Chris Moseley is currently the Head of Medical at the New York Red Bulls, where he oversees the club’s entire medical strategy, including athletic training, physiotherapy staff, and coordination with external doctors to support both first-team and development players. He joined the club in 2024 after a long tenure at Middlesbrough FC, where he spent over two decades—progressing from First Team Physiotherapist to Head Physiotherapist in 2011 and working across more than 1,000 matches. Earlier in his career, he served as a First Team Physiotherapist at Stoke City F.C., building a strong foundation in elite football medical performance before moving into senior leadership roles

You can watch the video interview below by clicking on the Youtube link. You can also listen to the audio interview by clicking on the link at the top of the page:

📝Show Notes: Through this interview, we touched on:

• His background and what led him to the Red Bulls NY.

• His role at the Red Bulls NY, and what a typical day looks like.

• His approach towards injury reduction and innovation.

• How he sees the world of injury reduction in elite sports evolving in the coming years.

• Which technologies he would build if he had unlimited resources.

You can read the full transcript of the podcast interview with Chris located at the top of this blog post.

Here are the quotes from the interview with Chris:

Q1. Background & Journey to the Red Bulls NY

“My journey in professional sports started 35 years ago as an apprentice footballer at Stoke City Football Club. Unfortunately, my career was ended prematurely through injury, and during that time my rehabilitation wasn’t great. That experience really inspired me—I didn’t want that to happen to anybody else. I always had ambitions of becoming a physiotherapist, so I went back to study and completed a degree in sports rehabilitation, which at the time was quite novel and focused entirely on the assessment, treatment, and rehabilitation of sports injuries.”

“From there, I gained experience working with clubs like Bolton Wanderers and Newcastle United before returning to Stoke City full-time, while also completing my physiotherapy degree. I later moved to Middlesbrough, where I spent 22 years working with the first team as head physio. It was a very forward-thinking environment—we were involved in early sports science developments, including GPS validation. Eventually, I had a conversation with a colleague working within the Red Bull system about an opportunity in New York. After discussing it with my family and doing my due diligence, I made the move. I had to validate all my qualifications in the U.S., but once that was completed, I joined the New York Red Bulls, where I’ve now been for two years.”

Q2. Role at Red Bulls NY & Typical Day

“A typical day as head of medical starts with an early meeting where we discuss injured players and their programs for the day. That’s followed by a more detailed rehabilitation and load management meeting with the performance staff, where we look at player load across the day, week, and month—identifying any spikes or red flags. After that, we report back to the head coach with any recommendations or adjustments to training, and then we begin preparing for the players’ arrival.”

“Once players arrive, a lot of our time is spent working individually with them—making sure they’re completing their activation and corrective exercises based on their pre-season screenings. We’ve moved away from traditional strength and conditioning and instead microdose it into the activation phase before training, which has improved compliance and buy-in. During training, part of the staff covers the session while others focus on rehab. At the end of the day, we come back together for a full review—discussing load, injuries, and next steps. It’s a continuous daily cycle of monitoring, communication, and adjustment.”

Q3. Approach to Injury Reduction & Innovation

“There’s no such thing as injury prevention—injury reduction is the aim. What we’re really looking for is maximum player availability. We can measure everything now, but the key is what you do with that information. You can have great data on a player and they don’t perform, or poor data and they’re your best performer—so it’s all about interpretation. At the same time, we can’t get away from the personal touch. You have to be with the players, assess them, talk to them, and understand how they’re feeling on a daily basis.”

“A big focus for us is lumbar pelvic control—we do a lot of manual work to make sure the body is functioning efficiently before reinforcing that through exercises and transferring it onto the field. Communication is probably the most important factor in injury reduction. The medical staff, sports science staff, and coaching staff all need to be aligned. It’s a risk management business—sometimes you take calculated risks to get players on the field for important games—but those decisions have to be collective, transparent, and understood by everyone, including the player.”

Q4. Future of Injury Reduction in Elite Sports

“AI is exploding in the medical world, but ultimately it still comes back to understanding the results and making the right decisions. You can have all the technology in the world, flag players at risk, and still decide to play them—it comes down to communication, trust, and alignment between staff. Technology can inform decisions, but it doesn’t replace the need for human judgment and collaboration.”

“One of the advantages we have is being part of a global Red Bull network, where we can collaborate with clubs across different countries and share knowledge on complex cases. That kind of collective intelligence is incredibly valuable. The future of injury reduction isn’t just about better technology—it’s about how you integrate that technology into a system that prioritizes communication, collaboration, and informed decision-making.”

Q5. Dream Technology

“If I could build any technology, it would be something to regenerate spinal cord injuries—to repair nerve damage. That would obviously have massive implications in sport, but it goes far beyond that. Being able to improve or restore function in people with spinal injuries would be life-changing on a much larger scale.”

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Gavin Benjafield is the Performance Director at Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC), where he leads an integrated performance department spanning strength and conditioning, sports science, nutrition, data, and mental performance. Originally from South Africa, he has over 20 years of experience in elite football, beginning his career at Ajax Cape Town before progressing to Ajax Amsterdam in the Netherlands and later working in the Premier League. He holds a background and degree in exercise physiology, with expertise in final-phase rehabilitation and sports science, having developed his career during a time when practitioners were more generalist before the field became highly specialized. In 2018, he joined LAFC at its inception, drawn by the rare opportunity to build a high-performance model from the ground up, and has since played a key role in shaping the club’s performance philosophy and interdisciplinary approach.

You can watch the video interview below by clicking on the Youtube link. You can also listen to the audio interview by clicking on the link at the top of the page:

📝Show Notes: Through this interview, we touched on:

• His background and what led him to LAFC.

• His role at LAFC, and what a typical day looks like.

• His approach towards performance training, S&C, rehab and innovation.

• How he sees the world of performance training in elite sports evolving in the coming years.

• Which technologies he would build if he had unlimited resources.

You can read the full transcript of the podcast interview with Gavin located at the top of this blog post.

Here are the quotes from the interview with Gavin:

Q1. Background & path to LAFC

“I’ve been involved in football for close on 20 years. I’m South African, I started with Ajax Cape Town, then moved to the Netherlands with Ajax Amsterdam, and later worked in the Premier League before landing in Los Angeles in 2018. My background is exercise physiology, final phase rehabilitation, sports science—at that time we were still pretty generalists, and the industry has since become much more specialized. The big attraction for me coming to LAFC was that I’d never been in a club where I had the opportunity to build something from the ground up. In 2017 the club didn’t really exist at first-team level, so it was like having a piece of land and saying, ‘this is how we’re going to build the house.’ That opportunity was unique, and I felt this may be the only time in my career where I could do something like that.”

Q2. Role at LAFC & typical day

“My role as Performance Director is primarily overseeing areas like strength and conditioning, sports science, data science, nutrition, and mental performance coaching. It’s very much a managerial role—I’m the connector between all those disciplines, the players, the coaching staff, and the leadership. I’ve stepped away from being a specialist; instead, I hire experts in each field and make sure everything is aligned. There isn’t really a ‘normal’ day, but we do fall into a rhythm. We start early—around 7:45 the medical and performance teams meet to align on the day, then smaller staff meetings follow, and by 9:00 we meet with coaches. From nine to ten is really important for player interaction, maintaining those relationships. Training starts mid-morning, and the rest of the day flows from there. The challenge is that it becomes very cyclical, so you have to deliberately create moments to reflect, sit down with staff, and think about how to improve—because that’s really where the gold is found.”

Q3. Approach to performance, S&C, rehab & innovation

“For me, performance is a singular unit—everyone’s role is ultimately pointed toward improving team performance. Whether you’re in nutrition, strength and conditioning, or data, the question is always: how are you enhancing the player and the team? We are one team with different specializations. I often use analogies like Formula One, where even one person’s role is critical—if they don’t execute, the whole system is impacted. Or like an orchestra, where everyone plays a different instrument but must be aligned. I really emphasize teamwork, collaboration, and communication. My philosophy is not rigid—it’s fluid, because every season presents a different challenge. Whether it’s schedule congestion, injuries, or travel, you need a unique approach each time. Ultimately, our goal is to maximize player potential, maximize availability, and navigate the season as effectively as possible.”

Q4. Future of performance training

“I think we now have so much information at our fingertips that we’re actually becoming distracted. It’s very easy to keep adding new tools, new technologies, new ideas, thinking they will enhance performance—but often we’re just diluting what was already working. If we look back five years, we have to ask whether all these additions have really produced better outcomes. Distraction is becoming one of our biggest enemies. We can’t create more time with athletes, so if we keep adding more tasks, we’re just overloading both staff and players. I use the analogy of a backpack—if we keep adding more, we just end up tiring ourselves out. I believe the future is about simplification and consistency. If we reduce the number of ‘new’ inputs, we can apply things more consistently, and that’s what actually allows athletes to adapt and improve over time.”

Q5. Dream technology

“If I had unlimited resources, I would build a single, discreet device that captures everything—something like a continuous monitoring system that combines all the functions we currently separate across multiple tools. I want to see how an athlete moves from fatigue back to readiness, how travel impacts them, how they respond to both physical and mental stress over time. Right now, a lot of what we do is still a best guess, especially early in the training week. Ideally, we’d have continuous physiological data that helps us make better decisions day by day. The key is that it has to be simple—players don’t want to wear more technology, they want to wear less. At the moment, we risk turning athletes into robots by asking them to wear multiple devices. The goal should be one solution that gives us richer insights while staying completely in the background and allowing athletes to perform naturally.”

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The Upside Newsletter

🔥Upside Chat with Mike Messer (Nashville SC), Jason Han (Ex LAFC), Darcy Norman (Chicago Fire FC), Gavin Benjafield (LAFC) on Strategies During the MLS Playoffs & Offseason, 2026 Soccer World Cup.

This week we have the honor to interview again a group of sports performance executives to talk about the latest trends in the world of sports performance and rehabilitation…

Listen now

6 months ago · 1 like · Julien Blin

The Upside Newsletter

⭐Upside Team Profile: LAFC (MLS) & Chat with Gavin Benjafield, Head of Performance & Jason Han, Head of Rehabilitation / Team Physical Therapist.

Dear Colleagues…

Listen now

3 years ago · Julien Blin

• Devan McConnell, the High performance director at Utah Mammoth (NHL).

• Raphaël Ravet, the Chief Commercial Officer of Myocene, a leading Belgium based sports technology company revolutionizing how muscle fatigue is measured and managed.

• Frederick Donnell, the Head Football Athletic Trainer at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV / NCAA).

You can watch the video interview below by clicking on the Youtube link. You can also listen to the audio interview by clicking on the link at the top of the page:

Here are some of the best quotes of our conversation with Devan, Raphaël and Frederick:

Q1. From Data to Decisions

🔹 Frederick Donnell

“We can get all the data we want, but at the end of the day, the real challenge isn’t on the practitioner side—it’s getting buy-in from the athletes. We can lead a horse to water, but we can’t make them drink it. You can show a player that their recovery score is low or their sleep is poor, but that doesn’t guarantee they’ll change their behavior. So for us, the missing piece in translating data into injury reduction isn’t necessarily better technology—it’s actually getting athletes to engage with and act on the information we’re giving them.”

🔹 Devan McConnell

“I think we’ve reached a point where we can measure almost everything in isolation—force plate metrics, HRV, sleep, workload—but what we still haven’t figured out is how all of these variables interact together. One metric might be down while another is up, and the workload might be stable, so how do we actually interpret that collectively? The real challenge is building a system that connects all these data points into something meaningful, rather than just looking at them separately. That ability to understand how the pieces of the puzzle interact is what’s still missing when it comes to truly driving injury reduction.”

🔹 Raphaël Ravet

“Today, most technologies are very good at quantifying outputs and external load—we can measure movement and workload extremely well. But where we still have a gap is in understanding the physiological response to that load, the internal side. Many of the tools we use are still influenced by athlete perception, motivation, or emotion, which introduces bias. What we really need are fully objective markers that track internal load reliably, without being affected by those factors. Improving that aspect—getting closer to true physiological response—is where I see the biggest opportunity to better support injury risk reduction and rehabilitation.”

Q2. Individualization vs. Scalability

🔹 Frederick Donnell

“When you’re managing large rosters, it really comes down to trusting your staff and making sure everyone is aligned. There are very few opportunities to truly work one-on-one with an athlete, especially during rehab, so you have to rely on your team to execute the plan properly. That means constant communication, making sure everyone understands the goals for each athlete, and staying organized across a large group. There’s no textbook that teaches you how to build that kind of trust—it comes from experience and ongoing collaboration. At scale, individualization isn’t about doing everything yourself, it’s about building a system where your staff can deliver it consistently.”

🔹 Devan McConnell

“For us, it starts with building structured systems and processes. We begin with a broad program based on key physiological principles and then segment players into groups using their data. From there, it progressively becomes more individualized—factoring in injury history, preferences, and performance needs. Eventually, especially in rehab or return-to-play, it becomes extremely specific to the individual and their situation. So the balance comes from layering—starting broad for efficiency, and then filtering down into deeper levels of individualization where it matters most.”

🔹 Raphaël Ravet

“From a product development standpoint, we have to design tools that respect the reality practitioners face—limited time and large groups of athletes. That’s why we focused on creating a single, actionable metric that provides immediate insight. It’s not meant to replace decision-making, but to support it quickly and efficiently. When you’re managing many athletes, you don’t have time to interpret complex datasets, so the information has to be simple, reliable, and individualized. The goal is to make it easier for practitioners to act in real time, without adding complexity to their workflow.”

Q3. Return-to-Play: Art vs. Science

🔹 Frederick Donnell

“In the past, a lot of return-to-play decisions were based on observation and judgment, but that’s not something I’m comfortable relying on alone. The last thing I want is to look at how someone is moving and make a call without objective data, because if that athlete gets reinjured, the consequences are real. What we’ve done is build protocols using sports science—force plates, testing, and data tracking—so we’re covering every base. That allows us to go to coaches with confidence and say whether a player is ready or not. For me, the goal is to reduce guesswork as much as possible by grounding decisions in measurable data.”

🔹 Devan McConnell

“I see return-to-play as a true combination of art and science. Data and technology are incredibly valuable for identifying red flags, quantifying progress, and supporting decisions, but the experience and intuition of skilled practitioners are just as important. We have clinicians with decades of experience whose ability to assess athletes is exceptional, and combining that with objective data creates the best outcomes. If you rely only on one side, you’re missing something critical. The balance may shift depending on the situation, but both elements need to be present to make the most informed decisions possible.”

🔹 Raphaël Ravet

“One key gap in return-to-play has been the ability to assess fatigue resistance, especially in comparing an injured limb to a healthy one. It’s not enough to restore maximum strength—fatigue resistance is often still compromised after injury. By measuring this, we can identify imbalances that weren’t previously visible and better understand whether an athlete is truly ready. Technology won’t replace the expertise or intuition of practitioners, but it adds another important dimension to the decision-making process. It’s essentially a new box to tick, helping make return-to-play more complete and more objective.”

Q4. The Next 3–5 Years of Innovation

🔹 Devan McConnell

“We’re already collecting more data than ever before, but the real question is how we make sense of it. Right now, we still struggle to connect the dots between different physiological systems and performance indicators. I’m interested to see whether AI can help us process that complexity—whether it can identify patterns, relationships, or even new questions that we haven’t considered yet. The potential is there, but it will depend on how effectively it can turn large amounts of data into meaningful insights.”

🔹 Frederick Donnell

“As new technologies emerge, we’re going to keep getting more data, but the real challenge is how we use it in a practical way. For me, it comes down to shifting from being reactive to proactive. Instead of responding after an injury happens, we need to use data to identify issues early and intervene before they become problems. For example, if we see asymmetries or changes in movement patterns, we can act immediately and start a conversation with the athlete. That’s where technology becomes valuable—when it helps us prevent issues rather than just manage them after the fact.”

🔹 Raphaël Ravet

“AI has strong potential not only in injury risk reduction but also in optimizing performance. Beyond identifying risks, it could help predict when an athlete will reach their peak performance within a training cycle, allowing practitioners to better plan and periodize training. This shifts the focus from just avoiding injury to maximizing performance outcomes. In the coming years, the biggest impact will likely come from tools that can integrate data and provide predictive insights that are both actionable and reliable.”

Q5. Alignment Between Practitioners and Vendors

🔹 Frederick Donnell

“One of the biggest challenges with new technologies is time. If a tool requires 10 or 15 minutes per athlete, it’s just not realistic in our environment. We’re managing large numbers of athletes, and there’s very little opportunity for extended one-on-one sessions. That means tools need to be efficient and allow athletes to be somewhat self-sufficient, while we still oversee the process. If it doesn’t fit into our daily workflow, no matter how good it is, it’s not going to be used.”

🔹 Devan McConnell

“From a practitioner standpoint, time constraints and athlete motivation are major factors. Athletes have limited time and are focused primarily on performance and competition, so if a tool doesn’t clearly impact their ability to perform, it’s difficult to get consistent engagement. Even if we believe strongly in the value of a technology, adoption becomes a challenge if it doesn’t align with the athlete’s priorities or fit seamlessly into their routine. That’s something vendors really need to understand when designing solutions.”

🔹 Raphaël Ravet

“From the vendor side, it’s critical to design products that fit real-world conditions and workflows. Early on, we worked very closely with practitioners and early adopters to refine both the technology and the protocols around it. Having a scientifically valid tool isn’t enough—it has to be usable and actionable in daily practice. That’s why collaboration is essential. By putting the product directly in the hands of practitioners and learning from their feedback, we were able to build something that aligns with their needs and constraints.”

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Dhia Amara is a Tunisian-born strength and conditioning specialist who grew up in Montreal, where he developed an extensive academic and professional foundation in exercise physiology. After earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, he spent five years working with varsity teams and Team Canada basketball, while also gaining experience in research at local hospitals. His career took an international turn in 2020 when his online presentations caught the attention of a professional football team in Saudi Arabia. He spent several years in Saudi Arabia’s top division and later worked with the Saudi Olympics to help athletes prepare for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Currently serving as the Lead Strength and Conditioning Coach for CF Montreal, Amara returned to his hometown after being recruited for his specialized philosophy on player development. His approach is heavily rooted in an “outcome approach,” focusing on high-performance metrics such as deceleration capacity, isometric work, and eccentric strength to ensure athletes are robust enough to handle the demands of elite soccer. Beyond physical training, he acts as a central figure in the performance department, bridging the gap between medical, nutritional, and coaching staff while advocating for the increased individualization of player loads through the integration of wearable technology and data analysis.

You can watch the video interview below by clicking on the Youtube link. You can also listen to the audio interview by clicking on the link at the top of the page:

📝Show Notes: Through this interview, we touched on:

• His background and what led him to CF Montreal.

• His role at CF Montreal, and what a typical day looks like.

• His approach towards S&C, and innovation.

• How he sees the world S&C in elite sports evolving in the coming years.

• Which technologies he would build if he had unlimited resources.

You can read the full transcript of the podcast interview with Dhia located at the top of this blog post.

Here are the quotes from the interview with Dhia:

Q1. Tell me about your background and what led you to CF Montreal?

“I was born in Tunisia and then I grew up in Montreal... I did all my school and internships here. I did a bachelor degree and a master degree in exercise physiology... I touched base on many things like rehab, management, and performance... I even worked in a hospital to work with researchers. I worked for five years with the varsity team... and I did a couple of camps with Team Canada basketball. In 2020, during COVID, I started to do conferences online. A person responsible from a team in Saudi Arabia attended the online conference... He liked my philosophy and he offered me a contract in Saudi Arabia. I went to Saudi Arabia to work for a football division one team for two years, then I got an offer from the Saudi Olympics to prepare for the Olympic Games in Paris. Then CF Montreal contacted me... they were looking for someone who can help them to develop the physical qualities of the players... Jill Gagan, who was the first person with whom I did my internship, knew me and we stayed in contact. After four years and a half in Saudi Arabia, I decided to come back home.”

