Coach Interview: How Valor Christian Girls Lacrosse Uses Athlete Monitoring
GPS tracking technology has revolutionized the way coaches and athletes monitor performance in sports at all levels. The technology enables coaches to collect and analyze real-time data on players’ movements, including distance covered, top speed, player load, and energy expenditure.
Valor Christian High School’s Girls Lacrosse program in Colorado is one such high school that has implemented this technology to improve its performance with the help of Catapult One.
Introduction to Athlete Monitoring with Catapult One
“I would highly recommend the Catapult system and its platform if you are looking for an easy way to acquire and disseminate performance data and information to players and families,” said the program’s Head Coach Terry Ellis.
The data can be used to make informed decisions about training schedules, adjust workouts, and prevent injuries. This technology has gained significant popularity in professional and college-level sports, and now high schools are also adopting GPS tracking technology to gain a competitive edge.
How Valor Christian High School’s Girls Lacrosse Program is Using Catapult One
The school’s coaching staff decided to implement Catapult after seeing numerous collegiate and professional athletic programs using the platform, and after receiving recommendations from top strength and conditioning coaches around the country.
“The goal was to make the Girls Lacrosse program the top high school program in the country,” Ellis said.
Catapult One, a solution built specifically for high school teams, provides the coaching staff with a wealth of performance metrics. The coaching staff then uses this data to monitor the individual girls’ performance each day and throughout the duration of the season. By creating a baseline, they can see athletic performance and adjust and alter athletic practice and game schedules based on the data. This athlete monitoring helps coaches make data-driven decisions that improve player performance.
In addition to athlete monitoring, Catapult One also allows for athlete education, injury risk reduction, and long-term planning. Athletes can use the data to evaluate their performance, compare themselves with others, and identify areas for improvement. Coaches can use the data to help athletes understand the importance of rest, nutrition, and recovery, and to adjust workout schedules to prevent injury risk. Finally, the long-term planning capabilities allow for the creation of baselines and the measurement of athletic development over the duration of a four-year career player.
Seamless Integration of Catapult One in Everyday Coaching Workflow
The technology fits seamlessly into the everyday coaching workflow, allowing coaches to better plan practices based on game load.
“Our goal as a program is to make sure that when we are three or more days out that everyone hits 75% of their max game load. Each day closer we will scale back that intensity to ensure that the players are at their best when it comes to game day,” Ellis said.
In addition to the technology, Catapult provides value through its support team, sports science help, webinars, and live workshops across the U.S. The platform allows the players and coaching staff to set attainable individual benchmarks, creating a competitive, supportive culture and celebrating the performance of athletes.
Importance of Data-Driven Decision-Making in High School Sports
The adoption of this technology at the high school level shows the growing importance of data-driven decision-making in all levels of sports. Catapult One has proven to be an essential tool for the coaching staff at Valor Christian High School’s Girls Lacrosse program, and it could be a valuable asset to any coach, sports scientist, or performance coordinator looking to improve the performance of their team.
On-Demand Webinar: Player Profiling and the Return to Play Processes
Notre Dame’s Associate Director of Strength and Conditioning, Michelle Truncali, talks in-depth about her player management philosophy. Michelle breaks down her two main goals for decreasing the risk of injury and making her student-athletes better.
In this webinar, you will learn about:
- The importance of longitudinal and daily player profiling
- How to decrease risk of injury through data
- Creating benchmarks for players with data, and when to re-test
- How to effectively communicate the data with coaches and staff
- If ACL reconstruction surgery is always the answer