31 JANUARY 2020

Malta (training camp) – In this year’s winter preparations, FC Zbrojovka Brno players added one useful helper, and fashion accessory in one, to their training outfits. From now on, their training sessions and matches are monitored by special textile vests with a chip connected to a GPS sensor (Galileo & EGNOS technology from ESA). This sensor is tracking the movement of players and their biometrics and was supplied by the Dutch company JOHAN Sports.

PERFORMANCE DATA ANALYSIS FC ZBROJOVKA BRNO
The more attentive FC Zbrojovka Brno fans may have already noticed the new vests and sensors in the pictures and videos on the social media channels. Now is the time to take a closer look at the whole GPS system. The fitness trainer of Zbrojovka explains more about what the system is able to monitor: “The basic things are clear, total distance, speed, sprints, accelerations/decelerations etc. But there are also more advanced metrics; for example, I know who’s been in the lactate zone for a long time and the number of changes of direction. The system tells me if there is an increased risk of injury to a player and recommends what that player should and should not do.” he describes.

Of course, the system itself cannot handle everything. “We need to work with the data, and more important: we are the ones to interpret the data. For example, I can see that one of the players is in the lactate zone, but I know he is injured, so it is explainable. But if he wasn’t injured, I would know that it is not good. So the added value you cat get from the system depends on how much you play with it and what you need.” Another advantage of the system is that is easy to use: “The basic analysis will take about an hour after the match. Furthermore, data processing and reliability are somewhere else than the fitness watch that we have used up to now. Afterwards, we simply compare the players and positions. Each player has a slightly different set-up, depending on their needs and health.”

HARDWARE
It was in Malta that the waistcoats were first put to test. “Basically, we were still learning how to work with it. Now we have useful data available, and it is up to us how we work with it. It will not win the game, but it will help us set the best possible conditions for winnings. It is an investment that will undoubtedly pay off with regard to the care of players”, added Mlčuch.