Q2. What is your role at CF Montreal? What does your typical day look like?

“Basically, we don’t have a typical day, but the days they sometimes look alike a bit. We start in the morning around 7:30 or 8:00 AM with the staff... I start to see my planning for the day. Slowly the players start to come, so we start to check their readiness—who is sick, who is overloaded. The medical team tells us about the players who are in or out, and I change my plan if I have to. In the gym, I help the guys prepare; some have individual work, some have core work for the team. We have a meeting with the coaching staff, then we do our practice. Some training we do before or after practice, depending on the quality we would like to work, like speed or hypertrophy. By 2:00 PM we are done with the players... then we have another meeting with the medical staff to see what happened during the day and talk about the next day. When we don’t have big training sessions, we have more time to analyze and talk about what we want to do next month.”

Q3. What is your approach towards S&C and innovation?

“I don’t have a magical recipe... I call it an outcome approach. I have something I want to improve, I know I need to put this amount of dose for that athlete, and I manage through the week to give them that dose. We focus a lot on deceleration work... we use a lot of work on the field to improve these qualities. For example, we have a big downhill at the club that we use for overspeed because gravity pulls you, so you use less energy to reach high speeds. We expose the athlete to something bigger than what they can get in training or a game... so when they are exposed to it, they feel it is normal. Regarding innovation, the goal is not to collect as many useful tools as we can, but to select what fits our philosophy. I am sticking to my philosophy and always look for tools that can improve it. If it is not solving a problem, then what is it for? I don’t want to buy something I’m going to use only once; I want something I need every week or every two weeks.”

Q4. How do you see the world of S&C in elite sports evolving in the coming years?

“Many football players now have their personal coaches, and it’s going to become more and more [common], so I feel we have to collaborate with them. The goal is to establish trust between me, his coach, and him because I am the only one who knows the total load he underwent. We will reach a state where we have a lot of importance because we are the ones who understand the language of the coach, the nutritionist, and the medical staff—we are the connective tissue of all the departments. Our department will become big, maybe five people minimum in every organization, because to individualize all the work and respond to all the duties, you need more people. We are getting into an era where everything is individualized—even collective football training—because some players exceed their capacity during games and need to be managed. It’s going to be individualized every day, everywhere, and this is the new era of S&C.”

Q5. If you could build any new technologies and had unlimited resources, what would you build? Why?

“What I would do is something that I was thinking about for one year now... many athletes now wear Whoop. I wish we had a tool where Whoop is connected to the GPS. Now we have different data from everywhere—wellness questionnaires, HRV, GPS, force plates—and we have to interpret all this and convince the coach. I feel with AI, it could take the GPS load, gym load, sleep, and everything, and in the morning give me a number that says ‘this player is 70% ready for today’s training.’ It would take all the data, summarize it, and give me a score with recommendations so I can decide quickly. It’s not about adding more; it’s about making sense of what we have already. I have already a lot; I just need something that helps me to decide faster.”

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You can watch the video interview below or you can listen to the audio interview above:

📝Show Notes: Through this interview, we touched on:

• The NFL draft in Pittsburgh April 23-25 with 750,000 additional people expected.

• NCAA updates: The transfer portal, March Madness.

• WNBA updates.

• NBA & NHL playoffs,

• MLB season debut.

You can read the full transcript of the podcast interview with Ron located at the top of this blog post.

Here are some of the best quotes of our conversation with Ron:

🏈 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh

“It is going to be the new Woodstock. The original Woodstock had around 400,000 to 500,000 people, and when you look at what happened in Detroit with about 750,000 people and over $200 million in new revenue, I expect all of that here in Pittsburgh. There will be more people here than at any point in the city’s history, so just brace for impact. This has really become a pilgrimage—people just show up to be part of it—and because the NFL is a 12-month-a-year league, there’s really no offseason, which is why the draft has exploded into something none of us have ever seen before.”

🎓 NCAA (Transfer Portal & March Madness)

“The transfer portal has really turned into free agency—there’s a lot of movement, and players can go to the highest bidder without sitting out, which is a huge shift from how college sports used to operate. The challenge right now is that there still doesn’t seem to be much structure or formal contracts, so it’s evolving in real time and changing the entire landscape. And with March Madness, when you have situations where emotions run high, especially with Hall of Fame coaches, it’s important to handle things the right way—if you’re going to apologize, use the person’s name, because at that level, everyone should know better.”

🏀 WNBA

“The new financial structure in the WNBA is a major step forward. You’re looking at a minimum salary now at $300,000, up from $66,000, and the average salary jumping from about $120,000 to $600,000. There’s a $7 million salary cap, super max deals at $1.4 million, and even systems like a core player designation, similar to a franchise tag. I don’t see how this is a bad thing—the players are happy, the revenue is clearly there, and after nearly 30 years, the league’s growth and team valuations are finally catching up with where they should be.”

🏀🏒 NBA & NHL Playoffs

“Late March and early April is always one of the most exciting times in sports because everything is coming together at once—the regular seasons are wrapping up, playoff spots are being decided, and you’ve got a lot of strong teams across both the NBA and NHL. Injuries, momentum, and matchups are all playing a role, so there’s a lot of uncertainty about who’s going to make a run. That’s what makes it such a fun and exciting time to be a sports fan.”

⚾ MLB Season Debut

“You’ve got a 19-year-old signing a $140 million contract for nine years without ever playing a major league game, and that’s what makes this so risky. Seven teams passed on him in the draft, so clearly there were questions, and this kind of deal is very uncharacteristic, especially for a team like Pittsburgh. It caught the league and a lot of fans off guard, but at the same time there’s real excitement about his potential, so now the spotlight is on him to see if he can actually live up to that investment.”

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The Upside Newsletter

🔥Upside Chat: Dr Ron Dick, Duquesne University, Ex NBA/NCAA Exec on the NHL/NBA/MLS Favorites, MLB Spring Training, Aaron Rodgers, March Madness, Leo Messi

This week we had the honor to interview again Dr. Ron Dick, associate professor of sports marketing at Duquesne University in the school of business. Ron also worked for 20 years in sports, including 15 years in the NBA with the Sixers and the Nets, and then five years in the NCAA…

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a year ago · Julien Blin

Frederick Donnell is the Head Football Athletic Trainer at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), where he oversees all aspects of sports medicine, rehabilitation, and return-to-play decision-making for student-athletes. He began his career after discovering a passion for athletic training during an internship at Florida Atlantic University, before earning his master’s degree from the University of South Florida. Donnell gained valuable experience across both collegiate and professional sports, including roles with the Atlanta Falcons, Coastal Carolina, and the University of Central Florida.

Known for his evidence-based approach and emphasis on collaboration, he works closely with strength and conditioning staff, coaches, and sports science teams to ensure athlete health, performance, and long-term development, with the ultimate goal of helping players safely reach the next level.

You can watch the video interview below by clicking on the Youtube link. You can also listen to the audio interview by clicking on the link at the top of the page:

📝Show Notes: Through this interview, we touched on:

• His journey to the NCAA.

• His role at UNLV.

• His approach towards training, S&C and innovation.

• How he sees the world of S&C evolving in the next 5 years.

• How sports medicine and S&C tend to intertwine.

• The impact of AI in the world of elite sports.

You can read the full transcript of the podcast interview with Frederick located at the top of this blog post.

Here are the quotes from the interview with Frederick:

Q1. His Background

“Back in undergrad at FAU, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I had about a year left and was trying to figure it out, so I ended up interning with the sports medicine staff—and that’s where everything changed. I fell in love with the profession.”

“After FAU, I went to the University of South Florida for my master’s, then spent time with the Atlanta Falcons as a seasonal assistant, Coastal Carolina covering football and baseball, and then four years at UCF before coming here to UNLV.”

“It’s funny because the people I interned under back then are now in top roles in the NFL, and to see everyone grow together in this profession has been really special.”

Q2. His Role at UNLV

“You can almost call me a medical supervisor for the program—I tend to have the final say on whether a student-athlete can participate in practices, games, or workouts.”

“I’m essentially their voice when communicating with the strength staff and coaching staff about what they can and can’t do.”

“I oversee all rehab and treatment, and you can almost consider me the medical director of the staff, especially when it comes to return-to-play decisions.”

“My ultimate goal is to get these guys back on the field in a safe but timely manner—and hopefully help them reach the next level and play on Sundays.”

Q3. His Approach to Training, S&C, and Innovation

“I teach my staff four key points: inhibit, lengthen, activate, and integrate—that’s the foundation of how we approach rehab and training.”

“We want to calm down overactive muscles, improve range of motion, then activate and finally integrate movements that are specific to their sport and position.”

“I’m not going to have a defensive back doing offensive line drills—everything we do is tailored to the individual because that creates purpose and buy-in.”

“Everything we do here is evidence-based—we’re not going to do something the same way for 20 years without adapting to new research.”

“We’re constantly looking at data and using tools like force plates and force frames to make informed decisions instead of just guessing when an athlete is ready.”

Q4. The Future of S&C (Next 5 Years)

“There’s a lot more research now being done in the weight room compared to 20 years ago—back then, people were just repeating the same methods without much data.”

“Now strength and conditioning is becoming much more evidence-based, with smarter programming that avoids overtraining and looks at long-term development.”

“The best programs today are built by professionals who are actually developing structured plans—not just pushing athletes harder for the sake of it.”

“One concern I have is athletes having too much say in their programming—they should have input, but ultimately the experts in the weight room should lead.”

Q5. The Interplay Between Sports Medicine and S&C

“The triangle of communication between sports medicine, strength and conditioning, and coaching staff is absolutely essential.”

“What I communicate to the strength staff and coaches has to be identical—everyone needs to be on the same page.”

“If the strength staff sees progress in the weight room, that needs to be communicated so we can progress the athlete safely.”

“We never want a student-athlete to be confused about what they can or can’t do—that’s why communication is everything.”

Q6. The Impact of AI in Elite Sports

“AI definitely has a role in healthcare, but I’m not worried about a robot taking over my job—it’s more about how it can assist us.”

“If you didn’t write a note, it never happened—so using AI for note-taking and documentation can save a huge amount of time.”

“There are also opportunities to use AI for building rehab programs, which can be very time-consuming.”

“If AI can help us manage our time better—especially in a hands-on profession like ours—that’s where it becomes really valuable.”

“We need to put our egos aside and ask, ‘How can we use AI to be more efficient and better at our jobs?’”

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• Michael Messer, the head of rehabilitation at Nashville SC (MLS).

• Darcy Norman, the Director of Performance at Chicago Fire FC (MLS).

• Karam Al-Hamdani, the Director of Sports Medicine and Head Athletic Trainer at the CF Montreal (MLS).

• Jason Han, the former head of rehabilitation at LAFC (MLS). Jason is also the head of business development in North America at OneBase health.

You can watch the video interview below by clicking on the Youtube link. You can also listen to the audio interview by clicking on the link at the top of the page:

Here are some of the best quotes of our conversation with Michael, Darcy, Jason and Karam:

🧠 Q1. The Next Competitive Edge in the MLS

Darcy Norman

“I think it’s data and information systems. The groups that are willing to take on the challenge of implementing technology — and more importantly, building the systems and processes around it — are going to have a serious advantage. It’s a ton of work, but if you can get good data and turn it into meaningful information, it allows you to adapt faster to trends, league demands, and the global game. Ultimately, better information leads to better decisions and faster progress.”

“From a pure resourcing standpoint, MLS is still behind Europe. Some clubs here have very small or even non-existent departments compared to what you see overseas. But the teams that recognize this gap and embrace data and technology as a way to create an edge are the ones that will benefit the most.”

Jason Han

“The data is incredible, especially now with AI — you can process information from your own team and across the world at light speed. But we’re in this in-between stage. You can have all the data in the world, but if you don’t have enough people to implement it and build relationships with players, it doesn’t matter. The real competitive edge will come from combining data with the human side — and that requires investment in people.”

Karam Al Hamdani

“I really think the next competitive advantage is the creation of true R&D departments within clubs. You can have the best technology and AI systems, but if you don’t have dedicated people whose job is to interpret that data and turn it into meaningful, actionable insights for players and staff, then data is just data. The value comes from translating it into something usable.”

Michael Messer

“I’m really interested to see what happens after the World Cup in the U.S. It could shift resources, interest, and even the talent pipeline. In the U.S., we’re competing with other sports for top athletes, unlike many European countries. So the next edge might also come from improving our academy systems and attracting better athletes into soccer earlier.”

🤝 Q2. Collaboration Between Departments

Karam Al Hamdani

“Collaboration has evolved massively. When I started, it was basically one trainer, one assistant, and one fitness coach doing everything. Now you have full departments — medical, performance, analytics — all with strong opinions and ideas. The key is constant communication and having meaningful meetings with clear agendas and actionable outcomes. That’s what creates true synergy.”

“You have to be prepared, but also flexible. No matter how much planning you do, there will always be curveballs. So best-in-class collaboration is about preparation, communication, and the ability to adapt in real time.”

Darcy Norman

“As clubs grow, it becomes harder to keep everyone aligned. You might have more expertise, but also more complexity. So you need a really clear mission, vision, and values. Otherwise, you waste time and create friction. Collaboration today is about being interdisciplinary, efficient, and respectful of time — because if not, burnout becomes a real risk.”

Jason Han

“It really comes down to leadership. You can have five or ten smart people in a room, but if no one is truly leading and creating structure, things fall apart. You need clear processes, accountability, and clarity on who is responsible for what. At the same time, you have to stay flexible because in sport, things change instantly.”

Michael Messer

“What you’re starting to see is a better understanding across departments of how each role contributes to the bigger picture. But that only works if there’s strong leadership at the top to align everyone toward a common goal. Whether it’s rehab, performance, coaching, or analytics, everyone needs to be working toward the same vision.”

⚡ Q3. Athlete Fatigue (Physical & Psychological)

Darcy Norman

“Fatigue is a massive question — and I don’t think it’s ever fully solvable. It starts with leadership, culture, and good planning. Monitoring tools help, but they all have limitations. For example, with GPS, we thought we understood workload, but then realized we were missing 30–40% of what players were actually doing.”

“At the end of the day, the most important tool is still communication. Having honest conversations with players — ‘How are you feeling? Are you ready today?’ — is often more valuable than any piece of technology. The data helps guide you, but it doesn’t replace that human interaction.”

Jason Han

“What players do outside the facility is a huge, often untapped part of fatigue management. You can control training, recovery, and protocols inside the building, but you also need to educate players on their choices outside — sleep, activity, lifestyle. Ultimately, it comes down to helping them understand what they truly want and aligning their behaviors with that.”

Karam Al Hamdani

“You can have all the tools — Oura rings, Whoop, questionnaires — but it always comes back to honest conversations. You combine how the player feels physically, how they feel mentally, what the data says, and what you see clinically, and then you make a decision.”

“Fatigue today isn’t just physical — it’s travel, time zones, emotional stress, performance outcomes. You take all of that, mix it together, and try to make the best possible call. But communication is always the key.”

Michael Messer

“For me, communication is always the first line. A simple daily RPE or honest conversation can be incredibly powerful. The challenge is taking all the available data and turning it into a simple, confident decision — especially when that decision might impact training or game selection.”

“There’s so much technology out there, but the real challenge is using it consistently and meaningfully. And ultimately, you need the coach to trust the information you’re presenting if it’s going to influence decisions.”

🔮 Q4. Future of the MLS Athlete

Darcy Norman

“As academies improve and the talent pool grows, the overall quality of the MLS athlete will continue to rise. From a performance standpoint, I’d like to see players become more ‘pound-for-pound’ strong — not necessarily bigger, but more powerful and efficient relative to their body weight.”

“With better players and increased competition, everything speeds up — decision-making, intensity, execution. Players adapt to that environment, and it elevates the entire level of the game.”

Karam Al Hamdani

“I think the future MLS athlete will be smarter and more educated. With better academy systems and more resources in areas like performance and nutrition, players will develop stronger decision-making skills and a deeper understanding of the game.”

Jason Han

“As the quality of teammates and competition improves, the overall level rises. But I think a big shift will be players treating their bodies like precision-managed systems — combining objective data with their internal drive and passion for the sport. That balance will create better athletes.”

Michael Messer

“The level of the athlete will continue to improve across physical, technical, and cognitive areas. Physically, MLS players are not far off globally, but where you see the gap is at the very top end — the elite of the elite.”

“The biggest opportunity for growth is probably on the technical and tactical side — developing smarter players, stronger identities, and more refined styles of play through better academy development.”

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• Dr. John DeWitt, Director of applied sports science in the athletic department and a faculty member, Rice University (NCAA team).

• Paul Silvestri, Sr director of sports health and performance, University of Florida football (NCAA team).

• Drew Lukes, Senior PT at Duke University and the head of sports science, Duke university’s women soccer team (NCAA team).

• Tyler Friedrich, Associate Athletics Director, Applied Performance at Stanford University (NCAA team).

You can watch the video interview below by clicking on the Youtube link. You can also listen to the audio interview by clicking on the link at the top of the page:

📝Show Notes: Through this interview, we touched on the following questions:

Q1. Time Management

In a high-performance NCAA environment where demands are constant, how do you personally and professionally manage your time? Are there specific systems, tools, or habits that help you stay effective and avoid burnout?

Q2. Athlete Fatigue (Physical & Psychological)

Fatigue management is becoming increasingly complex. What methods or technologies do you rely on to monitor both physical and psychological fatigue in your athletes? And how do those insights actually influence your day-to-day decision-making?

Q3. Lessons Learned

Looking back on your career so far, what are some of the most important lessons you’ve learned? And if you had the opportunity to do something differently earlier on, what would it be—and why?

Q4. March Madness Predictions

With March Madness around the corner, who do you see as the team to beat this year? What stands out to you about their performance, preparation, or overall structure?

You can read the full transcript of the podcast interview located at the top of this blog post.

You can leave a comment by clicking on the button below:

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Here are some of the best quotes of our conversation with them:

Q1. Time Management

Dr. John DeWitt

“In our environment, there’s always another question to answer or another dataset to explore, and if you’re not careful, you can spend all your time chasing analysis. What I’ve learned is that you have to weigh the value of the question against the time it will take to answer it. If the insight isn’t going to directly help improve performance or reduce injury risk, then it’s okay to say no. That discipline is critical—otherwise, you’ll find yourself stuck behind a computer all day without actually moving the needle for your athletes.”

Paul Silvestri

“One of the biggest lessons for me in managing time has been empowering my staff. I don’t set their schedules—one of my assistants handles that for the entire group. It gives them ownership, it builds trust, and it helps them create balance in their own lives. And that balance is huge, because when people feel good outside of work, they’re much more effective inside of it. For me personally, I try to recognize that there are going to be really busy stretches, but when things slow down, I make it a priority to invest that time back into my family and reset.”

Tyler Friedrich

“A huge key to managing time effectively is being extremely diligent with your front-end work. How you collect your data, how you store it, how clean and organized it is—those things determine how efficient you’ll be later. If you build strong systems and dashboards upfront, you can answer a lot of questions almost instantly instead of digging through hours of data. At the same time, we really emphasize taking advantage of downtime. In college athletics, there are moments—like breaks in the schedule—where you actually can step away, and we encourage our staff to use those moments because they don’t always come around.”

Drew Lukes

“One of the realities of working in this setting is that your time is not always your own. You can have a perfectly planned day, and within seconds, something urgent comes up and everything changes. So for me, it’s about being what I’d call ‘rigidly flexible.’ I try to block off time for things that matter—like working out or taking care of myself—because I know that directly impacts how well I can take care of others. It doesn’t always go as planned, but having that structure in place gives me a better chance to stay consistent.”

