Over the last decade or so, technology has profoundly impacted sports, athletes, fans, front offices, injury prevention, and much more. Although soccer has not been affected as much as sports such as baseball (Moneyball), and basketball (“small ball” and parameter shooting) it has had profound changes.
One of the biggest changes has been data collection during games, training, and even during time away from the sport. Through all of the data collection, new philosophies have emerged on training, injury prevention, recovery, and even tactics. A change that has taken place in best coaching practices has been periodization. In the past, teams would do fitness training before games, and players even trained through injuries. According to periodization principals, energy is not limitless, and the body takes time to recover. Coaches need to take into account when the game will take place and plan their training week accordingly. Leading up to the game, coaches need to provide enough rest and resistance to build fitness level, injury prevention, and the athlete to be at its peak level for the game.
How powerful computers and software have become and how accessible it is becoming; I see technology continuing to have a profound impact on my profession. As a soccer coach, I see the individual coach being the limitation. The reason being is that all data needs to be collected, analyzed, understood, and applied. Each one of those steps creates barriers for coaches. Resources and ability also limit coaches. To counteract those barriers, coaches need to keep up with technology, and above all, continuing to educate themselves.
What technology have you used, or are you using to aid your coaching that you would recommend? How has it impacted your coaching?
Hello Manuel,
Thank you for your post. Your view of how technology as impacted soccer was very insightful. I especially liked the way you ended your post by saying that in the future, coaches will be the limiting factors regarding technology. I always considered that the limiting factor of technology in sports would be accessibility but you’re right, even when the technology is available, coaches need to be willing to implement it. Coaches need to be willing to put in the additional time and effort it takes to collect, analyze, and evaluate the data so that they can apply the results to their training program. Some coaches might feel that their current training process that uses minimal or limited technology is working just fine and might be resistant to change. As a teacher and middle school coach, I know that I was very resistant to technology in my teaching and coaching setting because it felt like it was too time-consuming. Now, the only way I can teach and coach is by using technology and I’m having to learn everything at once. It’s a little overwhelming because I’m being forced to change every teaching and coaching practice that I ever implemented. We as coaches need to learn to embrace technology and the change that it brings to sports because it’s only a matter of time before every sport is fully dependent on different types of technology.
Enith Rojas