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.
Coaches crave confidence. Not just in the players they’re putting in a match, but in the decisions they make.
When the coaches of the SD Eibar Femenino professional football team decided to incorporate GPS football data into their coaching strategy, they never expected to achieve both.
Developing a Streatgy for Optimal Match Preparation
SD Eibar: Always Meeting Challenges Head-On in Women’s Football
SD Eibar Femenino is the women’s section of the Spanish football club SD Eibar, based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, Basque Country. They currently play in Liga F, the top tier of women’s football in Spain.
Below the first team, the club also incorporates a senior B‑team playing at the provincial fourth level, plus three youth teams.
SD Eibar is a fan-owned club, with about 10,000 shareholders from 69 countries. Until SD Huesca qualified for the top flight in 2018, the club was considered the smallest to have played in Spain’s top division.
Even with these challenges, the team has a strong record of success and is well-known for its remarkable rise from regional divisions to the top level of Spanish football.
SD Eibar Forges Innovation Through Collaboration
Led by their physical trainer, Ismel Mazola, SD Eibar took advantage of a collaboration between KINEXON Sports and 4‑Football, a leader in women’s football. It’s part of a global project that uses KINEXON PERFORM GPS Pro to help women’s football clubs track player performance.
The system includes special features for women athletes, like planning tools, cycle tracking, and well-being surveys, along with GPS football trackers.
SD Eibar used KINEXON Sports’ demand planners and forms to monitor the menstrual cycles of each of their players and their well-being.
“We had our perceptions confirmed with the use of GPS. It has also helped reaffirm decisions about player lineups.”
“All of Our Players Wanted Weekly Reports”
One of the residual effects of implementing a data-driven strategy was the motivation the real-time performance reports provided each player. Once they knew that they had thresholds to cross, starters and non-starters alike worked even harder to reach their goals.
“All players were interested in receiving a weekly report of their training and match data,” Coach Mazola said. “The system efficiently generated personalized reports for each player, greatly aiding in this process.”
This led to noticeable improvements in player performance at SD Eibar.
Live GPS Data “Confirmed Our Perceptions”
“The use of LIVE with the antenna, where we could receive real-time data, helped us see if we were meeting objectives with certain players during some sessions. Especially during MD+1 sessions,” Coach Mazola said.
He also added that having the data at their fingertips empowers the entire coaching staff. With the added insights, they’re more confident in their decision-making because they have sound information to back up their “coach’s eye.” “
“We had our perception(s) confirmed with the use of GPS,” Coach Mazola said. “It has also helped reaffirm decisions about player lineups.”
“Having GPS Football Data Is Very Necessary”
Mazola thinks it’s a must-have for any coaching staff. “I believe that in professional and semi-professional football contexts, where weekly load control influences match results so much, having state-of-the-art GPS devices that provide so much useful information is very necessary if you want to do a good job,” he said.
If you would like to find out how the SD Eibar coaching staff went about implementing the system, establishing player benchmarks, and then using those benchmarks to uncover unprecedented insights into their players’ physical conditions, read the case study by following the link (above).
You will also see the list of the metrics they are tracking and find out how this small football club from Spain used them to their advantage.
Feel free to contact us at any time. Additionally, you can click the link below to get a guide on using a demand planner in women’s sports.
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