Q2. Athlete Fatigue (Physical & Psychological)

Paul Silvestri

“We use a lot of tools—GPS, force plates, different monitoring systems—but one of the biggest changes we’ve made recently was simply adjusting our schedule. Moving to morning practices gave our athletes more time during the day to recover, handle school, and just live their lives. The feedback has been incredible. Guys are telling us they feel more normal, less rushed, and more in control of their day. That psychological piece is huge. You can measure everything in the world, but if athletes don’t have the time and space to manage their lives, those tools only go so far.”

Drew Lukes

“For us, monitoring fatigue is really about building a complete picture. We use wellness questionnaires, but we fully understand their limitations. So we combine that subjective data with objective measures like force plate outputs, GPS data, and other performance markers. It’s not about relying on one metric—it’s about layering them together to create a profile of where the athlete is at. And beyond the data, a big part of it is education and trust. Athletes need to understand why we’re asking these questions and believe that being honest won’t negatively impact them.”

Tyler Friedrich

“We have more data than ever—force plates, GPS, wellness surveys—all feeding into our daily decision-making. But without strong relationships and proper education, that data doesn’t mean much. Sometimes the most valuable insight still comes from simply asking an athlete how they feel. And what’s interesting is that performance doesn’t always align with the numbers. You can have an athlete put up the best performance of their career on a day when their metrics aren’t great. That’s why our job is to use the data to inform decisions, not dictate them, and to always keep the bigger picture in mind.”

Dr. John DeWitt

“When we talk about fatigue, I think it’s important to distinguish between acute fatigue—what an athlete is feeling from recent activity—and chronic fatigue that builds over time across a season. The same data can help us identify both, but the interpretation changes depending on the question we’re asking. Ultimately, though, the data is just the starting point. When we see something change, that should trigger a deeper investigation—talking to the athlete, understanding context, and figuring out what’s really going on. And when it comes to psychological fatigue, we’re still largely relying on subjective tools like questionnaires. We don’t yet have a truly objective way to measure that piece.”

Q3. Lessons Learned

Dr. John DeWitt

“One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that coaches and athletes aren’t interested in the complexity of your analysis—they want to know what it means for them. Early on, I would get excited about the process and want to walk people through all the technical steps. But over time, I realized that what really matters is delivering a clear, actionable recommendation. The process is important for us, but the outcome is what drives impact.”

Drew Lukes

“We have a saying that really stuck with me: we take what we do very seriously, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously. Earlier in my career, I would take things very personally when something didn’t go as planned, and it would affect how I showed up day to day. Learning to separate those things—to still care deeply about the work but not let it define me—has been a huge shift and has made me a better practitioner.”

Paul Silvestri

“Early in my career, when something went wrong—whether it was an injury or a rehab setback—I would internalize it and take it very personally. Over time, you realize that even when you do everything right, things can still go wrong. That’s just part of the profession. The key is learning how to respond, how to adapt, and how to keep moving forward without letting those moments define you.”

Tyler Friedrich

“One concept that’s really shaped my approach is having strong convictions, but holding them loosely. I believe in what I do, and I’m confident in our systems, but I’m always open to evolving those beliefs based on new research, new experiences, or new perspectives. As you grow in your career, that mindset helps reduce pressure and allows you to be more adaptable, which ultimately leads to better outcomes.”

Q4. March Madness Predictions

Paul Silvestri

“If you had asked me before last night, I would’ve confidently said Florida—but after that loss, I think Arizona really stands out. They’re one of the most complete teams I’ve seen this year. They have a great mix of experienced players and young talent, and they seem to be playing really well together at the right time.”

Dr. John DeWitt

“I haven’t followed every team closely, but I’ll go out on a limb and say Houston. They’re playing in a familiar environment for this next stretch, which can be a big advantage, and they seem to be well-positioned to make a deep run.”

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Qualisys is the maker of OnTraq by Qualisys, which brings lab-quality, video-based biomechanical analysis to elite sports teams without complexity, helping teams establish and monitor consistent athlete baselines. Built on Qualisys’ proven foundation of biomechanical accuracy, OnTraq makes research-grade movement analysis accessible to any staff member while fitting naturally into regular training routines.

You can watch the video interview below by clicking on the Youtube link. You can also listen to the audio interview by clicking on the link at the top of the page:

Here is a look at OnTraq software:

Here is below a picture of the OnTraq’s dashboard:

Here is a video explaining how OnTraq works:

📝Show Notes: During the interview with Luis Justiniano and Oskar Lindh, we discussed their backgrounds and the evolution of their work at Qualisys, a company with more than 30 years of expertise in motion capture and biomechanics. They explained how their product, OnTrack, translates this legacy into a practical solution for elite sports by combining high-accuracy data with ease of use. Designed to fit seamlessly into training environments, OnTraq enables teams to quickly collect baseline biomechanical data, monitor athletes over time, and generate actionable insights without disrupting workflows. The platform addresses key use cases such as return-to-play decision-making, performance tracking, and even scouting, allowing practitioners to identify movement deviations, track progress, and support data-driven decisions.

We also explored the core benefits and differentiation of their solution, including its speed, accuracy, and ability to deliver immediate feedback, as well as its subscription-based business model that lowers adoption barriers by bundling hardware, software, and support. Luis and Oskar highlighted the rapid growth of the sports biomechanics and markerless tracking market, driven by increasing demand for athlete data and broader adoption beyond academia. Looking ahead, they emphasized their ambition to become the standard for baseline testing in team sports, with a strong focus on continuous product development, deeper integrations, and expanding partnerships with professional teams to scale globally and refine the platform based on real-world feedback.

Here are the best quotes from the interview with Luis and Oskar:

Q1. Tell me about your background

Luis Justiniano explains:

“I’m the Sales Director for Elite Sports in the Americas, where I lead the team responsible for driving adoption of our OnTraq solution across North America. My role focuses on working closely with professional teams and organizations to understand their needs and help them integrate motion capture technology into their performance workflows.”

Oskar Lindh adds:

“I come from a background as a UX designer, where my focus has been on translating user needs and requirements into valuable, intuitive products. Over time, I transitioned into a broader role as product manager, where I now oversee the full lifecycle of the product—from design and development to launch—ensuring everything fits together and delivers real value to users.”

Q2. Tell me about your company and product

“Qualisys has more than 30 years of experience in motion capture technology, particularly within biomechanics, where we’ve built a strong reputation for delivering highly accurate systems. With OnTraq, we’ve taken that deep expertise and transformed it into a product designed specifically for sports environments.”

“OnTraq is built to provide a flexible, practical way to collect baseline biomechanical data and deliver immediate feedback to coaches and practitioners. It allows teams to capture data quickly, accurately, and reliably, while monitoring athletes throughout the season.”

“What we’re really doing is combining the ease of use you’d expect from consumer-grade tools with the high-quality data and precision of advanced motion capture systems. The goal is to make it simple to generate actionable insights without the complexity that traditionally comes with motion capture.”

Q3. What are the main use cases you are addressing in elite sports?

“One of the primary use cases is supporting return-to-play decisions. Teams can use the system to collect objective movement data during rehabilitation, helping them define clearer protocols and make more informed decisions about when an athlete is ready to return.”

“Another major use case is performance tracking—monitoring how athletes progress against their baseline over time. By testing more frequently, teams can identify trends, detect deviations, and better understand how training is impacting performance.”

“We also see applications in scouting and player development, where teams can evaluate athletes across different levels and use the data to help them improve. Ultimately, the goal is to enable regular, efficient testing that provides both immediate feedback and long-term insights.”

Q4. What are the benefits for teams to use your product?

“One of the biggest benefits is speed and efficiency. Teams can test athletes in less than five minutes, often in under a minute per player, without disrupting their regular training workflow.”

“At the same time, they’re getting high-quality, accurate data along with actionable insights. Coaches and practitioners can immediately access key metrics and use them to make faster, more informed decisions.”

“By building baselines and tracking changes over time, teams gain a much clearer understanding of athlete performance and movement patterns. This is particularly valuable for both performance optimization and injury management, as it allows them to detect asymmetries or deviations early and respond accordingly.”

Q5. What are your competitive advantages?

“Our competitive advantage comes from the combination of speed, ease of use, and data quality. We’re able to deliver high-precision biomechanical insights in a way that’s fast and practical for everyday use.”

“We also bring more than 35 years of experience in biomechanics, which gives us a strong foundation in accuracy and credibility. This isn’t just a standalone tool—we provide a complete ecosystem that includes hardware, software, data processing, and trend analysis dashboards.”

“What really differentiates us is our ability to simplify complex motion capture workflows without compromising on quality. We’re making advanced biomechanics accessible to teams in a way that hasn’t been possible before.”

Q6. Tell me about your business model

“Our goal is to make motion capture technology more accessible, which is why we use a subscription-based model. This allows teams to get started without the large upfront investment typically associated with these systems.”

“The subscription includes everything—hardware, software, installation, training, and ongoing support—so teams have a complete solution from day one.”

“We offer different tiers, such as bronze, silver, and gold, depending on the organization’s needs. It’s typically structured as a two-year commitment, but we’ve built flexibility into the model. If circumstances change, teams can return the system, which reduces the risk and makes adoption easier.”

Q7. What is your take on the state of the sports markerless market?

“The market is clearly growing, driven by an increasing demand for player data and a deeper understanding of how athletes move. Biomechanics, in particular, has expanded significantly—it’s no longer limited to academic research but is now widely adopted across sports organizations.”

“We’re seeing a broader trend where data is being collected across the entire athlete lifecycle—from games to training sessions and rehabilitation. This reflects a shift toward more data-driven decision-making in sports.”

“At the same time, there’s a strong need to make these technologies more accessible and practical for coaches and practitioners. That’s where solutions like ours come in—bridging the gap between advanced biomechanics and everyday usability.”

Q8. What are your plans for the next 12 months?

“Over the next 12 months, our focus is on continuing to develop and improve the product by incorporating feedback from teams and users. We want to ensure that what we’re building truly aligns with the needs of different sports and organizations.”

“Our broader ambition is to become the standard for baseline testing in team sports. While we’ve already built a strong foundation by simplifying workflows and maintaining accuracy, there are still many features in development.”

“This includes deeper integrations, enhanced data insights, and expanded capabilities that will further improve usability and value. At the same time, we’re looking to scale through partnerships and build more case studies with professional teams, helping us demonstrate impact and grow adoption globally.”

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Elite US Sports Teams Adopt Myocene for Fatigue Management

Myocene continues to gain traction across elite performance environments in the United States. Recently, leading organisations in the NBA and a championship-winning NCAA football programme have officially adopted Myocene to elevate their fatigue management strategies and optimise player readiness throughout demanding schedules. These major additions further strengthen the growing roster of elite teams using Myocene to gain objective insight into muscle fatigue and make smarter decisions around training and recovery.

Read the full blog here Elite US sports teams choose Myocene to Elevate Performance and Player Recovery – Myocene

Myocene at the 2026 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference: Turning Muscle Fatigue into Measurable Intelligence

Myocene recently took the stage at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, presenting and exhibiting at the Startup Competition & Trade Show. In our latest blog, we recap the event and share how elite performance teams are beginning to integrate objective muscle fatigue measurement into their readiness, recovery, and return-to-play decisions.

Read the full recap to see how Myocene is helping teams turn fatigue into measurable, actionable performance data and why the industry is paying attention.

Explore the full blog here

Myocene at the 2026 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference: Turning Muscle Fatigue into Measurable Intelligence – Myocene

OGC Nice Utilises Myocene for Advanced Player Recovery Analysis | Case Study

Discover how OGC Nice is revolutionising player performance and recovery with Myocene’s cutting-edge technology!

OGC Nice Utilises Myocene for Advanced Player Recovery Analysis | Case Study (have this video embedded in the newsletter)

In this in-depth case study, OGC Nice’s Staff, share insights into why the club chose Myocene to assess player “freshness” and recovery and how they implement it in their daily practice. Myocene offers a reliable, practical solution for quantifying muscle fatigue, crucial for optimising player performance.

Key Points Covered:

• Powerdex Metric: This unique metric assesses low-frequency fatigue without requiring voluntary muscle contractions.

• Efficient Assessment: The Myocene protocol delivers an accurate measurement in just 2 minutes per leg, providing a quick, non-invasive test for muscle fatigue.

• Performance Insights: Learn how OGC Nice integrates Myocene into their training facilities to enhance player recovery and performance.

• Player Assessments: Weekly muscle fatigue measurements are carried out throughout the season to assess the level of recovery and the general condition of all players after each match.

Read the full case study

FOOTBALL – OGC Nice – Myocene a game changer for player freshness and recovery | Case Study – Myocene

If you’re looking to bring evidence-based fatigue monitoring into your performance programme, book a demo and see how Myocene supports elite teams around the world.

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming elite sports, offering tools that elevate training, recovery, performance analysis, and tactical planning. Yet, one major misconception persists: that AI threatens to replace human practitioners. In reality, AI’s true value lies in its ability to empower athletic trainers, strength coaches, sports scientists, and analysts by automating the repetitive, surfacing deeper insights, and optimizing decisions. The human layer—empathy, context, adaptability, and trust—remains irreplaceable.

This analysis explores how AI enhances practitioner roles in elite sports, dispels the automation myth, and introduces key vendors supporting this evolution.

The Rise of AI in Elite Sports

Elite teams operate in environments where milliseconds, inches, and percentage points determine competitive outcomes. Several forces have catalyzed AI’s integration:

• Explosion of performance data: Wearables, GPS, force plates, and motion capture now produce high-resolution datasets that demand algorithmic processing.

• Accessible machine learning frameworks: Open-source platforms and cloud computing allow sports organizations to develop or license AI models with increasing ease.

• Tactical arms race: Teams across leagues seek insights that separate them from similarly talented opponents.

• Injury risk management and load optimization: AI has emerged as a crucial tool for balancing performance gains with athlete availability.

The result: AI is no longer an experimental add-on but a foundational part of high-performance infrastructures.

Drivers of AI Adoption in Elite Sports

Data Explosion and the Need for Insight

Elite sports have entered an era of unprecedented data generation. From GPS wearables and force plates to vision-based tracking systems and biometric sensors, the volume and variety of performance, physiological, and biomechanical data has exploded. Practitioners are now tasked with making sense of vast, multidimensional datasets that are often too complex for manual interpretation. AI tools — particularly machine learning and pattern recognition models — provide a powerful means to synthesize, visualize, and extract actionable insights from these data streams, helping coaches and performance staff move from reactive to proactive decision-making.

Demand for Personalization and Precision

There is a growing emphasis on tailoring training, recovery, and rehabilitation protocols to the individual athlete. AI systems can detect subtle variations in load tolerance, biomechanical deviations, and sleep patterns, allowing practitioners to customize interventions with greater accuracy than previously possible. This level of personalization not only improves performance outcomes but also reduces injury risk — a key performance indicator in elite environments.

Efficiency and Workflow Optimization

AI can automate time-intensive tasks such as video breakdown, load monitoring alerts, and injury risk flagging. For overburdened performance and medical staff, these automations allow more time for human judgment and relationship-building with athletes. In environments where staff-to-athlete ratios are tight — such as collegiate or Olympic teams — AI acts as a force multiplier, enhancing capacity without increasing headcount.

Competitive Pressure and Innovation Culture

In leagues and organizations where marginal gains can define championship runs, teams are investing in AI as a differentiator. This is particularly true in Formula 1, the NFL, and European football, where analytics arms races have become part of the sport’s strategic fabric. Beyond competition, there is a broader cultural shift in elite sport that embraces innovation — and AI sits squarely at the intersection of sports science, tech, and competitive advantage.

Challenges in AI Integration for Practitioners

Black Box Models and Trust Deficits

Many AI tools — particularly deep learning models — operate as "black boxes" with limited explainability. Practitioners are rightly skeptical of insights they cannot trace or validate with their own domain expertise. Trust is a crucial ingredient in sports decision-making, and opaque outputs can create friction between data teams and coaches, especially when recommendations challenge intuition or tradition.

Data Quality and Fragmentation

AI is only as good as the data it learns from. In elite sport, data silos, inconsistencies in collection protocols, and incomplete datasets can undermine the reliability of AI-driven outputs. Even sophisticated models can mislead if fed low-quality or context-poor data. Moreover, integrating different systems (e.g., GPS, force plates, video analytics, EMR) into a cohesive AI platform remains a major technical and operational challenge.

Skill Gaps and Interdisciplinary Tensions

There is often a skills mismatch between those developing AI models (data scientists, engineers) and those using them on the field (coaches, physios, S&C coaches). This disconnect can lead to tools that are technically sound but practically unusable. Bridging this gap requires not only better user interface design but also more hybrid professionals who can translate between AI capabilities and performance demands.

Ethical, Legal, and Cultural Barriers

The use of AI raises critical questions about athlete privacy, consent, and the boundaries of surveillance. Some players' unions and governing bodies are beginning to scrutinize the collection and use of biometric data, particularly when tied to contract decisions or return-to-play clearance. There is also cultural resistance in some sports environments, where tradition and human expertise are deeply valued — and where AI is still seen as a threat rather than a tool.

How AI Enhances the Jobs of Practitioners

1. Advanced Decision Support

Practitioners use AI to analyze complex, multidimensional data (biomechanical, physiological, behavioral) that would be impossible to interpret manually at scale. This enables evidence-informed decisions on everything from training volumes to rehab progression.

2. Personalized Programming

AI systems can provide hyper-individualized insights, adapting resistance levels, training modalities, or rest cycles based on an athlete’s real-time status, not just seasonal plans.

3. Real-Time Biomechanical Feedback

Computer vision and motion tracking systems now generate frame-by-frame movement diagnostics — from jump symmetry to hip rotation — giving coaches and therapists tools to correct technique with surgical precision.

4. Proactive Recovery and Health Monitoring

Wearables and predictive algorithms detect early warning signs like sleep deficits, decreased heart rate variability, or neuromuscular fatigue. Practitioners use these insights to intervene before performance drops or injuries occur.

5. Communication Amplification

Dashboards and visualizations powered by AI distill complex data into understandable outputs, helping staff align on decisions and communicate clearly with players and stakeholders.

The Misconception That AI Will Replace Jobs

While fears of automation loom large in many industries, elite sports present a different picture:

• AI lacks contextual nuance: It may notice elevated eccentric load, but not whether the athlete is dealing with travel stress, emotional strain, or external life issues — something a human practitioner can detect instantly.

• Human trust is critical: Athletes need interpersonal relationships to stay accountable and motivated — something algorithms can’t offer.

• AI can’t improvise: Adjusting to unpredictable game-day environments, weather, or athlete mood requires human adaptability.

• Intuition and timing: Knowing when to push and when to back off, based on subtle cues, is still an art guided by practitioner experience.

Rather than replacement, AI expands practitioner bandwidth and sharpens their impact.

Current Use Cases of AI by Practitioners

Key Vendors Enhancing Practitioner Roles

1080 Motion:
This vendor focuses on enhancing speed and power training through advanced technology. Their core features include isokinetic resistance and real-time force/velocity feedback. They utilize AI capabilities for real-time adaptive resistance based on neural readiness, requiring their specific 1080 Sprint and 1080 Quantum hardware. Visit their website at https://1080motion.com/.

