ENGLAND HOPING ‘MIND-ALTERING’ SUPER SHOE CAN HELP THEM WIN WORLD CUP
The England squad have been issued with training shoes claiming to be “neuroscience-based footwear” that will help them “feel calm, focused and present” – and even improve their brain power.
It led to head coach Thomas Tuchel joking that he will make it compulsory for them to be worn during his team meetings.
“They told me they can focus better in meetings if they wear these shoes and I hope they believe it,” Tuchel said. “Maybe the most important thing is that they believe it. I don’t know the science behind it. They are desperate to tell me but I haven’t found time to get my head around it. But all the players are wearing them.
“I saw everyone in the shoes – about the colour and about the shape and said ‘it’s important that you wear them for my meetings’.”
The brightly-coloured shoes have been made by Nike, the supplier of England’s kit, and are branded the Nike Mind 001 and Mind 002 with defender Ezri Konsa spotted wearing a pair for the first time as he fulfilled his media duties on Wednesday ahead of training.
Nike even market the shoe as “mind-altering” with 22 foam nodes on the sole which act like tiny pistons. They are designed to activate pressure points that send signals to the brain in a reflexology method to improve concentration levels and clear the mind. “Apparently these things do something to the brain,” Konsa, who was wearing a “solar red” coloured pair, said. “That’s what they say.” More sober black pairs are available.
The shoes will be on general sale from January with Erling Haaland, pictured below, fronting their launch.
It is not the first time that England have tried to use cutting-edge technology to gain a competitive edge with the players, and then manager Gareth Southgate, issued with Oura rings for the Euro 2024 tournament.
The rings, made by a Finnish health start-up, monitored health data such as sleep, stress and heart rate calculating their readiness to train and were even described as “addictive” by John Stones.
Tuchel said he had not been given a pair of the new shoes, but revealed that he was still continuing to practice meditation which is something he had previously talked about when head coach at Chelsea.
“It started way before Chelsea but at Chelsea we had someone who was regularly on it. It helps me with my discipline,” Tuchel explained. “I should do it every day but I am not disciplined enough. Normally, yes. When I wake up and in the evening. Twice a day would be ideal but once a day I try.
“I would encourage everyone to try to do it. I believe that it works. Even if you don’t believe that it works you don’t have to. That’s the nice thing about meditation.”
The England players work with movement therapist Suzanne Scott – who has been to all four major tournaments under Southgate – and who teaches them Pilates and “breathwork”. Scott has also been used by a number of Premier League clubs including Bournemouth and Newcastle United, having been recommended by Eddie Howe.
“We have Suzanne in camp who does fantastic breathwork sessions. She does more stuff than just that but she does it and the players buy into it. They feel the relief,” Tuchel said.
“I did it with the whole team [at Borussia Dortmund, when he was head coach]. It was a nice experience. But football became more individual. Players have their support system around them. A lot of them invest in meditation and breathwork and Pilates and visualisation and yoga.
“It helps me to calm down, to focus and be aware. I don’t know how you feel the effect. It’s not like you do it and it’s immediately ‘oh wow’. It’s more of an ongoing thing. The more you do it the more effect you feel but it’s subtle.”
Tuchel went on a three-week spiritual retreat at the Sitaram Beach retreat in India following his sacking by Chelsea in 2022, focusing on yoga, meditation and personal reflection as part of what is known as Ayurvedic rejuvenation therapy – an ancient Indian system of medicine that prioritises holistic wellness and healing.
Best feet forward: Nike Mind explained
What are they?
These are football’s answer to the super shoe, which has dominated athletics and resulted in a host of world marathon records being obliterated. Nike claim they are the first “neuroscience-based footwear” that promise to improve the connection between mind and body. There are two versions, the Mind 001 and the Mind 002. One is a lace-up and the other is heelless. The shoe represents the first released from Nike’s Mind platform.
How did they create them?
Developers mapped the most sensitive areas in the feet using what is called the two-point discrimination threshold – the smallest distance between two points on the skin that a person can perceive as two separate stimuli. “They’re closer together in the forefoot, where the foot feels more detail, and farther apart in the heel,” Nike chief science officer Matthew Nurse told design website Dezeen.
How do they work?
The soles have 22 foam nodes (see below) on each foot and they move in conjunction with who wears them.
Nike says the nodes’ movement stimulates activity in the brain and boosts concentration. Nurse said: “Foam nodes move and compress underfoot, sending precise tactile feedback to thousands of sensory receptors in the feet. That input helps awaken the sensory-motor network in the brain, which can clear mental noise and sharpen attention.”
Who has worn them?
As well as the England team, Manchester City forward Haaland has trialled them. “Every step I take, I think of the shoe and what I feel in my feet – which is a good thing. It helps me to bring balance to my game,” he said.
Can I buy them?
If you have £73 and can wait until January, yes. From here.
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2025-11-12T19:40:29Z
