of the four categories (stiff, heavy, irritated and tired) can be assigned, with any number combination of variations mixed and matched based on the data.
“We want to make sure that every player has a routine, or an option, that allows them to not only feel comfortable in their process but also invested and interested in it,” Davis explains. “We’ve seen a lot of buy-in to this process and I think it’s because we have something for everyone. And once we get guys involved, we are able to educate and introduce new ideas that may be successful and they’ll be excited to try them out.”
An example of tailoring the message to the person is the staff paying attention to the little things. While standards like foam rolling or stretching may be universally standard, some prefer to do walks outside rather than the stationary bike. Or some prefer the sauna to the hot tub. Allowing for, and working with flexibility makes the relationship with players stronger and the outcomes more consistent.
“Hey, you want to go do your cardio outside rather than on the bike? Fine by me, that’s your active recovery for the day. That works,” Dalton shares. “But now we’ve given them options, and hopefully that means they’ll be more excited to do this kind of work and buy into what we’re doing. All while getting the positive outcomes we're looking for. Which are strong, healthy athletes.”
Primarily speaking, it is one of Davis, Tanner or Rene Arroyo-Cano (who joined FC Cincinnati last season from Sporting KC’s staff) who handle the day-to-day reporting. But with Davis being tasked by Draper to revitalize the recovery program, part of that process is creating a uniform system in the organization. So those in the FC Cincinnati 2 or FC Cincinnati Academy training rooms are now operating using the same process, meaning not only are all training staff members equipped to handle the process, all players in the organization (from U13 Academy all the way to the first team) are receiving the same level of care.
So, how does this methodology actually play out?
A typical day for FC Cincinnati’s training staff starts early in the morning… Well, they’d say there are no typical days but a close approximation to one can be gleaned by looking at a wide enough sample size. Staff gather hours before players arrive at the training facility, prepping their day and meeting to anticipate any irregularities they could expect. They restock equipment as necessary, noting any shortages and communicating needs for new orders or for what equipment may need to be mended. It is, for this first portion of the day, a rather quiet scene.
Then the first players start walking through the door. The guys will meet with the staff, then head to whatever treatment or modality they need, being given the tailored plan based on whatever they report. Many have very usual or repeatable processes that have worked for them, but the data collection process is ongoing and monitored for variations so quick action can be taken.
For example: Pavel Bucha is one of FC Cincinnati’s most consistent contributors on the field, leading the team in minutes played this season (among outfield players) with 1,643 minutes and also leads the team in distance covered with 213.74 kilometers (132.81 miles) ran in MLS play. Bucha’s workrate is consistently at the top in total distance covered, so his recovery matches what he needs. But if he was to report something new under the S.H.I.T method, while having a very usual data output, a different pathway for recovery may be added or reconsidered. The same would go for if his workrate was well above the normal, but reported similar feelings, it would be accounted for.
The alternative version of this is a player like DeAndre Yedlin, who ranks 4th on the team in distance covered but first in high speed runs. His distance covered is sprint oriented, compared to Bucha’s more balanced approach to running. Those things align with their positions (central midfielder vs wingback) but with the data in mind, even if both were to report similarly, their treatments and approaches would be unique as the collected data from match day or training would indicate different types of exertion.
This process can be extrapolated for every player. A baseline is set, data is collected, but ultimately it is player reporting and interests that cast the die as to what process works best. More often than not, the data gathered in tandem with the relationships created between the players and trainers can predict (to some degree) what pathway to take before the player even arrives. But if the player reports new information, or discomfort, the process can quickly and effectively handle those kinds of differences.
That same process plays out after a training session and match as well. Matches tend to be a player's highest output, or most punishing time, so addressing fatigue or S.H.I.T allows them to get a jump on things. So that with the recovery work and a full night sleep, players will be closer to their best for training sooner.
Ultimately, it’s about creating a bespoke profile for each player that prioritizes their needs rather than a blanket protocol for everyone.