Beyond Power:
Beyond Power, which makes the Voltra device, specializes in adaptive resistance training with digital weight and app-based control. Their AI capabilities center around force curve adaptation and fatigue tracking to optimize workouts. The Voltra V-Stack is their primary hardware offering, and they are utilized by NBA and college teams. You can find more information at https://www.beyond-power.com/

Second Spectrum (Now Genius Sports):
This vendor provides tactical and spatial analysis using 3D tracking and player movement heatmaps. Their Spatial AI delivers predictive modeling for enhanced strategic insights. They leverage broadcast video feeds as their hardware input and are adopted by leagues like the NBA and EPL. Explore their solutions at https://www.secondspectrum.com/

Aris:
Aris focuses on return-to-play (RTP) protocols and force profiling, offering jump/load diagnostics and fatigue signals. Their AI provides predictive insights derived from asymmetry and force-time curves. They require their proprietary Aris force sensors and plates for data acquisition. Learn more about their technology at https://aristraining.com/

Playermaker:
Playermaker specializes in lower-limb load monitoring through bilateral loading and asymmetry flags. Their AI employs gait-based learning and movement pattern detection. They utilize foot-worn pods for data collection and are used in soccer and ACL rehab clinics. Their website is https://playermaker.com/

SwingVision:
SwingVision focuses on tennis skill development by analyzing AI stroke analysis, ball placement, and court coverage. Their AI capabilities involve computer vision for biomechanics, utilizing the iPhone or iPad as the hardware. They cater to ITF, NCAA, and individual tennis athletes. Check out their offerings at https://swing.vision/

WHOOP: WHOOP centers on recovery optimization through HRV, sleep score, and strain tracking. Their AI provides readiness scoring based on multivariate data collected from their wearable band or patch. They are popular among athletes in the NFL, NHL, and CrossFit. Visit their website at https://www.whoop.com/

Orreco: Orreco provides athlete optimization services through comprehensive biometric data analysis and recovery insights. Their AI-powered platform delivers performance and recovery predictions to elite sports teams and organizations. The specific hardware required varies depending on the tailored solution they provide. You can find more details at https://www.orreco.com/.

ActionApps: ActionApps focuses on performance analysis, offering video analysis and data integration capabilities. Their AI delivers data-driven insights and automated tagging functionalities. The hardware requirements can vary based on the specific application and integration needs of sports teams and coaching staff. Their website is https://actionapps.com/

Recommendations to Teams

1. Empower Practitioners First: Avoid AI solutions that bypass the practitioner. Practitioners should remain the interpreters and communicators of data to athletes.

2. Invest in AI-Literate Staff: Upskill practitioners in data literacy and AI interpretation to avoid blind trust in algorithms.

3. Choose Systems that Integrate: Prioritize solutions with APIs or compatibility with your Athlete Management System (AMS) to ensure seamless workflows.

4. Establish Ethical Use Protocols: Define clear boundaries for how athlete data is used, stored, and interpreted — with practitioners involved in the process.

5. Test for Real-World Utility: Pilot tools in live environments. The best AI systems are those that fit into existing routines and reduce—not add to—cognitive burden.

Conclusion

The rise of AI in elite sports represents an extraordinary opportunity—not a threat—to practitioners. When designed and deployed with human users in mind, AI acts as an intelligent assistant that automates data processing, enhances decision precision, and expands individualization.

Practitioners remain irreplaceable stewards of performance and health — they interpret not just numbers but nuance. By embracing AI as a partner, elite teams unlock a future where technology and human expertise work in concert to push the boundaries of what's possible.

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In the past 10 years we have worked with some of the most prevalent sports tech investors (VCs, family offices, angel investors..) out there. We have essentially brought deal flow to those investors on a regular basis. Investors are always looking for sports tech startups to invest in. They are looking to invest in startups led by experienced founders, building cutting edge technologies, in fast growing markets, who can generate a nice ROI for them. From a startup founders point of view, raising money is not an easy task. It requires lots of perseverance, focus, and sometimes luck to be able to raise capital. The world of sports tech investments is also a fairly tight community where many sports tech investors share deal flows on a regular basis. So with that in mind we thought it would be a good idea to put together an analysis on the key sports tech investment trends and the Top Sports tech investors. Please keep in mind that this list of Top sports tech investors is highly subjective.

Summary Table of Top 52 Sports Tech Investors

Here are also the detailed profiles on the top 52 Sports Tech investors:

Please note that this is not an actual ranking of sports tech VCs/family office but just a list of what we believe are the top sports tech investors. Please note that these investors are not ranked by order of importance.

1. Mindspring Capital

• Areas of Focus: Sports technology and B2B sectors.

• Number of Investments: Not readily available

• Stage of Investment: Early-stage

• Example of portfolio startups: Curastory, Slate Pumpjack, Horizm

• Fund Size: Not publicly disclosed

• HQ: Newport Beach, California

• Website: https://www.mindspring.capital/

2. RSE Ventures

• Areas of Focus: Sports, media, and entertainment, with a focus on technology-enabled businesses.

• Number of Investments: 75

• Stage of Investment: Varies widely

• Example of portfolio startups: Dapper labs, Infinite Reality

• Fund Size: Multiple funds with varying sizes

• HQ: New York, NY

• Website: https://rseventures.com/

3. ADvantage

• Areas of Focus: Sports, media, and entertainment, with a focus on technology-enabled businesses.

• Number of Investments: 30

• Stage of Investment: Varies

• Example of portfolio startups: Greenfly, Realfevr, Tappp

• Fund Size: $100M

• HQ: Israel

• Website: https://advantage.vc/

4. Langleven

• Areas of Focus: Human performance, health tech

• Number of Investments: Early stage

• Stage of Investment: Primarily seed and Series A

• Example of portfolio startups: Supersapiens, PonteMed AG, EXI

• Fund Size: $75M

• HQ: Montreal (Quebec)

• Website: https://www.langleven.com/

5. Elevate Ventures

• Areas of Focus: Broad range of industries, including sports technology.

• Number of Investments: Numerous

• Stage of Investment: Varies across stages

• Example of portfolio startups: Authenticx, Anvl

• Fund Size: Multiple funds with varying sizes ($100M growth stage fund)

• HQ: Indianapolis, Indiana

• Website: https://www.elevateventures.com/

• Interview here with Myles Grote, Partner at Elevate Ventures.

6. Bruin Capital

• Areas of Focus: Sports, media, and entertainment investments across various sectors.

• Number of Investments: 40

• Stage of Investment: Varies across stages

• Example of portfolio startups: Deltatre, Two Circles

• Fund Size: Multiple funds with varying sizes (including a $1B fund)

• HQ: White Plain, NY

• Website: https://www.bruincapital.com/

7. Will Ventures

• Areas of Focus: Seed to Series A sports tech, media, and fitness startups

• Stage of Investment: Seed to Series A

• Number of Investments: Not readily available

• Fund Size: $200M

• Example of portfolio startups: Breathwrk, Fanstake, Future, Infinite Athlete, Jump, Gemini Sports Analytics, Athletes Unlimited and Just Women’s Sports, STREET FC.

• HQ: Boston, MA.

• Website: https://willventures.com/

8. TitletownTech

• Areas of Focus: Sports technology, with a focus on areas like fan engagement, player performance, and sports betting.

• Number of Investments: Not readily available

• Stage of Investment: Early-stage to growth

• Example of portfolio startups: Realta Fusion, Synthetaic

• Fund Size: $95M

• HQ: Green Bay, Wisconsin

• Website: https://www.titletowntech.com/

9. Sapphire Sport

• Areas of Focus: Sports technology, media, and entertainment, with a focus on early-stage companies.

• Number of Investments: 20

• Stage of Investment: Primarily seed and Series A

• Example of portfolio startups: Tonal, Mycujoo, overtime, Fevo, Breathwrk, Green Park

• Fund Size: $296M

• HQ: Palo Alto, California

• Website: https://www.sapphireventures.com

10. Athletic Ventures

• Areas of Focus: Sports technology, media, and entertainment, with a focus on early-stage companies.

• Number of Investments: 15

• Stage of Investment: Primarily seed and Series A

• Example of portfolio startups: Canva, MGI Golf, Teamworks

• Fund Size: Not publicly disclosed

• HQ: Sydney (Australia)

• Website: https://www.athleticventures.com/

11. APEX Capital

• Areas of Focus: Sports, Entertainment & Fitness

• Number of Investments: 7

• Stage of Investment: early stage: $250k. Seed/A: $500-$1.5M

• Example of portfolio startups:

• Fund Size: Not publicly disclosed

• HQ: Caxias, Lisbon (Portugal)

• Website: https://apex-cp.com/

• Upside interview here.

12. Aser Ventures

• Areas of Focus: Sports, media, and entertainment, with a focus on technology-enabled businesses.

• Number of Investments: 25

• Stage of Investment: Varies across stages

• Example of portfolio startups: Foxtel Group, Rhode, and Reaxing.

• Fund Size: Multiple funds with varying sizes

• HQ: London, United Kingdom

• Website: https://www.aser.com/

• Upside interview here.

13. Seventure Partners

• Areas of Focus: Healthcare, digital, and life sciences, with a focus on sports technology within healthcare.

• Number of Investments: 250

• Stage of Investment: Varies across stages

• Example of portfolio startups: Enterome, Karius, MedinCell, Vedanta Biosciences

• Fund Size: Multiple funds with varying sizes (€900 million assets under management)

• HQ: Paris, France

• Website: https://www.seventure.com/

14. Atletico Ventures

• Areas of Focus: Agnostic with important focus on Consumer, Impact and Sports & Entertainment

• Number of Investments: 16

• Stage of Investment: Late seed to Series B

• Example of portfolio startups: Sorare, Oura, SocrePlay, Cowboy

• Fund Size: Not publicly disclosed

• HQ: Paris (France)

• Website: https://www.athletico.vc/

• Upside interview here.

15. Liberty City Ventures

• Areas of Focus: Sports technology, media, and entertainment, with a focus on diverse founders and underserved communities.

• Number of Investments: Not readily available

• Stage of Investment: Early-stage

• Example of portfolio startups: mmERCH, Fuze, Moca, TinyTap, and Gryfyn.

• Fund Size: Not publicly disclosed

• HQ: New York City

• Website: https://www.libertycityventures.com/

16. Venturerock

• Areas of Focus: Sports technology, media, and entertainment, with a focus on early-stage companies.

• Number of Investments: Not readily available

• Stage of Investment: Primarily seed and Series A

• Example of portfolio startups: UNL, areas like blockchain, AI, IoT, Fintech, HealthTech, and Smart City.

• Fund Size: Not publicly disclosed

• HQ: Amsterdam, Netherlands

• Website: https://www.venturerock.com/

17. Rock Ventures (Family offices, owned by Gilbert Family, Cleveland Cavaliers/NBA owner)

• Areas of Focus: Sports, media, and entertainment, with a focus on technology-enabled businesses.

• Number of Investments: 150

• Stage of Investment: Varies

• Example of portfolio startups: 100 Thieves, Flex, Plain Sight, Rocket Companies, WSC Sports, Zeck.

• Fund Size: Not publicly disclosed

• HQ: Detroit, Michigan.

• Website: https://rock.com

18. KB Partners

• Areas of Focus: Sports (wearables, health tech), media, and entertainment

• Number of Investments: 119

• Stage of Investment: Varies

• Example of portfolio startups: 3ICE, nVenue, Omorpho

• Fund Size: $127M

• HQ: Highland Park, Illinois

• Website: https://kbpartners.com/

• Interview with Matt Howard, Principal at KB Partners here.

19. ION Crossover Partners

• Areas of Focus: Technology, media, and telecommunications, with a focus on sports technology within those sectors.

• Number of Investments: Not disclosed

• Stage of Investment: Varies across stages

• Example of portfolio startups: Aqua Security, Twill (formerly Happify Health)

• Fund Size: Multiple funds with varying sizes

• HQ: Herzliya, Israel.

• Website: https://www.ion-am.com/ioncrossoverpartners

20. 24Haymarket

• Areas of Focus: Sports, media, and entertainment, with a focus on technology-enabled businesses.

• Number of Investments: 56

• Stage of Investment: Varies

• Example of portfolio startups: DrDoctor, MediSlieve

• Fund Size: 104M Pounds

• HQ: London (UK)

• Website: https://24haymarket.com/

21. Serena Ventures

• Areas of Focus: Diverse sectors, including sports, media, and entertainment.

• Number of Investments: 80

• Stage of Investment: Varies across stages

• Example of portfolio startups: MasterClass, Tonal, Noom, Impossible Foods, Sorare.

• Fund Size: Multiple funds with varying sizes ($111M fund)

• HQ: Washington, District of Columbia

• Website: https://www.serenaventures.com/

22. Northzone

• Areas of Focus: Technology, with a focus on sports technology within specific sectors.

• Number of Investments: 175

• Stage of Investment: Varies across stages

• Example of portfolio startups: Spotify, Izettle, Klarna, Avito, Hopin

• Fund Size: Multiple funds with varying sizes ($1B fund)

• HQ: London (UK)

• Website: https://www.northzone.com/

23. Ryan Sports Ventures

• Areas of Focus: Sports technology, properties, and content & media.

• Number of Investments: 12+

• Stage of Investment: Early-stage to growth

• Example of portfolio startups: Greenfly, Sportable, Youth inc

• Fund Size: Not publicly disclosed

• HQ: Chicago, Illinois

• Website: https://www.ryansportsventures.com/

24. Powerhouse Capital

• Areas of Focus: Sports, media, and entertainment, with a focus on technology-enabled businesses.

• Number of Investments: Not readily available

• Stage of Investment: Varies, likely across seed to later stages

• Example of portfolio startups: Calm, MasterClass, Youth Inc, Balltime, The Athletic

• Fund Size: $75M

• HQ: Los Angeles, CA

• Website: https://powerhouse.vc/about/

25. Scrum VC

• Areas of Focus: Early-stage investments in sports technology, media, and entertainment companies.

• Number of Investments: Not readily available

• Stage of Investment: Primarily seed and Series A

• Example of portfolio startups: Project Admission, Amptalk, and Habitto.

• Fund Size: Not publicly disclosed

• HQ: San Francisco, CA

• Website: https://scrum.vc/

• Interview with Mike Proman, Partner at Scrum VC here.

26. Andreessen Horowitz

• Areas of Focus: Web3, esports, and fan engagement startups

• Stage of Investment: Series A and growth stages

• Number of Investments: Not readily available

• Fund Size: $35B in assets

• Example of portfolio startups: FanCraze, OpenSea, and Sorare

• HQ: Menlo Park, California

• Website: https://a16z.com/

26. Sequoia Capital

• Areas of Focus: Early-stage fitness tech, AI, and analytics companies

• Stage of Investment: Early-stage

• Number of Investments: Not readily available

• Fund Size: $85B under management

• Example of portfolio startups: Whoop, Strava, and GameOn

• HQ: Menlo Park, California

• Website: https://www.sequoiacap.com/

27. Accel Partners

• Areas of Focus: AR/VR and wearable technology

• Stage of Investment: Series A

• Number of Investments: Not readily available

• Fund Size: $20B

• Example of portfolio startups: Oculus, Zwift, and PlayerData

• HQ: Palo Alto, California

• Website: https://www.accel.com/

28. Sapphire Ventures

• Areas of Focus: Growth-stage investments in AI and performance analytics

• Stage of Investment: Growth-stage

• Number of Investments: Not readily available

• Fund Size: $10B

• Example of portfolio startups: Kitman Labs, Greenfly, and SkillCorner

• HQ: Palo Alto, California

• Website: https://sapphireventures.com/

29.Insight Partners

• Areas of Focus: Late-stage esports and gaming companies

• Stage of Investment: Late-stage

• Number of Investments: Not readily available

• Fund Size: $33B

• Example of portfolio startups: Twitch, Riot Games, and Cloud9

• HQ: New York, New York

• Website: https://insightpartners.com/

30. BITKRAFT Ventures

• Areas of Focus: Esports and gaming startups

• Stage of Investment: Seed to Series A

• Number of Investments: Not readily available

• Fund Size: $1B

• Example of portfolio startups: Epic Games, ESL, and Luminosity Gaming

• HQ: New York, New York

• Website: https://bitkraft.vc/

31.Courtside Ventures

• Areas of Focus: Pre-Seed - Series B focused on sports, gaming and lifestyle

• Stage of Investment: Pre-Seed - Series B

• Number of Investments: Not readily available

• Fund Size: $200M (this is AUM figured)

• Example of portfolio startups: Overtime, Freeletics, Fan Controlled Football, The Athletic, StockX.

• HQ: Los Angeles, California. Their HQ is in NYC

• Website: https://courtsidevc.com/

• Upside interview here.

32.General Catalyst

• Areas of Focus: Wearables and digital health

• Stage of Investment: Series A

• Number of Investments: Not readily available

• Fund Size: $8B

• Example of portfolio startups: WHOOP, Hyperice, and Aura Health

• HQ: Boston, Massachusetts

• Website: https://generalcatalyst.com/

33. Forerunner Ventures

• Areas of Focus: Series A direct-to-consumer sports tech companies

• Stage of Investment: Series A

• Number of Investments: Not readily available

• Fund Size: $1.5B

• Example of portfolio startups: Vuori, Outdoor Voices, and FORM Swim Goggles

• HQ: San Francisco, California

• Website: https://forerunner.com/

34.Next Ventures

• Areas of Focus: Seed-stage health, fitness, and recovery startups

• Stage of Investment: Seed-stage

• Number of Investments: Not readily available

• Fund Size: $50M

• Example of portfolio startups: Oura, Vital, Juno, Scorched Ice

• HQ: Los Angeles, California

• Website: https://nextventures.com/

35.SOSV

• Areas of Focus: Early-stage sports tech startups

• Stage of Investment: Early-stage

• Number of Investments: 900

• Example of portfolio startups: Lief, FLOWBIO

• Fund Size: $1B

• HQ: Shanghai, China

• Website: https://sosv.com/

36. 500 Global

• Areas of Focus: Seed to Series A sports tech and fitness startups

• Stage of Investment: Seed to Series A

• Number of Investments: 2600

• Example of portfolio startups: Canva, Reddit, Forged Sports, Preciser, Sportwey, TeamUp.

• Fund Size: $2.7B in assets

• HQ: Mountain View, California

• Website: https://500.co/

37. GV (Google Ventures)

• Areas of Focus: Series B AI, AR/VR, and fan engagement companies

• Stage of Investment: Series B

• Number of Investments: 800

• Example of portfolio startups: StatusPRO, Dapper Labs

• Fund Size: $8B

• HQ: Mountain View, California

• Website: https://www.gv.com/

38. RRE Ventures

• Areas of Focus: Performance analytics and gaming companies

• Stage of Investment: Series A

• Number of Investments: 400

• Fund Size: $2B

• Example of portfolio startups: FanDuel, Hudl, and BoomTV

• HQ: New York, New York

• Website: https://rre.com/

39. The Raine Group

• Areas of Focus: Growth-stage esports and media rights investments

• Stage of Investment: Growth-stage

• Number of Investments: 94

• Fund Size: $4B

• Example of portfolio startups: DraftKings, ImagineAR, and Mythical Games

• HQ: New York, New York

• Website: https://www.raine.com/

40. Elysian Park Ventures

• Areas of Focus: Seed-stage sustainability and wearable tech companies

• Stage of Investment: Seed-stage

• Number of Investments: 70

• Fund Size: $250M

• Example of portfolio startups: Second Spectrum and Beyond Pulse

• HQ: Los Angeles, California

• Website: https://elysianpark.ventures

41. Benchmark Capital

• Areas of Focus: Series A companies in AI and fitness tech

• Stage of Investment: Series A

• Number of Investments: 800

• Fund Size: $3B

• Example of portfolio startups: Peloton, Hyfit, and MindBody

• HQ: Menlo Park, California

• Website: https://www.benchmark.com/

42. Lightspeed Venture Partners

• Areas of Focus: Series B esports and social gaming companies

• Stage of Investment: Series B

• Number of Investments: 1500

• Fund Size: $12B

• Example of portfolio startups: Epic Games and Snapchat Gaming

• HQ: Menlo Park, California

• Website: https://www.lsvp.com/

43. 5Point Ventures (Dallas Cowboys/NFL’s family office)

• Areas of Focus: Seed to Series A sports tech startups

• Stage of Investment: Seed to Series A

• Number of Investments: 1

• Fund Size: $150M

• Example of portfolio startups: Ozlo

• HQ: Various (Team-owned family offices)

• Website: https://5pointvp.com/

44. Marquee Ventures (Chicago Cubs/MLB’s family office)

• Areas of Focus: Series A fan engagement and media tech startups

• Stage of Investment: Series A

• Number of Investments: 14

• Fund Size: Not disclosed.

