A Comparison of a Smartphone App with Other GPS Tracking Type Devices Employed in Football

R advances in wearable technology, in particular global positioning systems (GPS), enable measurement of athlete movement patterns and physical demands involved in sport [1]. Sports scientists and coaches, use this quantitative data to help establish the external loads of training and competition, in sports such as football [2]. Information obtained provide a detailed analysis of what each player has experienced during training and match play. This then allows Practitioners to tailor periodised training programs [3], which help to reduce the likelihood of injury [4,5] and attempt to optimise future performances [6,7]. Moreover, coaches are able to identify specific positional demands and individual performances and thus gain an advantage over their opponents as they are able to make tactical adjustments to compliment the physical characteristics identified [8]. Key metrics such as total distance covered, running at different speeds and distance covered are among the various types of activity measured [9]. There are many more including maximum speed achieved, distance covered walking, Jogging, Running, Sprinting and even positional mapping [10] and have now become the norm during training sessions and in match play [11,12]. Advances in technology has allowed these to become more accessible and has resulted in these becoming more common place in most professional and some non-professional teams. The wearing of devices to track player activity in football has recently been allowed under the rules of The Football Association [13], termed Elite Performance Tracking Systems (EPTS). These are worn by players in a suitably constructed top normally underneath their playing jersey in a purpose designed tight fitting vest ensuring stability of device in situ between the shoulder blades whilst enabling unrestricted movement of upper limbs and torso, that allows Research Article Exercise Medicine Open Access eISSN: 2508-9056