With developments in player tracking technologies, practitioners now have an array of systems to choose from for external load monitoring. Understanding how these different systems track athletes is important to decide which may be most suitable in your environment.
According to Buchheit and Simpson in this 2017 IJSPP article, there are three main objectives of player tracking:
better understanding of practice i.e. to provide an objective, a posteriori evaluation of external load and locomotor demands of any given session or match.
optimisation of training-load patterns at the team level.
decision making on individual players’ training programs to improve performance and prevent injuries (e.g., top-up training vs unloading sequences, return to play progression).
While all the different tracking systems can help practitioners to meet these objectives, it remains important to understand how the different systems collect data. Their methodologies come with different advantages and disadvantages. Appreciating these can help practitioners to most appropriately analyse and action the data collected.
Different Tracking Technologies
In our publication in Sports Performance & Science Reports (Torres-Ronda et al., 2022), we explored the basics of collecting external load data with these technologies; namely Global Positioning Systems (GPS), Inertial Measurement Units (IMU), Local Positioning Systems (LPS), and Optical Tracking. In brief these systems work as follows:
Global Positioning Systems (GPS)
GPS systems rely on satellite communication for positioning data. The accuracy can be affected by environmental factors and physical obstructions, such as stadium structures.
Optical Tracking
Optical tracking systems use camera-based setups around playing arenas to monitor an athlete's position on the field in the X and Y coordinates. However, they often lack data on the vertical plane (Z-axis), which limits their effectiveness in sports that require detailed vertical movement analysis, such as basketball and volleyball.
Local Positioning Systems (LPS)
LPS, local positioning systems, utilise a network of transmitters to triangulate an athlete's position. These systems provide more precise location data by mitigating some of the satellite visibility issues present in GPS.
Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs)
Inertial measurement units are devices worn by athletes that measure acceleration across X, Y, and Z axes using accelerometers. These devices also include other microsensors such as gyroscopes and magnetometers. This enables them to capture a comprehensive range of movements.
The table below, taken from SPSR publication, outlines in further detail the characteristics across different tracking systems.
Systematic Sports Science Data Collection
Practitioners must adhere to consistent processes for data collection, which involves pre-session, in-session, and post-session protocols. This ensures that data remains clean and reliable, and as such as we can be confident in making interventions based on the information.
To facilitate systematic data collection, we created a checklist for promoting clean tracking data (see right).
Organising data systematically is crucial for effective analysis. Using consistent nomenclature for sessions and drills facilitates easy data filtering and extraction, enabling insightful comparisons and interpretations.
By understanding these technologies and developing standardised processes, sports scientists can derive actionable insights from tracking data, ultimately enhancing athlete performance and training effectiveness.
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