• Example of portfolio startups: GREENFLY, ACTION, Anzu, Valence, ORO Labs.

• HQ: Chicago, IL

• Website: https://www.marqueeventures.com

45. Next3 Ventures

• Areas of Focus: Seed-stage health and performance startups

• Stage of Investment: Seed-stage

• Number of Investments: Not readily available

• Example of investments: NJ/NY Gotham FC (NSWL).

• Fund Size: Not disclosed.

• Example of portfolio startups: Hyperice and Push Performance

• HQ: New York, New York

• Website: https://www.next3ventures.com/

46. Rabil Ventures

• Areas of Focus: Sports technology, media, and entertainment, with a focus on lacrosse.

• Number of Investments: 30

• Stage of Investment: Early-stage to growth

• Example of portfolio startups: Impossible Food, Hone Health

• Fund Size: Not publicly disclosed

• HQ: san Francisco, CA

• Website: https://rabilventures.com/

47. Drive By DraftKings

• Areas of Focus: Gaming, Fandom, Human Performance

• Stage of Investment: Seed to Series A+

• Number of Investments: 25

• Fund Size: $60M+

• Example of portfolio startups: Bandit Running, Jump, Just Women’s Sports, Ozlo, Tappp, WHOOP

• HQ: Boston, Massachusetts

• Website: drivebydraftkings.com

• Upside interview with Meredith McPherron, CEO & Managing Partner here.

48. SeventySix Capital

• Areas of Focus: Seed-stage sports innovation and esports companies

• Stage of Investment: Seed-stage

• Number of Investments: 56

• Fund Size: $150M

• Example of portfolio startups: Team Whistle and Nerd Street Gamers

• HQ: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

• Website: https://seventysixcapital.com/

• Interview with Wayne Kimmel, Managing Partner of SeventySix Capital here.

49. LEAD Sports

• Areas of Focus: Sports, Media, Health, Wellness

• Stage of Investment: Seed to Series A ($100k to $2.5M, Pre-seed, Seed, and Series A)

• Number of Investments: 70+

• Fund Size: $120M

• Example of portfolio startups: GREENFLY, Calorify, Gemini Sports Analytics

• HQ: Orlando, FL

• Website: https://www.lead.sports/

• Interview with Thomas Rudy, the chief investment officer at LEAD here.

50. WISE Ventures (the investment arm of the Wilf family – owners of the Minnesota Vikings (NFL), Orlando City SC and Pride (MLS / NWSL)

• Areas of Focus: Series A esports and gaming platforms

• Stage of Investment: Seed / Series A ($500K to $3M, with capital reserved for potential follow-on investments).

• Number of Investments: 30

• Fund Size: Not disclosed.

• Example of portfolio startups: Tonal, WSC Sports, Arena, Supersapiens, StatusPRO.

• HQ: New York, New York

• Website: https://wiseventuresllc.com/

• Upside interview here.

51. Reform Ventures (Thad Young (NBA player)’s family office)

• Areas of Focus: Early-stage sports innovation companies

• Stage of Investment: Seed to Series A

• Number of Investments: 211

• Fund Size: Not disclosed.

• Example of portfolio startups: Dapper Labs, AirbnB, Lyft, Tonal, GameChanger, LeagueApps, RunSafe, Plantiga, Epicore, OXEFIT.

• HQ: New York, New York

• Website: https://reformventures.com/

• Upside interview here.

52. The Techstars Sports Accelerator Powered by Indy

• Areas of Focus: Early-stage sports startups

• Stage of Investment: Seed-stage

• Number of Investments: 62

• Fund Size: Varies per program

• Example of portfolio startups: ZoneIn, SIQ, VOW, Playerdata

• HQ: New York, New York

• Website: https://www.techstars.com/

• Interview with Andrew Hippert, investment principal at Techstars Sports Accelerator here.

5. Recommendations for Stakeholders

• Startups: Focus on niche innovation, especially in AI, sustainability, and fan engagement platforms.

• Investors: Diversify across regions and sectors to maximize ROI.

• Sports Organizations: Partner with tech startups to enhance operational efficiency and fan interaction.

6. Recommendations for Startups Seeking to Raise Money

• Understand Your Market: Conduct thorough research to identify gaps and opportunities in the sports tech industry. Align your solution with current market trends like AI, wearables, or fan engagement platforms.

• Create a Solid Business Plan: Clearly outline your vision, target audience, revenue model, and growth strategy. Highlight potential scalability and ROI for investors.

• Build a Strong Team: Investors prioritize startups with experienced and credible leadership. Highlight your team’s expertise in technology, sports, or entrepreneurship.

• Develop an MVP: Demonstrate your product’s feasibility by building a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Show proof of concept and early traction.

• Leverage Networks: Attend industry events, join accelerators, and connect with investors specializing in sports tech to increase visibility.

• Prepare for Due Diligence: Be transparent with financials, customer testimonials, and projections. Investors appreciate startups with robust documentation and data.

• Tailor Your Pitch: Customize your pitch to align with the investment focus (e.g., seed, Series A) and preferences of each investor. Emphasize how your solution fits their portfolio.

• Showcase Long-Term Value: Highlight how your solution aligns with emerging trends and offers sustainable growth opportunities for investors.

• Seek Strategic Partnerships: Collaborate with sports organizations or brands to strengthen credibility and market reach.

7. Conclusions

The sports tech industry is entering a golden era, driven by technological advancements and increasing consumer demand for immersive, data-driven, and sustainable experiences. Investors are diversifying their portfolios across Web3, AI analytics, and health tech, ensuring robust growth opportunities. Collaboration between traditional sports organizations and tech innovators is expected to deepen in the coming years.

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Heart Rate Variability (HRV) measures the variation in time between heartbeats, reflecting the autonomic nervous system’s balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic activity. As a non-invasive biomarker, HRV offers insights into stress, recovery, and overall cardiovascular health. Advancements in wearable technology have propelled HRV monitoring into mainstream health and fitness applications, making it a focal point for both consumers and healthcare professionals.​

Market Size

The global HRV monitoring market is experiencing significant growth, driven by the increasing adoption of wearable devices and the rising awareness of preventive healthcare. While precise market size figures vary, the integration of HRV features into consumer wearables and medical devices indicates a robust upward trend, with projections suggesting continued expansion in the coming years.​

What are HRV monitoring systems?

Generally speaking, Heart rate variability (HRV) is the physiological phenomenon of variation in the time interval between heartbeats. It is measured by the variation in the beat-to-beat interval.

Other terms used include: “cycle length variability”, “R–R variability” (where R is a point corresponding to the peak of the QRS complex of the ECG wave; and RR is the interval between successive Rs), and “heart period variability”. Teams typically use HRV monitors to assess players’ sleep quality, stress and fatigue level.

HRV is a holistic measure of total load

HRV is a holistic measure of total load, i.e. it reflects the impact of multiple sources of stress on the athlete, not just training, but sleep, nutrition, mental and emotional stress.

The idea behind using HRV in training is quite simple: monitor your HRV every morning and train as normal. If your HRV drops significantly, take this as an early warning that you may be overloading the system. A small drop is normal as long as you recover because training is, after all, about stress and recovery. A hard session, especially on top of accumulated fatigue, will lower your HRV.

According to some research, HRV also tracks closely with important physiological changes such as sleep quality, phycological wellbeing, longevity, inflammation and pain.

According to EHRV, HRV guided interventions have been shown to improve health, wellbeing and fitness. For example, as shown in the picture below, studies have shown that HRV guided interventions resulted into:

• A -26% decrease in anxiety (Source here)

• A decrease in blood pressure.

• A -14% decrease in LDL Cholesterol (Source here)

• An -13% decrease in fatigue (Source here)

• A -60% decrease in injuries (Source here)

• A +40% increase in overall fitness (Source here)

• A -26% decrease in time spend exercising (Source here)

Not surprisingly, as shown below, the number of published research and studies on HRV have also increased over the past years, which is great news.

Source: EHRV, 2022.

HRV devices being used by pro teams as part of players’ rehab process and to train athletes to remain calm in high stress environments.

Over the years, a growing number of pro teams have started to use HRV devices as part of their players’ rehab process. This is what Karam Al-Hamdani, the Director of Sports Medicine and Head Athletic Therapist at CF Montreal FC (MLS), explained during an interview with the Upside back in 2022: “HRV has been around for quite some time, its validity cannot be dispelled. Due to multiple factors that may influence HRV, we as a medical staff have chosen to use it with our injured players so as to best enhance how we individualize their rehab routines. I am in no way a specialist in HRV, I rely mostly on the research out there by companies like Oura, Whoop, Lief etc”.

But HRV devices can also be used to help players remain calm especially in high stress environments. “What I do know is that HRV should not just be limited to professional athletes, it should be marketed to everyone. HRV can be trained, you can transform how you feel, with the various technologies out there we can train our bodies how to remain calm and stay focused when we need it the most, and that would benefit everyone especially athletes in high stress environments”.

Key Studies

• Heart Rate Variability and Cardiovascular Risk: Research indicates that decreased HRV is associated with higher cardiovascular disease risk, emphasizing its prognostic value (Source here).

• HRV in Chronic Conditions: Studies have shown that HRV monitoring can aid in managing chronic diseases by providing insights into autonomic dysfunctions. ​

• Mental Health Applications: Meta-analyses reveal that HRV is a valuable tool in assessing stress and the effectiveness of mental health interventions. (Source here).

Key Drivers

• Consumer Wellness Trends: The shift towards proactive health management has led consumers to seek tools that provide real-time insights into their physiological states.​

• Athletic Performance Optimization: Athletes utilize HRV data to tailor training regimens, prevent overtraining, and enhance recovery.​

• Chronic Disease Management: HRV monitoring aids in managing conditions like diabetes and fibromyalgia by detecting autonomic dysfunctions.​

• Mental Health Monitoring: HRV serves as an objective measure to assess stress and the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions.​

• Technological Advancements: Improvements in sensor accuracy and data analytics have made HRV monitoring more accessible and reliable.​

Key Challenges

• Standardization Issues: Variations in measurement protocols and lack of standardized metrics can lead to inconsistent data interpretation.​

• Data Accuracy: Consumer-grade devices may not match the precision of clinical equipment, potentially affecting the reliability of HRV readings.​

• User Education: Misunderstandings about HRV metrics can lead to misinterpretation, necessitating better user education.​

• Privacy Concerns: The collection and storage of sensitive health data raise concerns about user privacy and data security.​

Misconceptions About HRV

A common misconception is that a higher HRV is always better. While higher HRV often indicates better cardiovascular fitness and resilience, it’s essential to consider individual baselines and context. Factors like age, fitness level, and health status influence HRV, and deviations from personal norms may be more telling than absolute values. Another misunderstanding is equating HRV solely with stress levels; while stress impacts HRV, it’s one of many influencing factors.​

Key Use Cases

• Athletic Training: Monitoring HRV helps in optimizing training loads and recovery periods.​

• Sleep Quality Assessment: HRV patterns provide insights into sleep stages and overall sleep health.​

• Chronic Illness Management: Patients with conditions like fibromyalgia use HRV data to manage symptoms and prevent flare-ups.​

• Mental Health: Therapists use HRV to monitor stress and anxiety levels, adjusting treatments accordingly.​

• Early Disease Detection: Changes in HRV can signal the onset of illnesses, prompting early interventions. (Source: Study here).

Adoption Rate Across Major Sports Leagues

The adoption of HRV monitoring varies across professional sports leagues:​

🏀 NBA: Golden State Warriors: The Golden State Warriors have integrated HRV monitoring into their training regimen. Lachlan Penfold, the team’s former Head of Physical Performance and Sports Medicine, utilized Firstbeat’s HRV analytics to assess player readiness and recovery. This approach provided real-time feedback during training sessions, allowing for on-the-fly adjustments to optimize performance (Source here)

🏒 NHL: Multiple Teams: As of the 2023–2024 NHL season, nearly 50% of NHL teams, including the Buffalo Sabres, Florida Panthers, Minnesota Wild, Carolina Hurricanes, Philadelphia Flyers, and San Jose Sharks, have adopted Firstbeat Sports’ HRV monitoring to optimize performance and reduce injury risk (Source here).

For example, Jack Anderson, the former Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach for the San Jose Sharks, stated.

“Firstbeat is an integral piece in the effort to better understand our athletes and give them actionable information to improve their performance on the ice. We utilize Firstbeat daily to manage player load, formulate recovery strategies, and give proper nutritional advice for refueling after practice.”(Source here)

Additionally, the Carolina Hurricanes entered into a three-year agreement with Firstbeat to implement their HRV monitoring technology (Source here).

These implementations highlight the growing reliance on HRV monitoring in professional hockey to enhance player performance and recovery.

Many teams across the Premier League, NFL, MLS, MLB, NCAA, have embraced HRV as part of their player performance and recovery strategy. Novak Djokovic is known to utilize HRV data to fine-tune his training and recovery strategies. He, along with many other elite athletes, leverages HRV monitoring to assess his physiological readiness, identify signs of fatigue or stress, and optimize training loads and recovery periods. This data helps him tailor his training program to maximize his performance and minimize the risk of overtraining or injury

Key Vendors

Source: Companies’ websites, 2025

Whoop

Whoop offers a wrist-worn strap that continuously measures HRV, heart rate, strain, sleep, and recovery metrics, tailored especially for athletes and health-conscious users. Its business model focuses on a monthly or yearly membership subscription rather than selling the hardware itself. Whoop is widely used in professional sports leagues and by high-performance teams globally.

LifeQ

LifeQ builds health biometrics engines that get embedded into wearables by brands like Garmin, Omron, and Fossil, rather than making its own consumer device. Their technology specializes in capturing heart rate, respiration, blood oxygen, blood pressure, and HRV without clinical-grade invasiveness. LifeQ is heavily focused on healthcare, insurance, and wellness sectors through partnerships.

Tiger Tech

Tiger Tech develops FDA-cleared armband sensors that can detect pulse, HRV, arrhythmias, and abnormal respiratory events, with a clinical-grade focus. Their products are primarily targeted at hospitals, first responders, and researchers rather than consumers. Tiger Tech differentiates itself by prioritizing regulatory validation over lifestyle features.

Oura

Oura created the Oura Ring, a compact smart ring that tracks sleep quality, HRV, body temperature, and daily readiness scores with strong nighttime precision. It’s extremely popular among biohackers, athletes, and corporate wellness programs. Oura has positioned itself as both a consumer brand and a potential clinical data platform in the future.

Polar

Polar, a pioneer in heart rate tracking, offers highly accurate chest straps (like the H10) and sports watches that capture HRV during exercise and rest. Their products are trusted by endurance athletes and researchers alike. Polar maintains a reputation for reliability in measuring heart rate and HRV, especially during intense activity.

Firstbeat (now part of Garmin)

Firstbeat provides advanced physiological analytics — especially stress, recovery, and VO2 max estimations — now embedded within Garmin wearables. Originally, Firstbeat offered HRV-powered analytics for elite athletes and corporate wellness, before being acquired by Garmin in 2020. Their algorithms remain a critical differentiator inside Garmin’s high-end sports watches.

Biostrap

Biostrap produces wrist and ankle wearables designed for precision health monitoring, including sleep, HRV, blood oxygen, and respiration rate. They position their ecosystem for clinical research, elite sports, and health optimization rather than mainstream fitness tracking. Biostrap devices aim for near-medical-grade data accuracy validated in third-party studies.

Movesense

Movesense, spun out of Suunto/Polar, offers modular open sensors that can be worn on the chest, wrist, or embedded in other devices, capturing HRV, heart rate, and motion metrics. Their platform is popular with sports scientists, medical researchers, and R&D teams needing customizable data collection. Movesense devices are flexible enough for both sports performance and clinical research.

HRV4Training

HRV4Training is a popular mobile application designed to measure Heart Rate Variability (HRV) using just a smartphone camera or compatible sensors, without the need for expensive wearables. Created by Dr. Marco Altini, the app helps athletes, coaches, and wellness practitioners track physiological stress and recovery trends over time. HRV4Training leverages validated algorithms and individualized baselines to provide daily insights into readiness, training load adaptation, and lifestyle impacts (e.g., sleep, travel, alcohol, or illness). What sets it apart is its focus on evidence-based interpretation, scientific transparency, and its ability to integrate contextual tags — offering users a more personalized understanding of how internal and external factors affect performance and well-being. It’s widely used across endurance sports, elite athletics, and by performance professionals seeking non-invasive, practical recovery data.

Case Studies: HRV Implementation in Team Settings

HRV monitoring has been effectively utilized by various teams to enhance performance, recovery, and overall well-being. Below are notable case studies illustrating the application and impact of HRV in team environments:​

1. Robertson Training Systems: Enhancing Athletic Performance

In two case studies, Robertson Training Systems demonstrated the use of HRV monitoring to tailor training and recovery strategies for athletes (Source here).

• Case Study 1: A Division-1 female soccer player recovering from an ankle injury underwent a 10-week HRV-guided training program. Results included a decrease in resting heart rate from 66 to 50 bpm and an increase in HRV from 86 to 103, alongside weight loss and reduced body fat percentage. (Source here).

• Case Study 2: An athlete experiencing low HRV due to lifestyle factors (e.g., caffeine intake, poor sleep) implemented changes such as reducing caffeine, establishing a bedtime routine, and incorporating relaxation techniques. These adjustments led to significant improvements in HRV scores over 4-6 weeks (Source here).​

These cases underscore HRV’s role in customizing training and recovery protocols. ​

2. HRV4Training: Monitoring Team Sports Performance

HRV4Training has explored HRV monitoring in team sports, emphasizing its utility in assessing individual responses to training and lifestyle stressors. According to HRV4Training, key insights include:​

• Individual Monitoring: Daily HRV assessments can detect changes in cardiac autonomic responses during training camps, aiding in personalized training adjustments. (Source here).

• Training Adaptations: HRV metrics help identify signs of positive or negative adaptation to training loads, informing decisions on training intensity and recovery needs (Source here).

These findings highlight HRV’s value in optimizing team performance through individualized monitoring. ​

3. St. Paul’s School: Improving Student Sleep and Behavior

In collaboration with WHOOP, St. Paul’s School implemented HRV monitoring to enhance students’ sleep and behavioral patterns. According to WHOOP, by providing students with 24/7 access to their biometric data, the initiative aimed to:​

• Increase Awareness: Educate students on the impact of sleep and recovery on overall well-being.​

• Promote Behavioral Changes: Encourage healthier sleep habits and stress management techniques.​

The program demonstrated HRV monitoring’s potential in fostering positive behavioral changes in educational settings. ​

4. Elite Team Sports: Systematic Review of HRV Applications

A systematic review investigated HRV’s application in elite team sports, focusing on monitoring training adaptations and athlete health. According to a study led by HRV4Training, The review concluded that HRV is a valuable tool for:​

• Assessing Training Load: Evaluating the balance between training stress and recovery.​

• Monitoring Athlete Status: Detecting signs of overtraining or insufficient recovery.​

Recommendations for Teams

• Define Objectives: Clearly outline what you aim to achieve with HRV monitoring, whether it’s enhancing athletic performance, managing stress, or monitoring health conditions.​

• Choose Appropriate Tools: Select devices that align with your objectives and offer reliable HRV measurements.​

• Educate Users: Provide training to ensure users understand HRV metrics and how to interpret them correctly.​

• Integrate with Other Data: Combine HRV data with other health metrics for a comprehensive view of well-being.​

• Ensure Data Privacy: Implement robust data protection measures to safeguard user information.​

Conclusion

The HRV vendor ecosystem is rapidly evolving, offering diverse tools for health monitoring, athletic training, and disease management. While challenges like standardization and data accuracy persist, the integration of HRV monitoring into daily life holds promise for enhancing well-being and performance. As technology advances, and understanding deepens, HRV is poised to become an integral component of personalized health strategies.​

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Concussion Management and Prevention Ecosystem Analysis

Concussion management and prevention in sports has become a critical focus in recent years due to growing concerns over the long-term impact of repeated head injuries. The increasing awareness of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and other neurological conditions associated with head trauma has led to heightened emphasis on developing tools and strategies for managing and preventing concussions.

