Maties HP gebruik VX Sport GPS om Maties Sport-spanne te help : 2016-05-30
Om ‘n studente-atleet se fisieke werklading op universiteitsvlak te bestuur, is baie belangrik vir die Maties Sport Hoëprestasie-eenheid (HP-eenheid).
Die VX Sport GPS-atleetnasporingstelsel is een van die baie instrumente wat deur Maties Sport se HP-eenheid gebruik word om seker te maak dat spanne en atlete slimmer en meer doeltreffend oefen.
“Vir jare kon ons nooit meet hoe ons spanne of atlete fisiek op die speelveld presteer nie. Die beste wat ons kon doen, was ‘n ingeligte raaiskoot neem oor hoe moeilik of fisiek veeleisend ‘n wedstryd of ‘n oefensessie was, sonder die werklike getalle en statistieke om dit wat ons sien, te staaf of verkeerd te bewys. Die VX Sport GPS-stelsel laat ons toe om te meet hoe ons speel of oefen. Noudat ons toegang het tot die getalle en statistieke oor hoe ons speel, gee dit ons die geleentheid om krities te kyk na hoe doeltreffend ons ons spanne of studente-atlete afrig,” verduidelik Grant van Velden van die HP-eenheid.
“Ons het oor die jare heen data oor ‘n hele paar van ons spanne en studente-atlete ingesamel en dit het ons ‘n idee gegee van hoe fisiek veeleisend wedstryde vir ons studente-atlete oor die verskillende sportkodes heen, sowel as oor verskillende posisies binne dieselfde sportkode heen, is. Ons wil uiteindelik hê ons spanne moet oefen soos hulle op die veld speel, en ons span die data en statistieke wat gedurende die wedstryde ingesamel word in om dit te bereik. Ons probeer om die intensiteit van wedstryde na te boots in oefeningsessies sodat ons slimmer en meer doeltreffend oefen met die beperkte tyd wat ons met ons studente-atlete het.”
Van Velden verduidelik dat Maties se rugbyspan met die Varsitybeker-kompetisie verskeie kondisioneringswedstryde of kort spelstukkies (pockets) tydens oefensessies gespeel het. Hierdie spelstukkies was onder, bo óf teen dieselfde intensiteit as wat die spelers in ‘n wedstryd sou ervaar. “Met ons kennis van hoe intens ‘n Varsitybeker-wedstryd teen ‘n spesifieke opponent is, kan ons spelstukkies in die span se oefenweek posisioneer sodat ons hulle goed genoeg voorberei vir die intensiteit van die komende wedstryd of hulle laat herstel van die vorige week se wedstryd.”
Volgens Van Velden is om toegang tot hierdie tipe nasporingstegnologie vir atlete te hê, baie relevant in die universiteitsomgewing.
“Studente-atlete is eerstens studente en dan atlete. As gevolg hiervan is hul akademiese verpligtinge gedurende die dag hul prioriteit. Dit laat ons met miskien twee uur se oefentyd in die laatmiddag/vroeë aand, twee tot drie keer per week as ons gelukkig is. Met hierdie beperkte kontaktyd moet ons slim en doeltreffend afrig, anders sal ons nie die oefensessie kan maksimeer tot sy volle potensiaal nie. Deur die statistieke en getalle wat ons van die GPS-eenhede kry, te gebruik, weet ons presies wat ons in ‘n spesifieke oefensessie moet doen en kan ons die oefensessie ooreenkomstig ontwerp om daardie sessie se doelwitte te bereik.”
Die HP-eenheid het tans 30 VX Sport GPS-eenhede – 15 van hulle is “regstreekse” eenhede.
“Regstreeks beteken dat ons gedurende ‘n wedstryd dadelik op die skootrekenaar langs die veld kan sien wat met ‘n speler op die speelveld gebeur. Onmiddellike veranderinge kan dan gemaak word as ‘n speler tekens van moegheid toon of nie sekere fisieke mikpunte haal wat hy of sy gewoonlik in ‘n wedstryd sou behaal nie. In ‘n ideale wêreld sou oefensessies ook met regstreekse eenhede gemonitor word. Dit sou dan geleentheid gee vir kommunikasie tussen die afrigter, die sporttegnoloog en die kondisioneringafrigter om net daar en dan veranderinge aan te bring as die fisieke mikpunte nie bereik word nie.”
Van Velden voeg by: “Wanneer ‘n speler die GPS-eenheid aan het, is daar geen wegkruipplek op die veld nie. Atlete wat probeer kortpaaie neem, sal uitgevang word. Big Brother hou jou dop en in hierdie geval is Big Brother in die ruimte in die vorm van ‘n satelliet wat nie net sien as ‘n speler te min doen nie, maar ook as hy of sy te veel doen.”
Van Velden waarsku egter dat om net die data en statistieke van die GPS te gebruik om te interpreteer hoe ‘n atleet op die veld presteer, jou net die helfte van die storie vertel. GPS-data moet saam met video-data gebruik word. Die GPS-data kan wys dat ‘n speler 9 km op die hokkieveld gehardloop het – wat baie is – maar dan sal die video wys dat hy dié afstand behaal het sonder dat dit die spel noemenswaardig beïnvloed het – hy of sy het soos ‘n afkophoender rondgehardloop. ‘n Ander speler mag dalk net 7 km aflê, maar sy of haar invloed is veel meer deurslaggewend. Deur dus verder te hardloop in ‘n wedstryd beteken nie noodwendig jy was die beter speler of het ‘n groter invloed op die wedstryd gehad nie. Die statistieke moet saam met die video-data geïnterpreteer word en dít is waarom video-ontleding self so belangrik is.”
