What Makes GPS Football Trackers So Reliable?
Author: Paul Niehaus
Using an athlete tracker, aka a player tracking device, for load management is almost a necessity for soccer and American football coaches and trainers. The grind of the long season, combined with the enormous amount of energy players exert in games, makes it challenging to keep everyone fresh until the end of the season. But GPS-based athlete trackers can help make it easier.
Not only can the data be sent directly to the AWS cloud, but when combined with a sports app, the latest technology can help you customize workout and workload plans for each of your players.
“With the GPS system, our clients have the possibility to monitor the training load of their players live everywhere and at any time and can thus directly influence the monitoring of the training.”
This technology is also helping coaches translate sports data into reducing injuries and developing return-to-play protocols. Studies already show that GPS is the most used monitoring tool for managing workload, and now it’s even better, and can be applied to multiple sports.
Demand Planners In Sports
Demand planners play an essential role in the supply chain of a company. In business, demand planners use a company’s analytical, marketing, and sales data to estimate future product demands effectively.
But for our purposes, it’s a load management tool. We are now using sports performance software and GPS-based athlete trackers to provide coaches and trainers with sports data that you can analyze to estimate load management demands (and other needs) for your players.
“The KINEXON software not only serves as a visualization tool for coaches to describe the load on athletes but also allows them to use the live Session Goals feature to back up future decisions with clear threshold numbers.”
The goal is to keep track of how your players respond to the enormous energy levels they reach in a game and/or practice and then manage it accordingly to keep them fresh and injury-free all season long.
GPS-Based Athlete Trackers
KINEXON PERFORM GPS Pro is more than just an athlete tracker. It contains many new features that, when combined with our app, make it easier to customize load management plans for each player.
We have learned that every team and player is unique, and there is no universal formula for creating a demand index that works for everyone. That is why we created a method for coaches to personalize the demand of each training session individually.
It’s target load management for players. This customization is based on a load of 100% on match day, allowing coaches to tailor the sessions according to their team’s specific needs and requirements.
This approach is already being used to develop menstrual cycle-syncing workouts for women athletes.
Sports Technology Helps Coaches
With a GPS-based athlete tracker and load management tool, you can get answers to the questions coaches and trainers have been asking for years, including:
- How do I track my players’ workloads over the long-term?
- How challenging can I make a practice session compared to a typical match?
- Can I track my players’ goals live? Or review after a practice session or game?
The new dashboard feature is a valuable tool for coaches. It allows you to plan training sessions based on specific metrics. The feature is highly flexible and customizable, allowing you to personalize your approach.
“An important prerequisite for directly influencing or changing decisions in training is to understand the collected data precisely and to put it into the right context. The Demand Planner Dashboard provides our users with a tool that allows them to accurately calculate the goals for each training session based on the time of the season or week.”
Football GPS Trackers for Load Management
Additionally, coaches can monitor the demand in real-time and adjust accordingly. This ensures that practice sessions meet your exact needs. With these new dashboards, coaching has become more efficient and effective than ever before. It can help keep your players fresh all season long.
If you’d like to learn more about the new target load management feature, download our guide. In it, you’ll find information on how to follow four easy steps to start individual plans for each player.
Our experts help coaches and trainers generate data they can use to manage player demand and load. Now you can, too.
More stories
Influence of the Menstrual Cycle in Team Sports – What Sports Need Now
Professionalization also brings with it more performance, more strain, and more pressure. For female athletes, this still means an increased risk of injury. The reason: individualized training and workload management must take the hormonal cycle into account. Studies on this are accumulating, but a challenge remains.
Inside Stony Brook Athletics: The Benefits of a Multi-Sport Data Analytics Provider
Stony Brook University, renowned for its research excellence, has advanced its approach to monitoring athlete performance and ensuring player safety by leveraging KINEXON technology. We sat down with George Greene (Senior Associate Athletic Director of High Performance and Competitive Success) and his team, Vincent Cagliostro, Kevin Markle, and Emily Meyer, to discuss their efforts to optimize training and enhance sports performance insights.
Load Management in Basketball: When Does Player Tracking Become Financially Beneficial?
Player load tracking in basketball: How does data-based injury prevention, like reducing Jumper’s Knee, become financially beneficial for clubs?
GPS Data Boosts Player Performance, Motivation and Coaches' Confidence in SD Eibar Women's Club
To better manage player load, the SD Eibar’s women’s football team switched to a data-driven strategy powered by GPS. It’s a move that their physical trainer, Ismel Mazola says, led to more confident coaching decisions and motivated his players.
How Basketball Data Helps Guide Texas A&M Women's Team to Early Conference Wins
After the holidays, many teams struggle to get back on track. But not Texas A&M Women’s Basketball. Their Strength and Conditioning coach uses data and analytics to avoid a slump and start fast in conference play.
Study Reveals the Importance of an Injury Prevention Plan in European Handball
The competitive pressures and dense schedules in professional handball make injuries common among players. The results of a 6‑year study not only highlight the need for an injury prevention plan but also suggest ways coaches can develop one.
How German Handball's S&C Coach Used Data to Cut Knee Injuries by Almost 20%
Dr. Simon Overkamp, the head of strength and conditioning for the German Handball Federation, employs a data-driven strategy that not only keeps his players rested but also reduces knee injuries. And the Olympic Games play a crucial role in his approach.
Appalachian State’s Coaches Use GPS Football Technology to Manage Player Loads in Real-Time
Live GPS football data helps keep players fresh for game day. Just ask the Director of Performance for the Appalachian State Football team, Matt Greenhalgh. He shares what he thinks are some of the most critical load management metrics in the game.
Why Basketball Agility Drills Should Focus on Improving Vertical Jump Height
New research is shedding light on the importance of improving vertical jump height in basketball. Backed by data, these findings are an eye-opener for coaches because researchers say jump height can positively affect other facets of a player’s game.
How LPS Data Helps Handball Coaches Find Quality Scorers with New Insights
Researchers used LPS data and machine learning to create a new model for predicting goals in handball. It’s now helping coaches identify their quality scorers and develop better strategies. Here’s how.
Innovative Strategy Boosts Player’s 3-Point Accuracy to 60% in Conference Games
Do you have players struggling with contested 3‑point shots? Get to know a college coach with a proven method to boost shooting efficiency for high-intensity shots in as little as four weeks.
Research Exposes What Puts College Football Players at Risk for Hamstring Strains
Hamstring strains are common among male college American football players. Researchers have been investigating potential risk factors to better understand and prevent these injuries, and they believe they have identified three that all coaches should track.
Former Handball Pro Shares His Personal Must-Know Metric for Coaches
Call it inside information, but a former pro handball player, who is now a strength and conditioning coach, says one metric seems to stand out when it comes to load management in handball.
How Volleyball Metrics Helped Power Arizona State University to a Record-Setting Season
The Arizona State University Women’s Volleyball team used data to determine their optimal practice length, and it culminated in one of their best seasons in school history.
The Secret Behind The University of Arizona’s Sports Performance Training Methods
Two key figures in the data-driven revolution at the University of Arizona are Jim Krumpos and Dayannara Munoz. They say there are three critical factors that make all the difference in their data collection efforts and training style.