In recent years, technology is becoming an essential part of success in sport. Sport science is changing the way sport is played and Global Positioning System (GPS) technology is at the heart of this change. GPS technology wasn’t originally designed for sport, but has been growing in popularity in recent years. They are wearable devices which track athletes positions and movement patterns. At the beginning, more professional teams were adopting the technology, with the Australian Football League and professional soccer being among the first to incorporate the technology into their regime. However, more and more teams and organisations are seeing the benefits of these devices, and now it is unusual for teams not to have them!

As mentioned, a wide range of sports now incorporate GPS to enhance athletic performance, with the technology being very prominent in team sports, such as GAA. Although an expensive investment for teams, its benefits outweigh the expense. The technology can provide coaches and athletes with extra information and insights which they can use to design training programmes. It is also used for assessing performance during games, by assessing work-rate by looking at metrics such as total distance covered, total sprint distance and top speeds to name a few, with different brand of GPS technology offering numerous different metrics. Playertek is becoming the brand of choice for many GAA teams as of recent. For more information on this brand visit their website: https://www.playertek.com/gb/

One of the most valuable uses of GPS technology and the information gathered for teams, is the ability to detect fatigue of players. Workload of athletes can be monitored by the sports scientist and the coach in training and in games, which is an important measurement in the prevention of injuries in players. This is very valuable information, as time spent on the bench due to injury is not something the player or the coach wants! Research has grown exponentially in this area, as anything that can reduce or predict injury, and can look out for player welfare should be central to the team or organisation, as their players are their tools! GPS technology measures external training loads, independently to internal training loads, such as heart rate. Research has found the importance of a multi-dimensional approach when it comes to injury and monitoring workloads, incorporating both GPS data, and internal measures for the best outcome in injury reduction. For a more detailed explanation of this, click the link to examine some recent research in the area: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316641686_Monitoring_Athlete_Training_Loads_Consensus_Statement

Although excellent technology, and a very valuable tool for sport scientists, coaches and athletes, we must remember that it is a combination of variables which lead to success in sport. Often, teams can get very caught up in the metrics from GPS devices, and forget the fundamentals of the sport. GPS wasn’t always available and teams managed then! Articles focusing on the GAA and its heavy reliance on GPS have been published in recent weeks, with caution being urged. One such article was published in the Irish Times this weeks and can be found here: https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/over-emphasis-on-technology-affecting-sport-at-all-levels-conference-hears-1.4101256

Also, to conclude, GPS technology, to have any chance of being valuable, must be used correctly, and not the way Mayo have used it in the past; As a weapon!

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.