University of Georgia – Latest School to Use GPS Tracking on Its Players
17 Sep 2015The University of Georgia is using GPS tracking devices for monitoring the performance of its players during practice.
The objective is for the coaches to monitor the players on how they respond to different workloads throughout the entire preseason, as well as individual sessions. Players selected are monitored through black batches that are sewn over the numbers on their jerseys.
This is the first year the Georgia Bulldogs have participated in this type of study. Through GPS tracking, the coaches can get an idea of the volume of running, as well as the distance and speed the players are traveling.
According to Mark Richt, Georgia head coach, they are learning a lot about the volume of work the players are handling. Richt said that although they are not certain what the results will show ultimately, he does feel it might prove as an advantage in areas like injury prevention.
“What it’s doing is giving us an idea of the volume of running, how much distance these guys are traveling, what speed are they traveling,” Richt says.
A player’s speed can be compared one day to another and the staff can figure out if the player is
giving consistent effort. This information can also be used by the coaches to get an understanding of when the players start to become injury prone and unproductive while they are working out due to fatigue.
Teams like Alabama, Florida State, Kentucky, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Missouri and Vanderbilt have all started to use the tracking devices these past couple of seasons for tracking their players’ speeds, movements, and endurance while practicing. . Also using GPS tracking technology is Oklahoma State to monitor its players while practicing. International soccer clubs have used GPS for years now
Richt says to use a camp for example, where you feel as though you did a great job with the amount of practices, the practice time, the drill time and how well you did as far as injury goes. If by chance you had a great year in many of these areas, you could gauge it to be your point of reference for future comparison and stay within that range.
On the other hand, if you experience many injuries, this could be an indication that you are taking it too far or you can adjust certain things if you find that perhaps it happened after running a certain number of miles. The point is for coaches to help players by changing practice habits if needed, and GPS tracking is helping them to just that.
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