FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Without fail, every week the same sequence of events plays out on New England Revolution social media.
A photo of a player on the training ground is posted on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, and when the comments start pouring in, there’s a remark you’re guaranteed to find. Each. Bachelor. Time.
“Hahaha! Why are they wearing sports bras?!?!”
The answer, of course, is that players don’t wear sports bras. They could
look like sports bras, but actually they are sports vests designed to hold GPS trackers. These vests must be waterproof so that the module that actually acquires the data – which is slipped into the back of the vest – can monitor the players’ performance.
Hence the sports bra look.
As for what type of data GPS trackers provide, there is a simple answer – heart rate, distance traveled, speed, etc. – and a much more detailed answer.
“Most people immediately point out, ‘Hey, I can tell how far a player runs. “This is just a small part of it,” said
Jarryd Phillips, who joined the Revolution in June as director of sports performance after several years at Seattle Sounders FC and Minnesota United FC. “But from there you can go a little further and divide these distances into different categories.”
Phillips, who estimates he has been working with GPS trackers for six or seven years, said that beyond the GPS system, there are also accelerometers and gyroscopes inside the module, which provide information about how players accelerate and decelerate, and how much pressure they are under. they put on their muscles.
“You can either get very simple data that can just tell you typical results, or you can use that data to create your own custom metrics to create a holistic view of the daily training process, the weekly training process. , the monthly training process,” Phillips said. “A single game or a single practice session is a very small part of how we use it in the bigger picture.”
In fact, Phillips rarely uses data from an individual training session or match to draw conclusions. Instead, metrics are collected and analyzed over a period of time, and based on the patterns Phillips sees developing, he can then tailor workouts to each player.
This individualization is key.
“An outside back may need this work, or a center back may need this work, your central midfielder may need this type of work – and it all varies,” Phillips said. “It’s really important to get an individual picture of where guys are, versus what’s coming out of the GPS system on any given day. We basically use it as a way to give us more information on a better way to move forward with the group.
The GPS tracking system – which Revolution uses a company called STATSports – has the ability to provide real-time data, but MLS teams do not currently track the system live in-game. Instead, all Data is accumulated after each match and training session, and compiled into a larger picture.
It’s a vital image for Phillips and the coaching staff as they develop their training plan each week, and it can also be valuable information for the players themselves. Even if some aren’t interested in their stats, Phillips said the data is a “complete open book” and if a player asks to see his numbers, he’ll be happy to provide them.
As for the vests that hold the pods on — the ones that look like sports bras — players have worn them for so long that they’re simply part of the uniform. Actually,
Jalil Anibaba I said it’s now stranger to play without the vest, almost as if something was missing even though it wasn’t there.
Phillips, just a few months into his tenure at Revolution, said he was still getting the sports performance department operating to maximum capacity, but said they would be “firing on all cylinders” from here is the start of the 2020 campaign.
GPS trackers are an important piece of this puzzle.
“Basically it just helps you tell the story of where the guys were, where they are and where they need to go,” Phillips said.
