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Maximizing Performance: Georgia Tech Football's Utilization of Cutting-Edge Tracking Technologies
Updated: Apr 18
In the realm of modern sports, technology has become an indispensable tool for teams and athletes striving for peak performance. The Georgia Institute of Technology, renowned for its excellence in academics and athletics, is no exception. Their football program has been at the forefront of integrating advanced performance tracking technologies to optimize player performance and enhance team strategies.
The Rise of Performance Tracking Technologies
In recent years, the sports industry has witnessed an explosion in performance tracking technologies. These innovations provide teams with real-time data and insights into player movements, biometrics, and game dynamics. This information enables coaches and athletes to make data-driven decisions that can significantly impact training regimes, game strategies, and injury prevention.
1. GPS Tracking
Georgia Tech football has adopted Catapult technology to monitor and analyze various metrics, such as player speed, acceleration, deceleration, and distance covered. Their wearable technology provides data related to an athlete's physical exertion, workload, and movement patterns during training and games.
Catapult's GPS and accelerometer-equipped vests worn by players enable the coaching staff to assess individual and team performance.
2. Force Plates
Sparta Science is another revolutionary technology utilized by Georgia Tech football. This system provides insights into an athlete's movement quality and biomechanics, allowing coaches to evaluate an athlete's jump height, power and explosiveness. The Sparta Science system employs force plates to capture and analyze movement data.
By using this data, Georgia Tech's coaching staff can identify areas for improvement in technique and mechanics, reducing the risk of injury and enhancing performance through better movement patterns. The integration of Sparta underscores Georgia Tech's commitment to utilizing cutting-edge technologies for precise athlete assessment and development.
3. Velocity Based Training
Perch is a velocity-based training system that measures barbell speed and power output during power-lifting and weightlifting variations. This real-time feedback allows coaches to adjust training loads and volumes, helping athletes optimize their strength and power gains.
Georgia Tech football mainly leverages Perch for autoregulation in season and barbell velocity to monitor the progress of their strength training. By tracking performance metrics like velocity & power the coaching staff can tailor training sessions to each player's specific needs, promoting efficient and targeted training that translates to enhanced performance on the field.
Bringing it All Together - GPS DataViz
The integration of these performance tracking technologies at Georgia Tech football exemplifies the ongoing evolution of sports science and technology. Until now, these technologies were used in silos, independently of each other. By leveraging GPS DataViz’s Automated Insights Platform, the coaching staff can gain deep insights into player performance, tailor training programs, reduce the risk of injuries, and ultimately optimize team success on the field.
Using machine learning, Georgia Tech is able to automate detailed performance reports analyzing every player, position group and practice period in less than 3 minutes.
"GPS Dataviz has been an asset to us through training camp and into our season. Working with them has allowed us to better view our data and place it in a centralized platform. Doing so has allowed us to see things from a different view and improved the way we use our technology on a day-to-day basis." - Jordan Diaz, Director of Speed, Georgia Tech Football.
By automating key insights into these reports in mere minutes, the Georgia Tech staff is able to spend more time training athletes, using GPS Dataviz’s Predictive Analytics tool and building better training programs to keep athletes at the peak of their game.
Looking ahead, the continued integration of cutting-edge technology like GPS DataViz will likely become the norm in sports programs aiming for excellence. As these technologies advance and become more accessible, Georgia Tech and other sports organizations will undoubtedly continue to explore innovative ways to leverage data and analytics to propel their teams to victory.
Learn more by visiting GPS DataViz