This analysis covers the key trends, drivers, challenges, vendors, and recommendations for sports teams involved in concussion management and prevention.

The cost of concussions in the NFL

Quantifying the exact annual cost of concussions to the NFL is challenging due to the multifaceted nature of expenses involved, including medical treatment, player compensation during recovery, litigation, and long-term health settlements. However, several data points provide insight into the financial impact:

• Medical Expenses: A study focusing on high school football players reported an average direct medical cost of $800 per concussion. While NFL players likely incur higher medical expenses due to more advanced care, this figure offers a baseline for understanding individual concussion costs.

• Concussion Incidence: In the 2021 regular season, there were 187 reported concussions.

• Player Compensation: Concussions can lead to significant financial repercussions for players, including a reduction in annual compensation by approximately 7% and a decrease in career length by about one year.

• Litigation and Settlements: In 2013, the NFL reached a settlement agreement to provide $765 million for medical assistance to over 18,000 former players affected by neurological conditions, including those resulting from concussions. This settlement underscores the substantial financial liabilities associated with concussion-related health issues.

These figures highlight the significant financial burden concussions impose on the NFL, encompassing immediate medical costs, long-term health care, and legal settlements. While precise annual costs are difficult to ascertain, the cumulative impact is considerable, prompting ongoing efforts to enhance player safety and reduce concussion incidence.

Incidence rates of concussions per sports type (American Football, pro rugby, hockey, soccer)

However, understanding the incidence rates of concussions can provide insight into the potential burden on teams. Below is a summary of concussion incidence rates in different professional sports:

Note: An athlete-exposure is defined as one athlete participating in one game or practice.

While these incidence rates provide a glimpse into the frequency of concussions, the associated costs—including medical expenses, rehabilitation, lost playing time, and potential long-term health implications—vary widely and are not comprehensively documented across all sports. Therefore, specific average cost figures per team are not readily available.

Key Trends in Concussion Management and Prevention

1. Increased Awareness and Education:

   • With rising public concern over the long-term effects of concussions (such as CTE), there is a growing emphasis on educating athletes, coaches, parents, and medical staff about concussion risks and symptoms.

   • High-profile cases of retired athletes suffering from brain injuries have spurred legislation and policy changes aimed at improving concussion management, such as the Return-to-Play (RTP) protocols and Return-to-School (RTS) strategies in youth and professional sports.

2. Technological Advancements in Detection:

   • There has been a surge in wearable technology and sensor-based devices designed to detect head impacts and monitor symptoms of concussions. These devices range from mouthguards to headbands and helmet sensors that measure the force of impact and provide real-time data.

   • AI and machine learning are also being integrated into concussion management systems to predict recovery times, assess brain function, and optimize the Return-to-Play (RTP) process.

3. Focus on Prevention and Mitigation:

   • Prevention has become a key area of focus in the ecosystem. This includes innovations in helmet design to absorb impact forces, impact sensors to measure head collisions, and training to teach athletes safer playing techniques (e.g., tackling in football and rugby).

   • Helmets are being equipped with advanced technology that tracks the intensity and frequency of impacts, allowing teams to better manage athletes’ risk of concussions.

4. Data-Driven Approach:

   • Sports teams are using data analytics to monitor and track athletes’ head impacts and symptoms over time. This data helps to make more informed decisions about player health, recovery timelines, and whether players are fit to return to action.

5. Integration of Neurocognitive Testing:

   • Baseline neurocognitive testing (such as the ImPACT test) has become standard practice in many sports. These tests assess an athlete’s cognitive function before the season, and they are repeated post-injury to monitor recovery. These tests are being increasingly integrated with wearable sensors to provide a more holistic view of an athlete’s brain health.

6. Legislation and Standards:

   • Many regions and sports organizations have enacted concussion protocols, particularly for youth sports, which require baseline testing and specific return-to-play guidelines after a concussion. Legislation is pushing for stricter concussion management policies, making it essential for sports organizations to adopt effective technology solutions.

Key Drivers of Growth in Concussion Management and Prevention

1. Player Safety:

   • The growing concern for player safety, particularly among high-impact sports like football, rugby, and hockey, has driven the demand for better concussion detection and prevention technologies.

2. Long-Term Health Concerns:

   • Studies linking repeated head injuries to serious neurological conditions like CTE, Parkinson’s Disease, and Alzheimer’s Disease have made concussion management a top priority for leagues, sports organizations, and athletic trainers.

3. Increased Investment in Sports Tech:

   • The explosion of investment in sports tech companies has led to a wave of innovative products aimed at improving concussion prevention, detection, and treatment. The market for wearable devices, impact sensors, and AI-based health solutions is growing rapidly.

4. Regulatory Requirements:

   • Governments and sports organizations are instituting regulations that mandate concussion management protocols. For example, the NFL, NHL, and FIFA have all implemented stringent concussion protocols to ensure players are properly managed after head injuries.

5. Public Perception and Advocacy:

   • Advocacy groups, such as the Brain Injury Association of America and The Concussion Legacy Foundation, have been instrumental in raising awareness about the dangers of concussions and driving the push for better management practices.

Challenges in Concussion Management and Prevention

1. Underreporting of Concussions:

   • Athletes, especially at the youth and amateur levels, may not report concussions due to fear of being sidelined or due to a lack of awareness of symptoms. This makes effective detection and management more difficult.

2. Limitations of Current Technology:

   • While concussion detection technology has improved, there is still no perfect solution. Current sensors cannot fully predict the likelihood of a concussion from an impact or assess the severity of a concussion immediately after it occurs.

   • Some wearable devices can only track the force of an impact but do not measure brain function or cognitive symptoms, which are crucial for a complete diagnosis.

3. Standardization of Protocols:

   • While concussion management protocols are widely adopted, there is still a lack of universal standards across different leagues, countries, and levels of play. Variations in protocols can create confusion and inconsistent care for athletes.

4. Cost of Implementation:

   • Many concussion management technologies, such as advanced helmets and impact sensors, can be prohibitively expensive for amateur sports teams, schools, or smaller organizations. This can limit widespread adoption.

5. Long-Term Recovery and Rehabilitation:

   • Concussions can have varied and long-lasting effects. Managing a player’s return-to-play (RTP) and rehabilitation can be complex, as recovery times vary greatly between individuals, and there is a risk of second-impact syndrome, which can be life-threatening.

Key Vendors in Concussion Management and Prevention Ecosystem

Comparison of Key Vendors by Features and Pricing

Picture: Kinmetrix Arc, 2024

Picture: TopSpin360 helmet, 2024

Pictures: i1 Biometrics, Prevent Biometrics, 2024

Pictures: HEADCHECK Health, 2024

Picture: ImPACT, 2024

Vendor Summary

• i1 Biometrics: Offers a smart mouthguard that tracks head impacts and provides real-time data on the severity of those impacts, useful for monitoring concussion risk.

• CATASTROPHIC (HEADS-UP): Focuses on concussion prevention and education. Provides concussion awareness and management programs, especially valuable for youth sports.

• X2 Biosystems: Provides wearable impact sensors that monitor head impacts during sports activities. Great for tracking head impact data for concussion management.

• ImPACT Applications: Offers a neurocognitive testing platform widely used for concussion management. It helps track cognitive recovery post-injury and assesses an athlete’s readiness to return to play.

• Brain Sentry: A helmet-based impact sensor system that detects severe impacts and sends real-time alerts to medical staff. Ideal for youth and professional teams.

• HeadImpact: Provides wearable head impact sensors that measure force, frequency, and location of head impacts, helping to monitor concussion risks.

• SafeHead: A smart cap that monitors head impacts in real-time and sends alerts to coaches and medical teams. It also tracks recovery status.

• HEADCHECK Health: provides a mobile and web-based platform for managing concussion protocols, ensuring compliance, and supporting athlete safety through streamlined tracking and reporting.

• Kinmetrix: A neck strengthening device designed to reduce concussion risk by improving neck stability. It uses resistance training to build neck muscle strength. It provides advanced neck strengthening technology with data analytics and baseline tracking.

• TopSpin: A neck strengthening technology using resistance to improve neck strength and stability, which can reduce concussion risk by preventing head movement during impacts.

Recommendations for Teams

1. Implement Comprehensive Concussion Prevention and Monitoring Programs:

   • Teams should adopt a multi-faceted approach to concussion prevention, including impact sensors (e.g., X2 Biosystems, i1 Biometrics, Brain Sentry) and neck strengthening devices (e.g., Kinmetrix, TopSpin), to reduce the risk of concussions and better track athlete safety.

2. Incorporate Baseline Neurocognitive Testing:

   • Use ImPACT to establish baseline cognitive functions at the start of the season and track recovery during the post-concussion phase. This is essential for ensuring players return to action safely.

3. Focus on Youth Sports:

   • Given the increasing concern about concussion risks in youth sports, tools like CATASTROPHIC (HEADS-UP) can be crucial in raising awareness and improving concussion protocols at the grassroots level.

4. Track Recovery and Rehabilitation:

   • Consider investing in recovery tracking systems (such as SafeHead) that monitor head impacts and track recovery status over time, ensuring players are fully healed before returning to play.

5. Prioritize Neck Strengthening Programs:

   • Adding neck strengthening routines (via Kinmetrix or TopSpin) to training regimens will help mitigate concussion risks by improving neck stability and muscle strength, reducing the force transferred to the brain during impacts.

6. Adopt technology that can collect data around the athlete’s neck accurately and show evidence of the progress:

   1. Adopt technologies (e.g. Kinmetrix) that can accurately track data around the athlete’s neck to establish the baseline for each athlete, understand the areas of strengths and weaknesses in the neck, and track how the neck’s strength of an athlete is improving over time.

7. Adopt concussion management and prevention devices that are safe for the athletes:

   1. Adopt technologies (e.g. Kinmetrix) that can safely strengthen the athlete’s neck in a controlled manner via advanced sensors and robotics. This will go a long way. Avoid using devices that might negatively impact the athlete’s neck in the long run.

Bottom line: In the last few years we have seen the emergence of a large variety of concussion management and prevention solutions. As a result of that, teams have a lot options to choose from. We believe that teams should adopt a fully integrated approach by integrating baseline neurocognitive testing, with neck strengthening and recovery/rehabilitation programs capable of collecting data and evidence of recovery. At the end of the day, by integrating these technologies into a holistic concussion management and prevention strategy, teams can not only protect athletes but also enhance long-term player health and safety.

Of note, this is our last post of the year at Upside so we would like to wish a merry christmas and happy new year to all of you, including our Upside newsletter readers, our customers and partners. Thank you for your continued support! See you all in 2025!

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Market Overview

The performance lighting and red light therapy market has emerged as a dynamic and rapidly growing sector, catering to the increasing needs of professional sports teams, fitness enthusiasts, and wellness practitioners. These technologies are being utilized to improve athletic performance, expedite recovery, and support general health and wellness initiatives. With applications extending beyond sports into areas like rehabilitation and general wellness, this market is evolving into a cornerstone of non-invasive health optimization strategies. In this analysis we discussed the market size, key trends, drivers, challenges, vendors and provided some recommendations to teams to implement such solutions.

Market Size:

The global red light therapy market is projected to reach $2.5 billion by 2030, demonstrating a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.9% between 2023 and 2030. The performance lighting segment focused on athletic recovery is a key contributor, with increasing adoption by elite teams and gyms driving this growth. This market expansion underscores the potential of red light therapy to become a standard component of athlete recovery protocols worldwide.

Key Trends

1. Growing Adoption by Professional Teams:

   • Sports organizations across leagues such as the NFL, NBA, and MLS are incorporating red light therapy into their athlete management programs. These technologies have proven effective in reducing downtime due to injuries and improving overall performance.

2. Advancements in Device Technology:

   • Innovation in device portability, wearability, and customization is reshaping the market. Many devices now feature app-based controls and monitoring systems, enabling tailored treatments and precise tracking of recovery metrics.

3. Expansion Beyond Sports:

   • The use of red light therapy is expanding to wellness centers, physical therapy clinics, and even consumer homes. Benefits for skin health, sleep optimization, and chronic pain management are broadening its appeal to new demographics.

4. Focus on Recovery Optimization:

   • Red light therapy has gained traction for its role in reducing muscle fatigue, enhancing blood circulation, accelerating tissue repair, and minimizing inflammation. These benefits are highly sought after by athletes and coaches seeking competitive edges.

5. Rise in Consumer Awareness:

   • Increased awareness of non-invasive therapies and their potential to replace or complement traditional methods has driven demand. Education campaigns by manufacturers and testimonials from high-profile athletes have further fueled adoption.

Market Drivers

• Increased Focus on Athlete Health and Recovery: As the emphasis on player longevity and performance intensifies, teams are turning to proven, non-invasive recovery methods like red light therapy.

• Technological Innovation: New features such as enhanced irradiance, device portability, and real-time monitoring systems have improved accessibility and effectiveness.

• Cost Effectiveness: Compared to recurring clinical visits, investing in red light therapy devices can offer long-term cost savings for teams and individuals.

• Scientific Backing: A growing body of peer-reviewed studies supports the efficacy of red light therapy, bolstering consumer confidence and adoption.

Market Challenges

1. High Initial Costs:

   • Many advanced devices, particularly full-body systems, require significant upfront investments, which can be prohibitive for smaller teams or independent users.

2. Lack of Regulation:

   • The market lacks standardized regulations, making it difficult for consumers to distinguish between high-quality devices and less effective alternatives.

3. Skepticism and Education:

   • Despite scientific evidence, skepticism persists among certain segments of practitioners and athletes. Increased education is needed to dispel myths and highlight benefits.

4. Device Maintenance:

   • Sophisticated systems often require regular maintenance and calibration to ensure optimal performance, adding to operational challenges.

The Importance and Impact of Red Light Therapy on Pro Teams and Athletes’ Recovery

Red light therapy has become an essential recovery and performance tool for professional sports teams, offering a non-invasive and scientifically backed method to enhance muscle recovery, reduce inflammation, and optimize overall athlete well-being. By penetrating deep into muscle tissue and stimulating cellular energy production (ATP), red light therapy accelerates healing from injuries, mitigates soreness, and improves circulation, allowing athletes to maintain peak performance with reduced downtime.

Pro teams across the NFL, NBA, NHL, and European soccer leagues integrate red light therapy into their recovery protocols to support faster post-game recovery, manage chronic pain, and enhance sleep quality—key factors in sustaining elite performance over a long season. With its growing adoption in training facilities, locker rooms, and even travel kits, red light therapy has solidified its place as a crucial component of modern sports science and athlete longevity.

Red light therapy (RLT) has seen increasing adoption among professional sports teams and athletes, though precise statistics on its prevalence are limited. Notably, since the 1990s, U.S. Navy SEALs have utilized RLT to enhance muscle regeneration, achieving over a 40% improvement in musculoskeletal training injuries and reduced wound healing times.

In professional sports, devices from companies like ARRC LED have been integral to NFL franchises, professional and collegiate teams, and the U.S. military since 2015. High-profile athletes, such as LeBron James, reportedly invest significantly in recovery modalities, including RLT, to maintain peak performance and longevity. While comprehensive data on RLT’s impact across all professional teams is scarce, these instances highlight its growing role in enhancing athletic recovery and performance.

The Importance and Impact of Performance Lighting Therapy on Pro Teams and Athletes’ Recovery

Performance lighting, such as BrainLit’s circadian rhythm-aligned solutions, plays a crucial role in optimizing recovery, sleep, and overall performance for professional athletes. Proper lighting systems help regulate melatonin production, improve sleep quality, and enhance alertness, which is vital for teams managing grueling travel schedules, time zone shifts, and demanding game-day routines.

By mimicking natural daylight patterns, these lighting solutions support athletes’ circadian rhythms, leading to better rest, faster recovery, and improved cognitive function. Many pro teams integrate performance lighting in locker rooms, training facilities, and even travel accommodations to mitigate jet lag, reduce fatigue, and maintain peak physical and mental performance. As sleep and recovery science continue to evolve, performance lighting has become an essential component of sports science, giving teams a competitive edge in maintaining player health and longevity throughout the season.

Performance lighting, such as BrainLit’s BioCentric Lighting™, is gaining traction among professional sports teams aiming to enhance player performance and well-being. For instance, the Detroit Lions have integrated this lighting technology to create health-enhancing environments for both players and staff.

Similarly, the Minnesota Twins partnered with BrainLit to install biocentric lighting in their clubhouse, targeting improvements in sleep quality and mitigation of jet lag. While specific adoption statistics are limited, these examples illustrate a growing recognition of the benefits of circadian rhythm-aligned lighting in professional sports. Teams report that such lighting solutions support better sleep, faster recovery, and optimized performance by aligning players’ internal clocks with natural daylight patterns.

Comparative Analysis of Key Vendors

Source: Upside Global, 2025

Vendor Descriptions

BrainLit

• Headquarters: Lund, (Sweden)

• Website: https://www.brainlit.com/

BrainLit specializes in circadian lighting solutions designed to optimize health and performance. They create custom lighting systems for workplaces, healthcare facilities, and other organizations, focusing on mimicking natural daylight patterns to support healthy circadian rhythms. These systems go beyond simple brightness adjustments, precisely controlling light color and intensity throughout the day to align with the body’s natural sleep-wake cycle. BrainLit’s goal is to improve sleep quality, boost energy levels, enhance cognitive function, and promote overall well-being for occupants, ultimately creating spaces that foster productivity and support optimal health.

Picture: BrainLit’s lighting system at the Helsinki’s pro hockey team

Picture: BrainLit’s lighting system at the Orlando Magic (NBA) facility

Joovv

• Headquarters: El Segundo, California (USA)

• Website: https://joovv.com/

Joovv offers modular, app-connected devices that are FDA-cleared and portable, making them ideal for both professional and personal use. These devices are known for their customizable configurations and suitability for multiple recovery protocols.

Pictures: Joovv

PlatinumLED

• Headquarters: Kailua, Hawaii (USA)

• Website: https://platinumtherapylights.com/

PlatinumLED provides high irradiance, full-body red light therapy devices that are customizable for targeted recovery. Their products are widely recognized for their effectiveness and value for athletes and gym settings.

Picture: PlatinumLED

Here is a video below of an exec from the University of Miami (NCAA) explaining how they use PlatinumLED today:

ARRC LED

• Headquarters: San Clemente, CA (USA)

• Website: https://arrcled.com/

ARRC LED specializes in high-performance, multi-wavelength red light therapy devices designed for elite teams and medical clinics. Their technology focuses on advanced photobiomodulation to enhance recovery, reduce inflammation, and optimize performance. With a strong emphasis on clinical-grade solutions, ARRC LED is a top choice for professionals seeking powerful and effective red light therapy.

Pictures: ARRC LED

Mito Red Light

• Headquarters: Scottsdale, Arizona (USA)

• Website: https://mitoredlight.com/

Mito Red Light offers compact and high-power devices that cater to value-oriented users seeking efficient therapy. These devices are portable and affordable, making them accessible to wellness enthusiasts and smaller teams.

Pictures: Mito Red Light

LightStim

• Headquarters: Irvine, California (USA)

• Website: https://lightstim.com/

LightStim designs handheld, FDA-cleared devices focused on targeted recovery. Their portable size and affordability make them popular for individual use and rehabilitation centers.

