Does monitoring athletes really improve performance?
Data collection and making evidence based decisions for training programing is common practice amongst high performance coaches and more technologies are available than ever to help collect and better understand the data.
Does all the data collection really help our athletes to improve their performance though? To fully understand and making a statement out of it I have dig a little further into this as I’m planning to do a class project on monitoring my athletes using different types of software platforms.
An article review written by Shona L. Halson published in Sports Med in 2014 talks about all the different variables that can be used to monitor training load and subsequent fatigue. In the conclusion section she is mentioning that despite the emerging technologies a single definite tool that is accurate and reliable is not available. The nature of monitoring is very different from one sport to the other which is due to the differences not only in the demands of the sport but also in the individual difference in individual physiological adaptions and responses to exercise. If an accurate and easy to interpret feedback is provided to the athletes and coaches, monitoring can result in enhanced knowledge of training responses and provide further communication between support staff, athletes and coaches and ultimately enhance and athlete’s performance.
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs40279-014-0253-z.pdf
Having read the article by Shona L. Halson I got inspired to increase the data collection within my own program and will implement some of the newest monitoring Technologies. I have discussed some of the parameters this with my Practicum Mentor and we came to the conclusion that it will be imperial to have the buy in form the athletes and they will have to be part of the whole process and understand that it will benefit them. The aim is to use the monitoring as a source of motivation for the athletes to become more accountable but also get more feedback on their current performance. Since a lot of the platform relay on self reporting on things such as sleep and nutrition integrity from the athletes will be important. Using the monitoring tools as a form of communication starters in the daily training environment will be key in my approach of using the technology and applying the science to the art of coaching.
Hello Ueli. Like Andy mentioned in our residential in June, having a lot data is useless if we do not know what to do with the data. In badminton, we monitor our athletes though the use of the heart rate monitors, physical tests and an app called LOGIT to track mental and physical wellbeing. The app asks the user to rate certain things such as their quality of sleep on a scale of 1-7. It is extremely qualitative and like you mentioned, it takes a lot of discipline and self-autonomy for the athlete to fill out the log every day and to be honest. Even on the national team level, it was very hard for the athletes to get into the habit of filling it out day after day. Some athletes were so bad with their responses that our national association had to add a clause in the athlete agreement that repeated failure to fill out their LOGIT will result in a cut in funding. Another way that they tried to encourage accountability was by triggering the competitiveness of athletes. LOGIT began showing ranking lists of the athletes who logged the most. Needless to say, those who were at the bottom were shamed by others to log more. Additionally, some athletes may give false information to cover up the fact that they went out drinking and partying the night before even though it will be quickly apparent during practice. I think it will take a lot work on your part to make sure your athletes understand that the data collection is for their benefit.
Hi Phyllis, Thanks for your comment. I totally agree it will be a lot of work to make sure the athletes will buy into the monitoring piece and I’m still trying to figure out what is the best method to so. I generally don’t believe that the punishment method works in the long run and if I have to take those kind of motivation techniques I will have to ask my self if it really is worth the effort as my title kinda hints on. How much benefit is there for the athletes and can I use monitoring as a source of personal development for the athletes. I see how Fit bits can motivate people to walk more and get more sleep as they track their sleep. Maybe taking this kind of an approach because I know most of the athletes get motivated when they start tracking their mileage and see how much they have accumulated over the week. Anyways I will keep you posted on my findings.
Hi Ueli, I like your approach of motivating the athlete. I think it depends a bit on the maturity level of the athlete. Some will crave the daily data they are collecting and some won’t think it’s important. Phyllis, you mentioned a specific platform badminton uses. Is the data the athletes input nicely/easily visualized? Simple visualizations may be motivational for some athletes?
Thanks Chris,
I totally agree it really depends on the maturity of the athlete or the willingness to record on a daily basis. I met with them individually and we are going through the parameters that they feel are important to measure. I find it is really important to individualize that monitoring and that the software is able to do this easily. So far the product I was planning on using unfortunately is not to user friendly and does not allow enough individualization and I might have to switch program or maybe even go to google forms for now. Will see. If you google Logit you will find the company that offers Monitoring software out of Ontario. As I said I currently use Kinduct but I’m not super happy at the moment and might look into Logit as well.
Ueli, great blog and comments with Phylis and Chris. I was just at Sport Leadership and the phrase “what we measure, matters” came up in more than one or two presentations. Analytics is a part of our existence. I will chime in that it really depends on what you want to achieve with your measures. For example, Halson’s attempts at quantifying training load is very difficult and there is no perfect way of getting all of the factors that could cause athlete fatigue. This said, simple monitoring strategies can help to inform the training load from practice to practice which can really help in modifying and adjusting the training plan. The easiest way of getting the intensity is a TRIMP rating or an RPE of the session. Multiply this by a measure of volume and you will have a good idea of the load.
I think that you are right about getting the athlete to determine which measures they think matter. Getting the athlete to build the monitoring is one way of helping them adhere to the process. Ultimately, as you say it should be based on feedback that they know will help them improve. Often the challenge with taking in the data is that it never gets disseminated back to the athlete. If we ask for information we need to share the information! I think this is done poorly in sport an is why Phylis probably has some negative opinions on daily monitoring. Therefore the method is only as good as the ability to use it as feedback to the athlete.
I see these blog posts in the same way. While there is time frame to submit your posts, I am sure everyone would soon lose interest if no one commented or provided feedback. That is why I read every blog and at least try to formulate a stimulating response.