Having initially met in Bradford as employees of the NHS over a decade ago, it was a reunion as physios for Liverpool that really lit the fire under Matt Konopinski and Chris Morgan.
After becoming frustrated by the disparity between the level of service available to the international footballers they regularly supported at Anfield and what is afforded to the general public, the pair's shared passion was the catalyst for the establishment of the Rehab 4 Performance sports injury clinic in south Liverpool.
With a mission statement in August 2021 to deliver the same kind of expertise and knowledge to those outside the confines of Premier League football, R4P is now flourishing at its Matchworks base in Speke and able to count on a number of star names as clients.
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But while Konopinski and Morgan - who have decades of combined experience in physiotherapy - have the likes of Jordan Henderson, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher as just three of their endorsees, it is those with significantly lower profiles that are the source of real pride for the founders of R4P.
"Working in football together in Liverpool, it's a very unique environment and players are privileged to work in that, with a multidisciplinary team around them and professionals with certain expertise that can really help them throughout their playing processes or their rehabilitation from injury," Konopinski tells the ECHO.
"So we were aware of that and thought it'd be great to offer that same level of environment and support but make it available to everybody and not just the chosen few and the professional athletes. And essentially that is where our core values come from.
"We want to provide that sort of expertise but make it available for everyone so, you know, you don't have to be an elite professional. We want to provide the best opportunity for people to be able to achieve what they want to and so we're sort of devoted really to achieving that. One of the things when you work in professional sport is that you live that injury with the athlete. We want to be able to provide that and we feel we achieve that with everyone who comes through the doors."
Morgan, who rejoined the Reds as first-team physio in August 2020, oversees a support role in the business due to his day-to-day commitments with Jurgen Klopp's first team, while Konopinski, whose tenure with Liverpool spanned almost a decade before stints with the Football Association and Rangers under Gerrard, takes a more hands-on approach.
R4P specialise in physiotherapy and rehabilitation and are dedicated to ensuring people are able to enjoy sport at any level, pain free. The clinic explores areas like performance medicine and strength and conditioning regimes as well providing soft tissue therapy sessions among other services.
And despite respective careers at clubs like Crystal Palace, Arsenal and Rangers, it was the lure of Liverpool as a city that led to the launch of R4P on Merseyside two years ago.
"The Matchworks is quite an iconic site," Konopinski says. "The unit that we've got has got really nice high ceilings and we wanted to create that feeling of space within the facility.
"We've been very fortunate really to travel the world in our profession and we've had the opportunity to work in a lot of environments, particularly the ones in the United States where they have the high ceilings and they are airy and they give that sense of space. We think that is really important.
"The other things were logistical. It's very close to the train station, there is easy access and it has things like parking as well being close to the airport and motorway, so it just ticked all those boxes for us. And because we'd spent so much time in Liverpool, working in Liverpool - neither of us are native Liverpudlians - we wanted to give something back, hence the site being in Liverpool.
"The relationships we have [established through football] are important but I'd also be keen to stress that the facility isn't just about footballers and people with an interest in football, it's not at all. We've had people with backgrounds in all sports. Be it boxing, rugby, athletics, gymnastics and the majority of people we see are non-professionals and the general population, which is what we're all about.
"We've been fortunate enough to work with some of English football's most prominent women footballers as well. Chloe Kelly, Lucy Bronze and Keira Walsh, prior to the European Championships where they had success. So it is a facility for the general population, professionals, all sexes, all backgrounds.
"What makes it all worthwhile is seeing stuff like Chloe coming back from an ACL injury and scoring the winner in the [Euros] final [for England in 2022] or be it one of our other clients getting back into their golf. It's all really important for us and what we're doing."
One of R4P's current clients is Liverpool supporter Danny Smith, whose knee was shattered after an attack outside the Stade de France before the 2022 Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid.
Konopinski adds: "He's an incredible guy in terms of what he's been through and how he has managed himself in terms of what he's been through. His progress when we first met to where he is now is incredible really.
"We spoke about returning to performance and what that means to people and for him, ultimately, it was about getting down to the shops, can he do his shopping or get to Anfield for the match? Can he get on and off the bus, these things that we take for granted. His achievements have been incredible given the injuries he has sustained."
But while non-professionals are being treated to the same standard of care as some of the best athletes in the country under the watch of the dedicated staff at R4P, there's a new demographic who are now being targeted at the Speke centre.
"We have a number of sessions we put on each week for adolescents and what we're looking to do there is really honing in on strength and power, movement and coordination for this group of individuals who are growing and seeing their bodies change as they go through growth spurts and mature," says Konopinski.
"We feel like we've been able to assist individuals in sporting academies but again the general population missed out on it. And, again, that group doesn't have the opportunity to work with that level of expertise, while they're growing and their bodies are changing. So we put on a class called 'Youth Fitness 4 Performance' and that is open to everyone from the ages of 13 to 16, focusing on those key physical parameters.
"It's a group within the population that gets missed really in terms of those physical qualities and being coached. We can hone in on those aspects. That age group will get involved in team sports, or tennis lessons or kicking a ball about with their friends, but they miss out on the development of their physical attributes and their robustness. They don't get that and it is a challenging period of time for those age ranges through puberty."
As the two-year anniversary comes into focus, R4P is a local clinic that is going from strength to strength and it's not just Reds captains like Gerrard or Henderson who are feeling the benefit.
Parent wishing to find out more about the 'Youth Fitness 4 Performance' sessions, visit the R4P website here.