Pictures: LightStim

TheraLight

• Headquarters: Lindon, Utah (USA)

• Website: https://www.theralight.com/

TheraLight’s clinical-grade full-body red light beds are designed for elite teams and clinics, offering unparalleled therapeutic coverage. These devices are a high-end option for comprehensive recovery needs.

Pictures: TheraLight

RedRush

• Headquarters: Charlotte, North Carolina (USA)

• Website: https://redrush.com/

RedRush specializes in portable and affordable red light therapy devices with high irradiance for effective recovery. Their products are tailored for gyms and wellness centers seeking cost-effective solutions.

Pictures: RedRush

Kineon

• Headquarters: Atlanta, GA (USA)

• Website: https://kineon.io/

Kineon is a leading innovator in light therapy solutions, dedicated to enhancing pain management and recovery. ¹ Their flagship product, the MOVE+, is an FDA-registered, medical-grade laser device renowned for its portability and clinically validated effectiveness. ² Combining red and infrared light therapy, the MOVE+ reduces pain and inflammation, making it a popular choice for athletes, busy professionals, and anyone seeking to optimize their recovery. ² In 2025, Kineon partnered with Flex, a health and wellness payment solution, to make their cutting-edge technology more accessible and affordable. ³ This collaboration allows customers to conveniently use their Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) to purchase Kineon’s innovative ⁴ products, further solidifying Kineon’s commitment to empowering individuals to take control of their health and well-being

Pictures: Kineon

HigherDOSE

• Headquarters: New York City, New York (USA)

• Website: https://higherdose.com/

HigherDOSE is a wellness and recovery brand specializing in infrared technology, PEMF therapy, and biohacking tools designed to optimize health and performance. Founded by Lauren Berlingeri and Katie Kaps, the company offers products like infrared sauna blankets, red light therapy devices, and PEMF mats to enhance circulation, reduce inflammation, improve recovery, and promote relaxation.

Pictures: HigherDOSE

Recommendations to Teams

1. Adopt Based on Use Cases:

   • Professional teams should prioritize high-end, full-body systems (e.g., TheraLight) for their ability to address multiple recovery needs simultaneously. Smaller teams or individuals may find value in mid-range portable devices such as those offered by Joovv or PlatinumLED.

2. Implement Education Programs:

   • Comprehensive education programs should be developed to ensure athletes, coaches, and support staff understand the science behind red light therapy, fostering greater acceptance and proper usage.

3. Evaluate ROI:

   • Teams should conduct cost-benefit analyses to compare the upfront expense of red light therapy systems against measurable benefits, including reduced injury rates and faster recovery times.

4. Focus on Versatility:

   • Investing in devices that can serve multiple purposes and be used by multiple athletes simultaneously can maximize the value of the technology.

5. Partner with Vendors:

   • Establishing partnerships with key vendors for discounts, trials, or co-branding opportunities can offset costs and provide teams with tailored solutions.

Conclusion

The performance lighting and red light therapy market is on a strong growth trajectory, driven by technological advancements, increasing adoption by professional teams, and expanding use cases. Teams and organizations that strategically incorporate these technologies into their recovery and performance protocols stand to gain significant advantages, including enhanced athletic performance, faster recovery times, and reduced injury risks. By staying informed about emerging trends and evaluating the suitability of various products, teams can make informed investments that yield substantial long-term benefits. In the coming years we expect more teams to adopt such modalities as part of the recovery strategy for their athletes.

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Force assessment tools have become a key solutions for teams to help them prevent injuries and improve performance of players over the years. Pro teams are now using force assessment devices in various shapes and forms (force plates, smart insoles with force sensors, etc.). Similar to GPS, AMS or HR systems, pro teams and leagues have to pick the right force assessment system that fits their requirements, use cases, budget, and requirements. In this analysis we will discuss the latest research focusing on force assessment tools, the current and future market trends, the M&A trends, the force assessment vendor ecosystems, and the key force assessment vendors. We will also provide recommendations to pro teams looking to adopt a force assessment solution.

What are Force Platforms or Force Plates?

Force platforms or force plates are measuring instruments that measure the ground reaction forces generated by a body standing on or moving across them, to quantify balance, gait and other parameters of biomechanics. Most common areas of application are medicine and sports.

From the outside, a force plate (or platform) looks like a simple rectangular pedestal, often joined to other platforms to form an entire floor. However, each force plate contains several sensors for detecting the moment of a force.

Therefore, in order to understand what a force plate is, it is first necessary to define what the moment of a force is. It consists of any cause capable of modifying the state of inertia or motion of a body, and manifests itself in the reciprocal interaction of two or more bodies.

Three elements are needed to describe an applied force: 1) point of application; 2) intensity (or module or size); 3) direction. Two forces applied to the same point can be summarized in a single force, called the resultant force; it too falls under the spectrum of what a force platform can analyze, which detects it together with other parameters.

In summation, a force plate is an instrument that allows to detect and measure the forces that are produced during physical exercise, in order to optimize the athletic gesture and to “ground” all the power of an athlete, even in relation to a project of rehabilitation or recovery after injury.

More advanced types of force platforms also allow the recording of data relating to the pressure center, which provide fundamental information for the detection of postural dysfunctions in an inertial state or in motion.

Force Plates can Help Measure the Postural Stability, the Explosive Force, the Power, the Reaction Force from the Ground.

A force plate allows to evaluate the postural stability, the explosive force, the power, the reaction force from the ground. These data can later be used for the study of sports postures and movements, for diagnostics and rehabilitation.

The force plate measures direction, strength, reactive muscle activation time and other parameters and forces produced during specific movements of a sporting activity, like walking, running or jumping. In essence, it analyses motor patterns, applying kinematics to dynamics.

Measurements of a force plate can be studied alone or combined with other data, such as limb kinematics, to determine the principles of locomotion. If an organism makes a standing jump from a force plate, the data from the force plate alone is sufficient to calculate acceleration, jump mechanics, power output, jump angle and jump distance using basic physics. Simultaneous video measurements of the angles of the leg joints and the force plate output can allow the determination of torque, work and power in each limb, using a method called reverse dynamics.

Force Plates are Primarily Used to Prevent Injuries and Improve Performance

The two main directions of use of the platform are those of prevention and performance. Postural stability, jumping and landing are the main areas of preventive investigation, in order to avoid injuries due to posture and the way in which certain movements are made. As far as performance measurement is concerned, on the other hand, the exercises on the force plate involve various types of jumping and extension, to measure parameters such as power and height of the jump, or more basic locomotion movements, such as sprints, walks or agility drills.

Latest Research Using Force Plates: Defining Force Plate Metrics

There are several studies on force plates that have been published in the past few years. One of them is a study entitled “Applying Force Plate Technology to Inform Human Performance Programming in Tactical Populations”, published in July 2021.

This study provides general examples of important metrics to monitor and training recommendations based on changes to these force-time metrics, followed by specific examples in three case studies. According to this study, the most important step in preparation for using force plate data to inform training program prescriptions is identifying the database management system that will store the raw data, conduct calculations, and build visualizations. It is common for high frequency (1000 Hz) force plate systems to provide a wealth of meaningful data from the force-time curve, resulting in upwards of 100+ calculated variables. This, understandably so, may look overwhelming at first sight, but a properly designed (and commercially available) data management system provides the ability to make this vast data easily accessible, visualizable, and actionable, as well as overlay additional important contextual data such as training load. The Table 1 below displays a dashboard example of an executive summary of CMJ testing utilizing Fusion Sport Smartabase Athlete Management System (AMS). In the absence of a data management tool (such as an AMS), the data becomes very cumbersome to manage and can lead to a decreased likelihood of analyzing historical trends and managing large datasets.

Picures: Table 1

The Fusion Sport Smartabase dashboard above built to display comparisons of individuals to their average historical values (identifying those increasing, maintaining, and decreasing in power production capabilities by utilizing jump height Z-scores based on intra-individual variation), others within the group (leaderboard comparisons to the group average), and as a percentage of their all-time personal best record (100% highlighted in green would indicate a personal record while red indicates very low performances compared to historical records). Highlighting groups of individuals with red flag alerts from decreased performances can be used to easily identify and make appropriate adjustments to individual training regimens. This data and names have been synthetically generated for visual purposes.

The table below illustrates and defines the various Force Plate metrics:

Picture: Definitions of Variables of Emphasis in the force-time curve.

Testing to Monitor Neuromuscular Fatigue and Detraining

More frequent or “micro-level” monitoring via bi-weekly, weekly, or intra weekly assessments help to identify neuromuscular fatigue more quickly via decrements in force-generating capacities [56]. When trying to determine the ideal frequency for testing, there are several factors to consider, such as throughput and equipment limitations. Most importantly is the potential for test fatigue due to the implementation of force plate assessments at a high frequency. As mentioned earlier and described in greater detail elsewhere [41], maximal effort jump attempts are fundamental to the validity and reliability of force plate tests. Consequently, it is left to the practitioners to determine whether intra-weekly or weekly (sometimes even bi-weekly) testing would become too monotonous for their population. In these instances, it is recommended that test frequency is extended to bi-weekly or monthly. Proper use of this more immediate feedback allows appropriate, timely adjustments to training programs from unexpected responses caused by the unpredictable nature of occupational demands.

The fluctuations in weekly training volume and intensity may lead to decreased or maintained jump performances depending on the individual. Conceptually, micro and meso-level monitoring feed into the “macro-level” training program by providing a robust description of long-term adaptive alterations, creating the roadmap for the course taken to reach the annual training adaptation. Thus, it is helpful for practitioners to have a training prescription in which predetermined expectations are deployed, which allows reflection and interpretation based upon comparing desired/anticipated changes vs. actual outcomes. Then, eliciting functional overreaching via minimal neuromuscular fatigue to elicit training adaptations and prepare for high stressors [14,19] would not be an alarm for negative training responses, but rather an expected decrease that should be followed by an eventual increase in performance (adaptation). Nonetheless, if data lead a practitioner to be concerned, programmatic alterations (e.g., lower training volume and/or training intensity and increased recovery modalities) may then be implemented to guide future training towards a more desirable long-term adaptation, all of which is directed by objective, reliable, and actionable data. Collectively, micro-level monitoring can help to identify performance reductions from detraining [89] or neuromuscular fatigue (i.e., overreaching/overtraining) [90] to ensure individuals take necessary steps (e.g., retrain or recover) to regain occupational physical readiness.

Having appropriate plans of action for data management, as previously discussed, is particularly important for monitoring frequent assessments to provide immediate feedback. Some force plate software have embedded cloud-based data management systems, which allow immediate comparisons to previous records. These databases also may be connected to other AMS (e.g., Fusion Sport Smartabase, Kinduct, Kitman Labs, RockDaisy, Edge10) through application program interfaces (API), which allow easy integration of force-plate data into the holistic monitoring system. Further advantages for AMS allow for additional data to be seamlessly connected for more context, such as training load from global positioning systems (GPS) and heart rate monitoring systems, sleep tracking, subjective wellness, to name a few. Regardless of whether force-plate data are merged with other objective and subjective health and performance metrics, “red flags” can be set to alert the practitioner when an individual has substantial performance decrements.

These alerts suggest the individual may require additional training/recovery adjustments to their training cycle, particularly if the group generally displays stable or improved responses. Within the AMS, general recommendations are made based on specific outcomes for each metric. An example is displayed in Table 2, where a decrease in specific force-time metrics coincides with general training recommendations. These recommendations are simply a guide, as responses to outcomes may overlap and context from the individual’s or group’s training need to be considered (i.e., was the testing conducted immediately following an intensive bout of training). Further, it is also worth considering that although the training recommendations for counteracting detraining or below group average performances do not always focus solely on strength and conditioning alterations, rather each metric may be altered from neuromuscular fatigue that require recovery modality implementations rather than training adjustments. For these reasons, holistic data sets comprise not only force plate data but other health and performance constructs to generate a more complete and informative profile.

Table 2: Example training recommendations based on decreased performances from countermovement jump force-time metrics. Note, these are general recommendations that may overlap across variables and still require the expertise of the strength and conditioning specialist to align these responses to the context of any scenario.

The Force Plate Market Ecosystem: From Force Plate Vendors to Smart Insole Companies:

The force plate market is comprised of the following subsegments:

• Force plate vendors: Typically those include companies manufacturing force plates. It includes vendors such as Vald Performance Pty, BTS, Hawkin Dynamics, Kinvent, or Innervations, just to name a few.

• Smart insole vendors: This category includes smart insole vendors with force sensing capabilities such as Plantiga and SALTED.

• Pressure sensor vendors: This category includes vendors such as KISTLER, Tekscan.

Source: Upside global, Confidential 2022

Key Force Plate and Smart Insole Vendors

1.Vald Performance Pty:

Founded: 2015

HQ: Brisbane, Queensland (Australia)

Amount money raised: TBD

Website:

https://valdperformance.com

Investors: VALD has acquired ForceDecks on Aug 14, 2019.

Total employees: 24

Customers / partners: 1,000+ of the world’s most elite sporting teams, universities and defence departments (Premier League, MLS, NFL, NBA..)

Company/product description: VALD Performance provides innovative human-measurement technology to over 1,000 of the world’s most elite sporting teams, universities and defence departments. Driven by a multidisciplinary team of sports scientists, researchers, clinicians, designers, developers, and engineers, VALD systems can be used across various disciplines from strength and conditioning to medical and rehabilitation, offering unparalleled insight into musculoskeletal and neural performance. The VALD Suite includes ForceDecks Dual Force Plate System, NordBord Hamstring Testing System, ForceFrame Strength Testing System, AirBands Blood Flow Restriction Cuffs, HumanTrak Movement Analysis System, SmartSpeed Timing Gate System, SmartJump Portable Jump Mat and TeleHab Exercise Prescription App.

Here is a video illustration how Vald’s force plate technology works:

Video: Vald’s force plates

Picture: Vald’s force plates

Picture: Vald’s NordBord app

2.BTS:

Founded: 1986

HQ: Garbagnate Milanese, MI (USA)

Amount of money raised: TBD

Website:

https://www.btsbioengineering.com

Investors: TBD

Total employees: 42

Customers / partners: CONI, UMB, Italian Football Federation (FIGC), etc.

Company/product description: They develop innovative technologies for the comprehension of human body movement, since 1986. Motion analysis systems used for medical practice, sport performance and researches in biomechanics, biometry, diagnostics and physical sports sciences. Their mission is to develop efficient and effective clinical solutions based on innovative technologies to create well-being.

Here is a video illustrating BTS’ solutions:

Here is a picture of BTS’ force plate:

Picture: BTS’ force plate

Picture: BTS’ app

3.Hawkin Dynamics:

Founded: 2018

HQ: Westbrook, ME (USA)

Amount money raised: $1.5M

Website:

http://www.hawkindynamics.com

Investors: TBD

Total employees: 13

Customers / partners: Chelsea FC (Premier League), Kentucky Basketball (NCAA), just to name a few.

Company/product description: Hawkin Dynamics designs and builds software and hardware for team-testing and sport scientists. Their software is designed for maximum usability - with a logical workflow and utilitarian presentation of data over time.

Here is a video illustrating their force plates:

Here is a picture of the Hawkin Dynamics’ dashboard and app:

Picture: Hawkin Dynamics’ dashboard and app:

4. Innervations

Founded: 1986

HQ: West Perth (Australia)

Amount money raised: XX

Website:

https://www.innervations.com

Investors: TBD

Total employees: TBD

Customers / partners: TBD

Company/product description: In 1986 we started with two products: Exercess – software for health and fitness assessment & MemberTrak – software for member management in health and fitness centres. Our initial trading name was Scifit and we operated as a small business until we formed our Australian company Optimal Kinetics Pty Ltd (ABN: 14 079 172 053) in 1997. Innervations became our new trading name in 1999 when the parent company, Optimal Kinetics, moved its operations to the United States. We are a company offering many products and services all with a technology base.

Here is a video illustrating Innervations’ force plate:

Here is a picture of Innervations’ force plates:

Picture: Innervations’ force plate

Picture: Innervations’ dashboard

5.Plantiga:

HQ: Vancouver, Canada

Website: Plantiga

Amount money raised: $3M+

Customers: 5 NBA teams, 2 NFL teams, 4 MLB teams, 1 MLS team, 2 hospitals, 20+ sports medicine and orthopedics clinics, the NHL, USTA, DoD. Plantiga also has a million dollar contract from the Canadian Department of National Defense.

Pricing: $500 per month or $5K per year for a single kit, which can track an unlimited number of players. Or $30 per month per user.

One of the key players in the smart footwear market is Plantiga, which built some insoles embedded with advanced sensors and algorithms to help prevent injuries.

Picture: Plantiga’s smart insole

Plantiga can track a wide variety of metrics such as asymmetry/total load, contact time, flight time, rotational force, landing force, acceleration time, vertical & horizontal force.

Picture: Plantiga’s metrics measured

Using the Plantiga platform, pro teams can flag lower limb asymmetrical loading strategies after injuries like ACL tears, fractures, ankle sprains, hip injuries, soft tissue injuries, lower back/pelvis injuries. They can also create asymmetry norms/baselines to characterize bandwidth of normal function; They can also flag athletes who exit normal bandwidth by player, position, team and sport.

Picture: Plantiga’s dashboard

As shown in the picture below, Plantiga can also track recovery timeline progression, provide injury & reinjury risk warnings. It can also help minimize injury impact, recognize injuries early one, and optimize players’ health.

Picture: Plantiga’s analytics platform

Plantiga can also track the rehabilitation journey, monitor progress to drive improvement, and tailor recovery goals based on objective feedback.

Picture: Plantiga’s rehabilitation platform

Here is a picture below of the Plantiga consumer app available with a $30 monthly membership.

Picture: Plantiga’s app

6.Salted (Formerly IOFIT)

HQ: Gangnam-Gu, Seoul (South Korea)

Website: Salted

Amount money raised: Undisclosed

Customers: TBD

Pricing: $139- $229. Available on Amazon for $139 via Amazon Prime.

When it comes to smart insoles, Salted is another key player in the market. Founded in 2015, Korean startup Salted Venture has taken in an undisclosed amount in funding so far to develop Smart insoles, which can analyze and correct the golf swing of its user. Here is a quick review of the smart insoles in the video below:

Picture: Salted

After charging for two hours, you’ll connect the insoles to your device via Bluetooth. The first time you connect them, it takes a couple minutes because there’s a calibration process. After that, it takes just a few seconds, assuming everything works smoothly. As with any wireless technology, there will be times when you need to cycle the power to get things on track.

There are two primary modes in the app: Video Analysis and Drill Practice. In Video Analysis, you can film your swing and then watch the swing alongside your pressure data, which can be displayed a few different ways. I like this mode a lot because it breaks down that “feel vs. real” barrier. The golf swing happens so fast and has so many moving parts that it’s difficult to know for certain where your pressure is at different points in the swing. With SALTED, you can know for sure. The app also provides professional swings you can compare yourself to.

Picture: Salted

They also claim to be as effective as a golf coach because of the real-time feedback

Picture: Salted app

It is also important to notice that those smart insoles can be customizable which is important for basketball or soccer players.

They are also waterproof and sweatproof.

Recommendations to teams and leagues looking to adopt a force assessment solution

Here are some recommendations for teams or leagues looking to adopt a force assessment solution:

• Ask yourself some key questions and assess your ideal game style: Teams need to ask themselves some key questions (squad goals, requirements in terms of quality/accuracy, types of data needed, monthly or annual budget) before adopting a force assessment solution. Teams also need to find out if athletes would be willing to use the force assessment solution depending on the form factor (force plate, smart insole with force/pressure sensor).

• Adopt a force assessment solution that fits your actual needs: It is critical for teams to pick a force assessment solution to meet their needs. If a force assessment solution requires the staff members to dedicate too many hours it may not be the right fit for the team.