Die Steinhoff Maties Hokkie-manspan het GPS-eenhede by die onlangse Varsity Hokkie-toernooi gebruik vir wedstryde wat in Stellenbosch gespeel is. Volgens Van Velden sal hierdie statistieke, saam met vorige jare se statistieke, handig te pas kom wanneer hulle vir die USSA-toernooi in Julie voorberei.
“Dit is ‘n baie soortgelyke toernooi met wedstryde elke dag van die week. Ons het ook ‘n aantal eerstejaars in ons span oor wie ons nog nie data kon insamel nie. Dit is belangrik dat ons verstaan wat die fisieke eise is wat aan nuwelinge gestel word en hoe hul liggaam reageer op en herstel ná vier dae se hokkie teen hoë intensiteit. Ons weet wat die fisieke eise aan elke speler is nog voor die USSA-toernooi begin het. Dit gee ons kans om die spelers beter voor te berei en die beste moontlike kans te gee om na die beste van hul vermoëns te speel.”
Managing a student-athlete’s physical workload at university level is very important for the Maties Sport High Performance (HP) Unit. The VX Sport GPS athlete tracking system is one of the many tools that is used at the Maties Sport HP Unit to make sure teams and athletes train smarter and more efficiently.
“For years we could never measure how our teams or athletes physically performed on the field of play. At best we could take an educated guess as to how tough or physically demanding a match or a training session was, without having actual numbers and stats to back up or disprove what we saw. The VX Sport GPS system now allows us to measure how we play or train. Now that we have access to the numbers and stats on how we play, it has allowed us to critically look at how efficiently and how effectively we train our teams or student-athletes,” said Grant van Velden from the HP unit.
“We have collected data from a number of our teams and student-athletes over the years and this has given us an idea of how physical demanding matches are on student-athletes across different sport codes, as well as across different positions within the same sports code. We ultimately want our teams to train more often like they play out on the field, so we use the data and stats collected from matches to help our teams achieve this. We try to match the intensity of games during training so that we train smarter and more efficiently with the limited time that we have with our student-athletes.”
Van Velden explained that during the Varsity Cup competition, the Maties Rugby team played different conditioning games or “pockets” during training sessions. These “pockets” were either below, above, or at the same intensity that the players would experience during a match. “By knowing how intense a Varsity Cup game is against a particular opponent, we can position ‘pockets’ accordingly in the team’s training week so that we adequately prepare them for the intensity of the upcoming game or to recover from the previous week’s game.”
According to Van Velden, having access to this type of athlete tracking technology is very relevant in the university environment.
“Student-athletes are first and foremost students and athletes second. Due to this, their academic commitments are a priority during the day. This leaves us with maybe two hours training time in the late afternoon/early evening, two to three times per week if we are lucky. With this limited contact time, we have to train smart and efficiently otherwise we will not be able to maximise the training session to its full potential. By using the stats and numbers we get from the GPS units, we know exactly what we should do in a particular training session and can therefore design our training session accordingly in order to achieve that sessions objectives.”
The HP Unit currently has 30 VX Sport GPS units – 15 of these are “live” units.
“Live means that during a match we can instantly see on the laptop on the side of the field what is happening with a player on the field of play. Immediate changes can then be made if a player is showing signs of fatigue or is not reaching certain physical benchmarks that he or she would normally reach during a game. In an ideal world, training sessions will also be monitored with live units. This will then allow for communication between the coach, the sport technologist, and the conditioning coach to make changes to a training session right then and there if certain physical benchmarks are not being achieved.”
Van Velden added: “When a player has the GPS unit on, there is no place to hide on the field. Athletes who try to take shortcuts during training sessions will be caught out. Big Brother is watching you and in this case Big Brother is in space in the form of a satellite! We not only see if a player is doing too little, but also if he or she is doing too much.”
Van Velden warns though that using only the data and stats from GPS to interpret how an athlete performed on the field will only give you half the story. “GPS data must be interpreted alongside video data. The GPS data can show that a player ran 9 km on the astro, which is a lot, but then the video will show that he achieved that distance without influencing play very much… he or she ran around like a headless chicken. Whereas another player may only cover 7 km on the astro, but his or her influence on the game was far more pronounced. So running further during a match doesn’t necessarily mean you were the better player or more influential in the game. The stats need to be interpreted alongside video data and that is why video analysis is so very important as well.”
The Steinhoff Maties Hockey men’s team at the recent Varsity Hockey tournament used the GPS units for the matches played in Stellenbosch. According to Van Velden these stats, along with the previous year’s stats, will come in handy when preparing for the USSA tournament in July.
“It is a very similar tournament with games every day for a week. We also have a number of 1st years in our team who we haven’t been able to collect data on before. It is important that we understand the physical demands placed on the newcomers to the team and how their bodies react to and recover from four days of high intensity hockey. We now know what the physical demands will be on each player even before the USSA tournament has started. This will allow us to physically prepare the players better and give them the best possible chance to play to the best of their abilities.”