Utilising technology in football to reduce the risk of overtraining

Abstract

Overtraining Syndrome is the result of an athlete pushing their body beyond its limit to reach new levels of performance (Kenttä and Hassmén, 2006). There is immense pressure for footballers to continually perform at their highest levels. As a result of this pressure, footballers tend to train much harder and neglect the correct recovery protocols (Kenttä and Hassmén, 2006). As the years have passed, technology has become rooted in sport. Most professional sports teams have made use of various forms of technology. This technology assists coaching staff to manage players and obtain the best possible results from their players (Liebermann et al., 2002). Technology has the ability to reduce some of the risks of OTS (Bieuzen et al., 2012). There is currently insufficient research around how the risks of OTS can be reduced in football by using technology, especially in South African professional football. A research study was conducted which involved professional football clubs from South Africa as well as the United Kingdom. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken that contained open-ended and closed-ended questions to gain insight into the current state of OTS in football and how technology can reduce the risk of OTS. Four football coaching professionals from The Premier Soccer League in South Africa as well as one football coaching professional from The English Football League Championship in the United Kingdom were interviewed. A mono-method approach was used to analyse the data collected. An inductive approach was then used to construct new theories by analysing the results of the investigation. The results of the research study showed that OTS is still an issue in South Africa. Football clubs in South Africa currently use various forms of technology to assist the coaching staff with managing and enhancing player performance. The key finding of this research study revealed that there is a need for a player monitoring system that integrates a player’s objective and subjective data to provide the coaching staff with a more holistic view of the player.