Jeffry Eynon of BYU’s campus newspaper, The Daily Universe, published this article on BYU’s technological fitness advantage.

High-tech monitors give Cougars advantage

BYU men’s soccer team recently purchased high-tech heart rate monitors that give them an upper hand on the competition.

Head coach Chris Watkins went through some coaching developments in England in January where he visited the Premier League team, the Wolverhampton Wanderers. Watkins observed that all the teams in Europe used these heart rate monitors to measure the fitness of their players.

“In Europe, everyone from Manchester United to FC Barcelona, every professional team uses the exact same system we use,” Watkins said.

While watching Wolverhampton, Watkins decided the heart rate monitors would be a great way for him to monitor his team’s fitness.

“They were nice enough to really take me through for a couple days and show me everything that they were doing, and I got a good close look at how they use this system and felt like it was something we needed to do,” Watkins said.

The heart rate monitor is a belt each player wears around his chest that has a built-in computer chip and receiver that send data to a nearby laptop computer.  The data is then analyzed to see if the players are at their maximum heart rate.

“It basically allows us to tailor their fitness program more to each individual,” athletic trainer Deniece Oates said. “I feel like our fitness level is something that has been an advantage for us.”

The heart rate monitors transmit up to 985 feet away.  The data gathered allows the athletic trainer to monitor players’ exertion in practice and to create reports comparing each player.

“It’s a very unique thing, they’re quite expensive,” defender Cameron Lamb said. “We’re fortunate to have it to be able to use the technology today, to use every advantage that we can in order to increase our performance on the field.”

A player receives points for being at certain percentages of their maximum heart rate.  The higher the percentage of the maximum heart rate, the more points they receive.

Each practice, the players set goals for the number of points they want to attain.  The team also sets a goal as a whole. Each goal they set is dependant on when they will play their next game and how much recovery time will be allotted.

“It’s a great motivational tool for our players to really recognize that they’re being watched, that their energy and effort is being tracked and watched in real time,” Watkins said. “If they want to take a day off and be a little lazy, we’re going to know about it.”

The men’s soccer team is the only athletic team at BYU that uses this high-tech piece of equipment. The team purchased the heart rate monitors and software for $10,000 from the Swedish company Activio. The Cougars are one of three teams in the United States that use the Activio technology.

“We’ve been in better shape than every opponent we’ve seen,” Watkins said. “We feel like this year we have even more of an advantage.”Tweet