Since the European Championships in Genoa last year, where the squad picked up a silver and four bronze medals, their focus on the World Championships has stepped up.

The squad have utilised English Institute of Sport (EIS) expertise from their Sheffield base, including performance psychology, strength and conditioning and physiotherapy.

"The preparation for the World Championships began with detailed profiling of the entire squad, enabling the coaching team to gain a greater understanding of the shared opinions of each athlete's needs," said sport scientist Chris Marshall, part of the EIS Performance Psychology Team.

"From this starting point we have been able to specifically target both the strengths and development needs of each player from a coaching and sport science perspective.

"Tailoring our training in this way in addition to a comprehensive competition schedule has meant that the athletes are arguably the most prepared they have ever been entering a major competition.

"In addition to our increased training times in Sheffield, we have spent time training in Slovenia, allowing players to access world class sparring."

Marshall along with strength and conditioning coach Ian Pyper and physiotherapist Jill Guizzetti have worked closely with the coaching team, ensuring all their needs have been met.

"This framework also involved specific competition simulation where we looked to replicate as much of the specific competition demands as possible," added Marshall.

"Through the coaches we have been able to provide greater opportunities for the athletes to learn more about themselves, in addition to the coaches about the athletes.

"As working with disabled athletes often provides different challenges and opportunities to that of the able-bodied counterparts, we have directed much of our time devising strategies for communicating with each and every player, which has also fed into the coach education work we've done so far."

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