With football clubs taking an increasingly scientific approach to the game, those aspiring to become professionals at the MK Dons Academy are following suit.

After a thorough review of the Club's two-year apprenticeship, Academy Director Mike Dove and his staff are to make the time more profitable with further practices to give a taste of life in the big leagues.

Those practices began in the summer, with all 11 apprentices undergoing the same fitness tests as the first team squad at Loughborough University, and will continue through the season with investment in state of the art technology to monitor progress.

The plan is to help the apprentices understand the science behind the game, give them further control over their own careers and add to bows already strung with their on-field skills, NVQ qualifications and level two coaching badges.

Mike said: "The Academy staff had a number of meetings in closed-season to discuss maximising the two-year duration of the apprenticeship. We're going to be taking a more scientific approach to it, giving the players the best physical opportunity over the course of the two years. Through analysis of both their fitness levels and the technical side of the game, we want to help them progress.

"We've developed an excellent relationship with Loughborough University which has enabled our medical and sports science team to make an excellent start in pre-season. The Under 18 players have undergone all the same fitness testing as the first team players and the results are now starting to come through."

Through some outside investment, the Academy has also been able to bring in Pro Zone - an industry-standard application that gives players incredibly-detailed statistical analysis of matches.

"Andrew Stone, our analyst who works with Pro Zone for the first team, will be helping the apprentices break down their own stats and helping them understand the science behind it," Mike said.

First team analyst Andrew Stone is among the staff helping apprentices with the science behind the game.

"The purpose of this more scientific approach is to improve the apprentices' profile and to give the boys more ownership over their own careers. We want them to get as much out of these two years as possible.

"It's also interesting for me to see things objectively, compared to the subjective thoughts gathered from watching the lads on the training pitch or in a game.

"Having factual statistics provided by fitness testing and Pro Zone to show how players are developing is a great tool for the Academy to have.

"It will improve our understanding of what areas we need to work on and help the players understand how they can improve and move forward."