The Power of GPS in Monitoring in School Sports Training
In the world of professional sports, advancements in technology have transformed the way athletes train and recover. One technology that now plays a major role in optimising athletic performance is the use of GPS. In contrast to internal, self reported intensity measures to gauge session intensity and load, GPS devices are increasingly being used to monitor and manage training loads, ensuring that an athletes' training aligns with the demands of their sport. Metrics such as max speed, no. of accelerations, sprint distance, and total distance are closely tracked to individualise training volume and intensity. This same technology, used within school sports, has the potential to not only improve performance, but facilitate the rehabilitation of injured student athletes, guiding them on a journey towards recovery.
A Journey of Rehabilitation: A Case Study
The information below is based on a student athlete who sustained a significant knee injury. While this is only a brief snapshot, it shows how we used GPS to guide our way through and some of the challenges faced. It is important to note that this process was by no means perfect and the intricacies of managing students through return to play protocols are vast. In addition to this, all initial assessments and interventions where made by medical professionals before being cleared to start return to play (RTP) protocols.
Week 1: After being cleared to start RTP protocols, training loads were reduced by around 50% to allow the body to continue to heal, while gradually overloading the injured area.
Week 2: The initial focus was aimed at gradually increasing the number and intensity of accelerations and decelerations. This can seen by the black and red lines on graph 2. Due to the lack of opportunities to work with the student due to timetabling and other commitments, this resulted in a drop off in sprint distance.
Week 3: Unfortunately, at the end of week 2, the student aggravated their injury externally to school. As a result, training volume and intensity were further reduced. However, the maximum deceleration recorded unexpectedly increased. As the student reported no increase in pain, the decision was made to proceed with the rehabilitation as planned while monitoring things closely.
Week 4: At the start of the week, the student scored highly on all wellness and readiness metrics. With only three weeks until the end of the school year, we decided to push the amount of mechanical work done. As a result of this and the fact that rehab sessions had to be integrated into PE lessons, managing player load per minute became challenging.
Week 5: This week the focus was on continuing to increase the mechanical work while introducing greater volumes of high speed running.
Week 6: The focus shifted away from muscular work in week 6 to alleviate residual fatigue and concentrate on regaining top speed and increasing sprint distances. This can be seen by the gold point in week 6 on graph 2.
Week 7: Due to the limited number weeks until the end of term, the goal was always focused on getting the student in the best position possible for summer, and minimising the risk of re-injury. Both graphs show a return to within 10% of baseline across most metrics, except for player load and total distance. However, load per minute was closely matched, indicating a "best case scenario" considering management of training within the time constraints. While total distance wasn't matched to baseline, it was always a secondary goal and the distance of high speed running, top speed and max deceleration showed that the students ability to tolerate the loading was there.
Guiding Student Athlete Rehabilitation with GPS Monitoring
Overall the case study presented shows the potential benefits of using GPS monitoring in school throughout the rehabilitation process of injured student athletes. By monitoring performance metrics and adapting training loads, coaches can steer recovery journeys towards successful outcomes. This precise and data-driven approach ensures that rehabilitation aligns with the physiological demands of the sport while minimising the risk of re-injury.
If you are interested in using performance metrics to help guide programming, check out this post on how to calculate Max Aerobic Speed (MAS) for team sports.
The use of GPS technology within school sports not only enhances performance for healthy athletes but also serves as a valuable tool in nurturing the physical well-being and future success of injured players.
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