Manchester United have invited a world-renowned track and field coach into the club as a consultant to offer his insight on athletics, including the mechanics of running.
Harry Marra, 78, has been present at Carrington to lend his expertise to staff, partly on the best way to cover ground with speed and endurance, due to the emphasis for high intensity in Ruben Amorim’s system.
The arrangement, on a consultancy basis, has been instigated by United executives in line with head coach Amorim. Marra has been chosen due to his record in elite sport. Sam Erith, United’s interim performance director, is believed to have recommended Marra after encountering him while working in the United States.
The arrangement is set to last a few weeks.
Marra coached Ashton Eaton, who twice broke the decathlon world record and finished his career by becoming only the third man to defend the Olympic gold medal in the event. He also coached Brianne Theisen, a world and Olympic medalist in the heptathlon. Eaton and Theisen are married and Marra officiated their wedding.
Marra has been seen in the directors’ box at Old Trafford, sitting in front of Sir Alex Ferguson for the Rangers game wearing a United tracksuit.
Marra (middle right) attended United’s Europa League game against Rangers (Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)
Several players in the United squad have been considering the use of a personal coach to provide guidance on running given the major demands for physical output in the Premier League and especially Amorim’s way of working. Training footage of Amorim demanding his players get back after losing the ball emerged during his first week at the club, and he has said only those who run “like mad dogs” will succeed under him.
Marra’s techniques involve breaking down movements into mechanisms that follow scientific principles. The American was named World Athletics coach of the year in 2016 after Eaton had won his second Olympic gold and Thiesen a bronze at the Rio Games.
That year, Marra told the Santa Barbara Independent: “You have to listen to the athlete.”
Marra previously coached U.S. Olympian Eaton (Michael Heiman/Getty Images)
In 2018, he coached Lalu Muhammad Zohri to become the first Indonesian in history to win any kind of medal at the World Junior Championships when he took gold in the 100m.
In an interview posted by Chasing the Standard on YouTube, Marra said coaching is about the “fundamentals”. “It all starts with the initial movement of the part of the skill, so that if the initial movement is correct, then at least you have a chance to complete the skill correctly,” he said. “So I put a focus on teaching the skills, understanding what the demands of the skills are, and then showing how to start and carry on the runway.”
Erith, Marra’s link to United, was senior vice-president for player performance and science lead at Madison Square Garden Sports Corp, where he worked closely with basketball and ice hockey teams, the New York Knicks and New York Rangers, for two years before joining United.
(Top photo: Valery Hache/AFP via Getty Images)
