Sports scientist Andreas Gerg, former athletic trainer of the Tölzer Löwen, now works for the Nürnberg Ice-Tigers and has introduced player tracking at the DEL club.
Bad Tölz
- running speed.
Acceleration.
Slow down.
Performance development, decline or progress of the player.
A player tracking system delivers this data in real time to Andreas Gerg's tablet.
The Lenggrieser - a few years ago athletic trainer for the Tölzer Löwen - is now employed in the same position at the DEL Club Nürnberg Ice-Tigers and for the junior national teams of the German Ice Hockey Federation.
And he is very impressed by the possibilities of the new technology: "This system makes it easier for us to improve performance, control training and work with the head coach," says the 31-year-old master in sports science and teacher.
The technology has long been in use in the NHL
The technology - which has long been common in football and the North American NHL, in German ice hockey so far only at two DEL clubs (Augsburg and Berlin) and more recently at the DEB - initially fell into disrepute.
Red Bull Salzburg - Gerg's employer until last year - faced the objection to using it to monitor their players.
“But that's not the point,” says Gerg.
“We don't want to monitor the players or compare them with other players, but rather we monitor how the values change for each individual player.” The coaches primarily focus on the distance run, the speed or the acceleration.
“With the goalkeeper, we can see how often he goes down on the protector and gets up again in a game, for example.” This number can be used, for example, to predict whether or not he needs additional intensive leg strength training in off-ice training.
The results therefore have a direct impact on injury prevention and training control - Gerg's topic also in his sports studies.
"We know much more precisely how we should organize the training over the week," says the Lenggrieser.
And there is no risk that a player will be injured due to overwork or underload in preparation.
The possibilities also extend far into the tactical area.
Gerg: "We can measure the distance between the players and know, for example, whether they are too far apart or too close together when they are outnumbered or outnumbered." In this way, even the type of exercise units can be precisely influenced.
We can warn the coach that a player is at the limit.
Andreas Gerg, athletic trainer at the Nürnberg Ice-Tigers
The findings can be discussed with the trainer directly or, for example, during the third break and appropriate measures can be initiated.
"We can warn the coach that a player is at the limit and should no longer get the full ice age," says Gerg.
Possible explanations for success or failure series can also be analyzed.
"There may be anomalies in the data that indicate that we won because we ran a lot or lost because we ran too little," explains Gerg.
The system with software costs 30,000 euros
The technical requirements are fairly modest and affordable, and would even fit into a second division budget like that of the Tölzer Löwen.
The “Kinexon” software, including installation over the ice, costs around 30,000 euros.
There are several competing systems for soccer stadiums, all of which collect player data via GPS.
This is not possible in ice rinks due to the roof.
"Kinexon" is so far the only system for indoor use and uses radio technology based on ultra-broadband: a virtual network is placed over the ice surface with four receivers, which fetches the signals from the chips in the players' chest armor.
The data lands directly on the trainer's laptop or tablet, who can observe irregularities or draw conclusions from the data.
Gerg: "I want to make the best better."
The analysis can certainly extend into the private sphere.
"For example, if a player was noticeably slow, we ask questions and are sometimes presented with solutions from the private sector," says Gerg.
“It is, so to speak, an early warning system that helps us coaches to identify whether a player is exposed to additional physical or mental stress in a private environment.
Ultimately, the athlete is still a human being and has to be viewed in its entirety. ”However, the players are well aware that they are revealing something about themselves, but in some cases they even want to.
With a chip in the puck you could measure the shooting speed
The system can also be further developed.
“For example, you could build a chip into the pucks,” says Gerg.
This not only measures shooting speed or PassSpeed, but controversial goals are also a thing of the past: it would quickly be clear whether the target was behind the line or not.
That would not only be a win for players and coaches.
It would also have a benefit that the audience can experience directly.
