Creating a central hub of information is essential in monitoring technology
The role of a coach has become more complex in recent years. No longer is it a case of an individual coming up with a fitness program, passing on tips they have gained during their own athletic and coaching careers, or perhaps just shouting out encouragement from the sidelines. Today a coach must be an expert in many areas in order to guide their athlete in terms of fitness, strength, skill and technique, but there are many other related areas that go into getting the athlete into the best possible position to perform. For example, a coach needs to have knowledge of areas like nutrition, sleep, early signs of injury, rehabilitation and, of course, psychology, among others. As a result, there is no doubt that a coach requires assistance in dealing with all the various aspects of an athlete’s program. Not only is collecting this information a challenge but an essential component of this valuable data is being able to access it easily, understand it easily and then being able to act on the information in order to benefit the athlete.
The recent advances in technology have allowed coaches the opportunity to monitor all areas essential in helping an athlete achieve peak performance. Most important of all is that this information is gathered in a central hub of data that is regularly updated and easily accessible, ensuring that all information gathered is reliable and relevant. This allows the coach to evaluate it and analyse it, which in turn helps them get the best possible performance out of the athlete.
Monitoring provides x-ray vision
Brian Clarke, Head Strength and Conditioning Co-Ordinator at Noblesville High School, is fully aware of its importance and he has no doubt that using the Metrifit athlete monitoring system enhances that athlete-coach relationship and ultimately leads to better performances. He sums up the benefit of this monitoring system by stating:
Our coaches, through Metrifit, basically have an x-ray vision in the habits, lifestyle and stresses their athletes have on a daily basis, especially when they are not together. Thus the professional authentic relationship created by the casual conversations, reflection process and application provided is priceless
Key components of successful monitoring system
Without doubt, one of the key components of any effective monitoring system is the ability to create a central hub where all relevant data is collected and stored in one place, where coaches and athletes can examine this data for vital trends and patterns in a timely and efficient manner. Powerful data is very often under-utilised due to difficulty in collating it in an efficient manner and this leads to a lack of uniformity and continuity as well as being time consuming and laborious to collate.
Fragmented data is hard to collate and coaches don’t have the time or often the technical skills required to do this. A central hub of data should become a funnel or platform to collate relevant key performance indicators. Insights from this data need to be visualized in such a way that they promote actionable intelligence. All the data in the world is useless if it’s not used to promote change and improvement.
On the subjective side of monitoring, the challenge is to deliver a set of questions that are broad enough to collect all the required details, yet at the same time are not too complicated for the athlete to follow, or too time consuming. Otherwise, it will be difficult for the athlete to ‘buy-in’ to the system. A good monitoring system:-
- should not interfere with training and competitions
- should be simple and quick and should be able to integrate with automated data from devices as required
- should be intuitive and be available on all types of devices including mobile phones to ease the logging process for the athlete and help with buy-in and distribution of feedback
- should be cost effective and add value
This central hub of information in an effective monitoring system should also allow for easy communication and feedback which allows for both the coach to get an overall picture of the athlete, and be able to act on the information, while also giving the athlete greater responsibility for their actions. Of course, the system not only as to be able to provide such information on areas such as training, sleep, nutrition, mental state etc in an accessible manner, but it must also be cost effective.
Monitoring is essential for improvement
The increasing value of using technology to improve an athlete’s performance is summed up by Rick Delgado in Sports Training Gets Smart: How New Technology Helps Athletes Reach the Next Level as he highlights the fact that using simple technology on your phone can help end the frustrations felt by many athletes involved in training that is physically and mentally demanding as they aim to step up to the next level or make the breakthrough in competition.
“This technology can not only help teams evaluate their players but aid athletes in gauging how their own training is going as well. In essence, the smartphone has become like a coach by connecting with the sensors and become a central hub where athletes can receive reports about how they’re doing. This can be especially useful by alerting athletes when they may be pushing themselves too far during the training process. Early alerts can cut down on the number and severity of injuries, which again can help players as they work hard to get to the next level
Metrifit Ready to Perform
Metrifit Ready to Perform (RTP) has taken all this into consideration and through provision of feedback and analytics aims to promote self-awareness and accountability on behalf of the athlete.
A short summary of how it works:-
- Athletes are reminded to fill in their daily questionnaire
- Questions are answered for the most part on a sliding scale of 1- 5. Responses indicating an issue trigger additional questions and free format feedback areas
- Completing the questionnaire/survey takes the athlete between 30 – 60 seconds each morning
- Questions cover key areas such as mood state, sleep quality & duration, muscle soreness, energy levels, stress, health, nutrition and activity duration and intensity based on recent research in this area
- Invaluable information is provided to coaches by computing a ‘readiness to perform’ score which becomes more intelligent over time as the athlete inputs more data. It also includes acute:chronic workload ratio alerts based on recent research from Tim Gabbett which highlights injury risk where training spikes are evident
- Coaches can view individual athlete information as well as daily traffic light reports which highlight risk factors for athletes
- An internal messaging system and Coaches Corner knowledge library which allows for categorization and distribution of key information provides an excellent communication platform
- Athletes and Coaches can export all data for input into other programs
- Descriptive analytics uses a series of statistical functions including min, max,median,mode, averages, standard deviation and Z-scores to highlight deviation from normal behavior once 4 weeks of data has been accumulated as well as highlighting areas of concern and at risk athletes. This is presented visually to allow coaches to view at risk athletes easily and action effectively
- Session RPE option available to allow athletes to log RPE after training/competitions
About Metrifit
Metrifit is an athlete monitoring system that gathers subjective and objective information from both coaches and athletes to drive behavior modification and improvement through insights modeled on descriptive and predictive analytics. It sounds complicated but Metrifit prides itself on its simple intuitive interface and advocates a simple effective approach that doesn’t overwhelm the athlete or the coaching/staff member. It has received high praise for its intuitive interface and it allows monitoring to be scaled for all levels of athletes and teams. Recent research by Anna Saw (Deakin University, Australia) has shown that use of Metrifit is associated with increased athlete sporting self-confidence
Metrifit provides a perfect platform for athlete monitoring and development and collects data over multiple modules ensuring that all aspects of the athlete are taken into consideration. Our ethos is ‘simple but effective’ and our suite of products are parameter driven and easily customisable and configurable for different clients as required. Metrifit is ‘athlete-centric’ helping to develop self-awareness, encourage creative thinking and emotional intelligence as well as developing ownership and responsibility within the athlete for their own success.
To find out more information please visit Metrifit Overview or contact us at
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References
Asking the right questions to assess athlete wellbeing
General mental well-being is as important as physical well-being
Metrifit helps to build the crucial athlete-coach relationship
Sports Training Gets Smart: How New Technology Helps Athletes Reach the Next Level by Rick Delgado
Metrifit helps to build the crucial athlete-coach relationship