Dibs with Data: GPS and Athlete Exchange

Competition within professional athletics has already reached media-drama highs. Players drafted and traded from one team to another with less and less control over career paths or team loyalties create heated reactions from fans and become the big topic on shows, news, and Hollywood releases.

And now there’s a new element to add to the mix, another factor that can play into the great players exchange: GPS technology.

Pressure to Perform

Despite the fact that pressure is already at an all-time high these days, GPS tracking stats will most definitely increase the performance pressure that athletes feel. To have a fighting chance in any of the pro sports, an athlete currently must have a healthy dose of dedication, discipline, and natural talent. With dreams of fame in a sports career driving thousands of young athletes in America, perhaps GPS data will be just one more way to filter through the dreamers and the doers.

Making the team might no longer be a political ticket for any player; hard facts on the individual output of each player—during each game and practice session—could replace or trump any recommendations or referrals.

Power to Predict

As European football teams have already found out, hard GPS data on a player’s abilities and output saves valuable time in recruiting efforts. Although privacy issues are still being sorted through, those teams and players that have opted for the release of the GPS data have seemed to benefit from the decision. Without spending lengthy sessions reviewing and previewing a player in action during a game, recruiters can gather valuable information that will accurately predict what kind of player they’re choosing to join their team.

Protection to Prolong

Perhaps the most exciting feature to many who work in the gamble of sports, the ability to proactively protect players from injuries or recurrent injuries allows for increased protection on multiple levels. With the careful monitoring of every movement that a player makes, the small GPS device can accurately report patterns, habits, or conditions that could lead to serious injuries or burnout.

As a seemingly appropriate balance to the increased pressure to perform in outstanding ways, the GPS data could alert trainers and coaches to dangerous symptoms in their best players. If they choose to respond appropriately to the collected data, the guesswork of reading a player may become a thing of the past.

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Dibs with Data: GPS and Athlete Exchange