This is a very basic view of the kind of solutions and practices that the FC Cincinnati training staff has at their disposal, more nuanced details of the practices they may use are both proprietary and medical in nature, so player privacy is important to keep in mind while reading this. It is also important to remember that all of this work is just a glimpse at the overall work done by the training staff on a morning before training – they are equally responsible for any and all pre-training preparations. Certain members of the team, like Strength and Conditioning Coach Austin Berry or Physical Therapist Jason Stallons, will be working with players on rehabilitation or other primary focuses.
It is also just one part of the work the Athletic Training staff does at FC Cincinnati, and albeit a very narrow glimpse at all the work that goes into the process as it is. The science behind the strategy is both detailed and technical. But the mission statement of “creating a robust athlete through a bespoke program” rings through every part of their methodology.
“The idea behind recovery itself is to put the guys in a better place to be ready,” Davis reiterates. “That’s different for everybody. So if we want to be creating robust athletes we need to be assisting them where they need it most, so that takes not only a personal, but holistic approach.”
“If we’re not working together, like if I’m not coordinating with Phil (Keehne) and Ally (Maher) and David Da Silva (FC Cincinnati’s Mental Skills Coach) and Jason (Stallons) and, well, you get the picture, to make everything we do connected, we're not serving the players the best we can.”
Returning to the typical day, once players have been evaluated and set on their path for the morning (some of which requires hands-on work while others have players operating independently). The team heads out for training, first meeting with the coaching staff in the gym for a brief team talk about the day, then beginning their warmup with Head of Sports Science & Nutrition Phil Keene.
The training staff is then on call for when/if they’re needed during the day's training. In an ideal world, beyond providing regular hydration and things of that nature, they go unneeded. But when injury or a ‘knock’ does strike, they are there to quickly assess the situation and handle it as need be.
Other parts of the typical day post-training session and warmup with Keehne include heading to the gym for their “weight room” sessions (another tailored approach for another story and another time), then the training staff begins the recovery process again to get a jump on the workload they just sustained. Some days are lighter in workload on the pitch – days earlier in the week or closer to match day tend to be more recovery or opponent based days so on-field work is more specific or tactical in nature – but the recovery process continues. Post training though, modalities can be more accommodating or holistic in nature as the player will now (for the most part) exit the facility and have a full night of rest before returning in the morning for another day of work.
That though is where education and information sharing becomes a point of emphasis.
“We have our eyes on players basically every minute of the day while they're at the facility,” Davis explains. “When they leave to go home we’re not there as an asset, and we're not there as a monitor, so arming these guys with information and helping to form habits is essential.”
Sometimes it’s as simple as communicating how much water they need to drink to be at peak hydration, or what time is best to head to bed (not too early or too late) to get the best night sleep possible. For some players it's as simple as sending them home with a smoothie to help them get the vitamins and nutrition they need. This is, again, a tailored approach. Everybody is different and needs different things.
As FC Cincinnati now enter the stretch run of the 2025 MLS regular season – with Leagues Cup and of course the MLS Cup Playoffs also factoring into the calendar before it flips to 2026 – keeping their players on the field, and at their best, will be paramount to success. That’s true for any team. This approach looks to do that so that each player gets the support that is best for them.
Success for the medical staff is two fold. It’s one big goal and a series of small, daily, challenges that they hope to take little victories from.
The small, daily wins are when they keep players on the field and at their best. When FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan needs to make a decision on the lineup he has a full complement of players to choose from. That when after a particularly tough match, they are able to support the player and get them prepared for the next match, even if that match is only two days later.
The big goal is trophies. Like the entirety of the organization, the goal is winning MLS Cup, and the Supporters’ Shield and Leagues Cup and anything else they’re eligible for. It’s helping to build up the players of FC Cincinnati so that they are at their strongest when they need to be. With this personalized approach, FC Cincinnati and the Athletic Training staff feel like they’re doing their part to get FCC there.