• Make sure to mix the force data with other data points to get a better picture of the athletes’ health: As we mentioned earlier, it is critical for teams to aggregate their force assessment solution data and mix it with other types of data (e.g. 3D motion capture). By doing so, it will give the coach a better sense of the health of his/her players.

• Adopt a data visualization software in order to better visualize the force assessment solution data: Sometimes force assessment solution vendors do not offer good data visualization software as part of their offering. This is why it is important for teams to adopt data visualization tools provided by companies such as Rock Daisy, Soccer System Pro, Kitman Labs, Kinduct, Fusion Sport, or other AMS platforms, in order to help them better visualize the data.

• Adopt a force assessment solution that fits into your workflow: This is probably one of the most important points. Whatever force assessment solution a team decides to adopt the force assessment solution (force plate, smart insoles..) needs to fit into the team’s workflow, meaning that it should not disrupt the routine of the athletic staff, players and make them less productive. Those force assessment solutions should be easy to use, intuitive, and easy for the players to use. Overall, if a force assessment solution does not meet those criteria it is probably not a good fit for a team.

• Make sure to have staff members (HRV/HR analysts, sports scientists) that can manage your force assessment solution on a weekly basis: Teams also need to have a dedicated person on staff responsible for the force assessment solution. In some cases an analyst would be required to analyze the data if the force assessment solution does not provide good insights.

• Focus on force assessment solution vendors with great customer service: This is another key factor when buying a force assessment solution. It is important for the team to adopt a system with great customer service. Some vendors provide staff members who can go on the customer’s site in order to assist teams with any problems. Some vendors even have the ability to build custom data to teams. These are the type of vendors that teams need to work with when adopting a force assessment solution.

• Focus on force assessment solution vendors with remote monitoring: In the pandemic world that we are living in, it is also important for teams to work with force assessment solution vendors who can provide remote monitoring, meaning the ability for coaches to remotely monitor their players.

Bottom line: Force assessment solutions have become a key part of athletes’ training and recovery. The adoption of such solutions has grown over the years especially in sports such as soccer, baseball, basketball. Now while force plates have become the main form factor we are seeing the emerging of new form factors such as smart insoles with pressure/force sensors. These new products provide more options to teams and enable new use cases but they need to be evaluated carefully as there are pros and cons for such solutions. Moving forward we expect more teams to use force assessment solutions in association with other systems (3D motion capture) in order to better understand the health and recovery of athletes.

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Movement analysis is an essential component of elite sports, enabling teams, coaches, and athletes to gain insights into performance, injury prevention, rehabilitation, and tactical planning. Traditional motion capture systems required physical markers and specialized environments, limiting their application in real-world sports scenarios. However, advancements in markerless motion capture and computer vision technology have revolutionized movement analysis. These systems, ranging from app-based solutions to broadcast-quality analysis tools, offer flexibility, efficiency, and detailed biomechanical insights without the need for cumbersome equipment.

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the market for movement analysis in elite sports, examining the key players, adoption trends, technological drivers, challenges, and practical recommendations for sports teams.

Market Size

The global markerless motion capture market was estimated at $62.42B in 2023 and is expected to grow to at a CAGR of 17.1% from 2024 to 2030.

Source: Grand View Research

Markerless motion capture technology is a significant contributor to this growth, with demand driven by professional teams, sports science institutions, and medical professionals seeking more accessible and cost-effective biomechanical analysis solutions. The expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in sports analytics further accelerates adoption, as teams strive to gain a competitive edge using data-driven decision-making.

Use Cases

1. Performance Analysis and Biomechanics

Markerless motion capture systems provide precise data on player movements, allowing coaches and performance analysts to break down biomechanics, efficiency, and movement patterns. This enables individualized training regimens to optimize speed, agility, and technique.

2. Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation

By analyzing movement patterns, these systems help identify biomechanical inefficiencies that may lead to injury. Additionally, they play a crucial role in rehabilitation by tracking an athlete’s recovery progress, ensuring safe return-to-play protocols.

3. Tactical and Game Strategy Optimization

Computer vision technology allows teams to assess formations, player positioning, and movement efficiency in real time, helping strategists and coaches make data-informed decisions.

4. Fan Engagement and Broadcasting Enhancements

Broadcast-quality motion analysis enhances the viewing experience by providing augmented reality (AR) overlays, player tracking, and real-time performance statistics, making sports broadcasts more engaging and informative.

Key Statistics (Adoption in Elite Sports)

• While a precise, single adoption rate for markerless motion capture solutions among professional sports teams is difficult to pinpoint, the International Sports Technology Association reported that 65% of professional sports teams used motion capture technology for training by 2023, up from 40% in 2020, indicating a growing trend.

• While markerless motion capture systems offer promise for injury prevention by enabling real-time monitoring of biomechanics, the exact reduction in soft-tissue injuries they achieve is still under investigation and hasn’t been definitively quantified.

Drivers of Adoption

1. Technological Advancements

AI-powered computer vision has significantly improved the accuracy of markerless motion capture, making it a viable alternative to traditional marker-based systems.

2. Cost-Effectiveness

Unlike marker-based systems that require specialized equipment, many markerless solutions utilize standard cameras, making them more affordable and scalable.

3. Ease of Use and Scalability

These systems can be implemented with minimal setup, making them practical for both professional teams and grassroots development programs.

4. Increased Demand for Data-Driven Training

Teams are leveraging data analytics for everything from load management to tactical planning, making movement analysis a key component of modern sports science.

Challenges

1. Accuracy and Consistency

While markerless systems have improved, they may still have limitations in precision compared to traditional marker-based motion capture.

2. Data Privacy and Security

With increased data collection, safeguarding player performance data is a growing concern for teams and organizations.

3. Integration with Existing Sports Technologies

Teams using legacy systems may face challenges in integrating new motion capture solutions into their existing analytics infrastructure.

4. High Initial Investment for Elite-Level Solutions

While app-based systems are affordable, high-end broadcast-quality motion analysis tools can be costly for smaller teams and organizations.

Key Vendors and Their Solutions

Source: Upside Global, 2025

Theia Markerless
Theia Markerless offers AI-driven, markerless motion capture technology designed specifically for sports performance analysis. Its system supports sports-specific assessments, multi-person tracking, and biomechanics analysis without the need for wearables or markers. It’s built for both indoor and outdoor environments and provides real-time data collection ideal for researchers, coaches, and performance staff.

Simi Reality Motion Systems
Simi provides high-precision biomechanical analysis and real-time motion tracking through its markerless capture platform. Known for its reliability in sports science and performance settings, Simi’s technology is used for gait analysis, return-to-play testing, and advanced biomechanical studies. It integrates seamlessly into training environments for both clinical and elite sports use cases.

OpenCap
OpenCap is a validated smartphone-based motion analysis platform tailored for return-to-sport assessments, strength evaluations, and functional movement screenings. It combines computer vision with biomechanical modeling to deliver actionable insights, all through a mobile device. Its low-cost, subscription-based model makes it accessible for teams, clinics, and individual athletes.

Hawk-Eye Innovations
Hawk-Eye provides state-of-the-art player and ball tracking using high-precision computer vision systems. Used across major global sports leagues—including tennis, soccer, and baseball—Hawk-Eye’s platform delivers real-time spatial tracking and data visualization, empowering broadcast teams and performance analysts with unparalleled accuracy.

Second Spectrum (Now part of Genius Sports)
Second Spectrum delivers AI-powered movement tracking and contextual insights for professional sports teams. Used extensively in the NBA and other major leagues, its system combines player tracking data with tactical analytics to produce intelligent, searchable video and real-time feedback for coaching, scouting, and fan engagement.

Catapult Vision
Catapult Vision is a video analysis and performance tracking platform that integrates AI-powered movement tracking with team strategy insights. Built for high-performance environments, it enables detailed breakdowns of gameplay, movement efficiency, and tactical execution, combining traditional video tools with cutting-edge analytics.

Stats Perform
Stats Perform offers predictive analytics, real-time player tracking, and dynamic data visualization tools powered by machine learning. Its platform is widely used by teams, leagues, and broadcasters for opponent scouting, player development, and fan-facing content. It blends data science with traditional sports analytics to support deeper decision-making.

ChyronHego TRACAB
TRACAB by ChyronHego delivers real-time 3D player and ball tracking for performance, broadcast, and coaching use. With applications ranging from tactical analysis to fan experience enhancement, TRACAB’s system is trusted by top leagues worldwide. It supports data visualization and seamlessly integrates with broadcast systems.

Uplift
Uplift provides AI-powered motion analysis and real-time biomechanics feedback designed for accessibility across all athlete levels. Whether for individual users or full teams, Uplift delivers instant feedback on joint angles, movement quality, and asymmetries, helping optimize training and reduce injury risk.

KinetikIQ
KinetikIQ combines advanced player tracking with machine-learning-driven performance insights. The system seamlessly integrates with video analytics platforms, offering real-time feedback, tactical breakdowns, and long-term athlete development analytics. Its modular design supports use across pro sports, college teams, and performance labs.

KINVENT

KINVENT specializes in innovative technologies for physical therapy, rehabilitation, and sports performance. Kinvent develops smart, connected devices—like dynamometers, force platforms, and balance tools—that provide real-time biofeedback.

as shown below, KINVENT 3D Deltas are 3 Dimensional force plates combined with MOCAP bringing lab-level precision directly to the field. Unlike traditional force plates that only capture vertical force, 3D Deltas measure movement in all directions, providing a complete picture of an athlete’s or patient’s biomechanics. By combining 3D force plate technology with motion capture, it allows for real-time insights into (1) Change of direction efficiency, (2) Lateral movement & performance metrics (3) Injury risk assessment & rehab progress and (4) Sport-specific movement analysis.

Here is a video showing the change of direction test using 3D Deltas to get a better understanding of the athletes’ movements on the Kinvent Physio app.

Picture/Video: KINVENT’s K-Deltas 3D force plates

Valor

Valor is leading the integration of AI and scalable kinematic movement analysis to deliver actionable insights for specialists focused on mitigating injuries, accelerating return-to-play, and enhancing performance. Designed for real-world demands of speed, simplicity, and accuracy, Valor Vision runs on iPhone and iPad to automatically capture biomechanical baselines, progress, and outcomes. It flags imbalances linked to non-contact injuries and recommends corrective exercises using AI-driven insights.

The platform supports a growing library of assessments, including ROM, compound movements, and ballistic movements such as change-of-direction, throwing, and hitting. All data is exportable via API for seamless integration into athlete management systems.

Video: Valor

Recommendations for Teams

1. Assess Needs and Budget: Teams should determine whether they require basic app-based solutions or advanced broadcast-quality analysis.

2. Pilot Test Before Full Integration: Implement small-scale trials before committing to full-scale adoption.

3. Ensure Staff Training: Proper education on system operation and data interpretation is crucial for maximizing benefits.

4. Prioritize Data Security: Develop protocols to protect sensitive player and team performance data.

5. Consider Hybrid Approaches: Combining different motion analysis technologies (e.g., markerless + wearable sensors) can provide comprehensive insights.

Conclusion

Markerless motion capture and computer vision technology have significantly enhanced movement analysis in elite sports, providing teams with powerful tools for performance optimization, injury prevention, and tactical planning. Moving forward, we expect to see more teams adopt markerless motion capture and computer vision technologies as part of their program to help them improve performance analysis, injury reduction, rehabilitation, game strategy and fan engagement.

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With 20+ leading GPS vendors (Catapult, STATSports, WIMU, McLloyd..) in the market today, GPS systems have become one of the most common tech used by pro teams today. Simply put, sports teams have to pick the right GPS system that fits their requirements, use cases, budget, and GPS accuracy requirements. In this analysis we will discuss the current and future market trends, VC/M&A investment trends, the GPS vendor ecosystems, and the key GPS vendors. We will also provide recommendations to pro teams looking to adopt a GPS solution.

What are GPS systems?

GPS systems, also known as Global Positioning System, have been used by pro teams for a long time. GPS systems, used in Player Tracking devices, enable teams to track players’ movement and measure data such as running speed, position on the pitch, distance run, and even their heart rate. Player Tracking devices typically use 4 types of sensors: an accelerometer, a gyro, a magnetometer and a GPS module.

Generally speaking, teams use Player Tracking devices to help them prevent injuries. By tracking a player’s sprints and distance covered the coaching staff can determine whether the player is fit for their next game or could benefit from resting.

These Player tracking systems are best when combining GPS metrics with other data points in order to get the full understanding of the players’ health.

The most common data point being collected are:

• Total distance covered

• Average running speed

• Total running distance (high pace)

• Total sprinting distance (full speed sprinting)

• Average acceleration time

• Average deceleration time

• Heart rate (to identify athlete’s work rate)

• Positioning on the field

• Time of high intensity play

• Time of low intensity play

• Athlete’s load (the demand on an athlete’s body)

• G-Force / impact data

According to a study entitled Tracking Systems in Team Sports: A Narrative Review of Applications of the Data and Sport Specific Analysis, in the applied sport environment, there is a need to distil the myriad of metrics into concise, meaningful information. Decision makers (e.g., coaches and performance staff) require simple, accurate, and coherent feedback, including succinct conclusions from data in a timely manner [11]. It is advisable to include stakeholders in the metric selection process, as coaches have expressed an interest in tracking data pertaining to ‘high-intensity’ actions and ‘intensity’ [12]. Indeed, greater involvement and improved communication in this process could help to avoid a detrimental gap between information and its impact [13].

A variety of considerations for selecting metrics are shown in Figs. 1 and 2. These include, but are not limited to: playing dimensions, player density, position characteristics, game rules, and timing structure. The combination of these factors demonstrates the importance of context both between and within sports.

As an illustration, it could be questioned if tracking an athlete’s maximum velocity is pertinent in basketball, given the limitation of court size. Similarly, absolute high-speed running (HSR) in American football may be much less meaningful to linemen than wide receivers due to their unique positional characteristics (see Sect. 4). However, this process presents somewhat of a paradox; the practitioner may first have to measure the characteristics to determine its meaningfulness and then be able to apply critical thinking in order to determine the most appropriate measures to the sport.

Figure 2: A bar chart visualising the difference in playing time and actual time during match-play across different team sports. Continuous play is shown in solid blue. These sports may have pauses in play for substitutions but do not have pauses in game-play periods for commercial breaks or time-outs. Sports of a play-by-play nature (clock stop), with intermittent breaks, for example for faults or commercial reason, are shown in striped blue and grey

Subjectivity is important in the critical selection of metrics, based on the sport and/or position characteristics. However, despite a more subjective process based on observation, it remains that such metrics should still demonstrate face validity (perceived to be relevant) and high content validity (representative of the construct, in this case external load) —for further information, interested readers are directed to [14]. There may be scope to further support this process with objectivity via statistical analysis of the existing suite of metrics available.

Weaving and colleagues (2019) demonstrated how principal component analysis, a linear algebra technique, can reduce and visualise complex tracking data into meaningful components [15]. This approach can help the practitioner to understand multi-collinearity between metrics and therefore, filter out redundancies [15].

For example, in professional rugby league, such analysis suggested some measures of training load (e.g., training impulse, session rating of perceived exertion, body load, high-speed distance, and total impacts) may be used interchangeably to describe small-sided game and conditioning loads, but not for other modes such as skills, wrestling, and speed training [16]. Similarly, by using feature selection in the time and frequency domain, team sport related activities can be accurately classified through a single tracking device.

This approach may allow for the generation of more sport and activity specific algorithms, from one device [17]. Such approaches may be especially worthwhile, given that a multivariate approach to monitoring has been recommended for team sports [16]. Focus should therefore be given to developing and improving metrics already in use, ideally through the integration of physical and tactical insights into combined metrics [18]. The onus is thus on the practitioner, to determine the most relevant metrics to interpret and communicate with key stakeholders.

The workflow of selecting the most pertinent tracking metrics is an ongoing process, requiring current knowledge on the validity and application of tracking technologies, based on research and technological advances. Recently, the measurement and management of decelerations have been declared important to capture, given their distinct demands and potential as a critical mediator of neuromuscular fatigue and tissue damage [19]. However, concerns have been raised regarding the precision of tracking devices to capture accelerations and decelerations [20]. Whilst sport and tracking technologies are constantly evolving, practitioners need to balance innovation with an understanding of the precision and sensitivity of technology.

Sport Specific Analysis

Context will drive what technology (and in turn, metrics) should be selected to capture the characteristics of team sport athletes during training and competition.

For example, in basketball and netball, the use of GPS is rendered inoperable, given at the elite level both sports play and train indoors. Therefore, LPS, IMU and optical tracking are more appropriate. Similarly, the use of optical tracking to monitor athletes during Australian football and rugby codes may be limited, given the large (and varying) field sizes, whereby many cameras would need to be installed at height around the ground.

Therefore, the tracking technologies and derived metrics used for specific sports and playing positions need careful consideration. Below we have arbitrarily selected team sports and introduced sport-specific considerations that practitioners should be mindful of, when selecting the technology and corresponding metrics to profile the physical characteristics of athletes during training and matches.

American Football

American football is an intermittent, contact sport characterised by physical demands that include HSR, accelerations, decelerations, and changes of direction [100]. The game is play-by-play in nature across four 15-min quarters, with multiple stoppages and commercial breaks, extending the game length, in actual time, to upwards of three hours (Fig. 2). Players are selected from a roster of 53 to 120, depending on the time of the season and the level (i.e. collegiate vs professional) with specialist positions across defense, offense and special teams [101]. Factors that set this sport apart includes the vast differences in positional characteristics, the mandatory inclusion of personal equipment (i.e., helmets and pads) that in turn likely influences the magnitude of collisions, and the prolonged time course over which the game is played. As such, there are nuanced considerations for applying tracking data in this sport.

The wide disparity of positional characteristics in this sport provides practitioners with challenges related to both physical preparation and tracking itself. The process for selecting metrics may be especially pertinent given that the notable difference in positional characteristics may lead to the focus of different metrics for different positions. Differences in running, assessed via HSR, and non-running, assessed via total inertial movement analysis (IMA) from the IMU, characteristics were notable across position groups during a professional training camp [102]. Similar differences have been illustrated in training and competition characteristics at the collegiate level [100, 103, 104]. While the use of IMU data may help to capture sport-specific actions (e.g., throwing, contact, and collisions) and be developed into position-specific metrics [105], this technology may still be unable to fully quantify some characteristics that rely less on movement tracking, such as the high isometric demands of grappling and blocking. Further, IMU technology is not permitted in competition at the professional level, wherein Radio Frequency Identification technology is currently employed [106].

Given the heterogeneity of the physical characteristics by position, relative velocity thresholds may be pertinent. Ward and colleagues (2017) used a HSR threshold above 70% of the maximum speed for the respective position group, derived from training sessions within the previous year. Absolute speed zones for the entire team, which may over- and under-estimate demands for faster and slower athletes respectively [100], have also been utilised.

However, it is also important to note that research in other sports (soccer) found the use of relative speed thresholds did not better quantify the dose–response and, in fact, the application of a player’s peak speed to establish speed zones may result in erroneous interpretations [107].

More research is required in American football to determine the most suitable approach for quantifying the dose–response relationship, especially given the wide heterogeneity of characteristics by positions and also the variation of intensities within position-specific periods in a training session [102].

The heterogeneity of American football characteristics is exacerbated by the special teams element. During these passages of play, a mixture of offensive and defensive players (generally non-starters) combine to perform roles in support of specialist kickers, who are attempting punts, kickoffs, and/ or field goals. Thus, practitioners are challenged to prepare these players for the physical characteristics of both their primary and special teams roles concurrently. For example, a Linebacker who is also a special teams specialist, may play across all four phases of Punt, Punt Return, Kickoff, and Kickoff Return. If an injury occurs, the planned roles may be further influenced. These passages of play may often be the most physically demanding with regards to HSR (unpublished observations), and so there are repercussions for tracking the physical outputs of these passages, both in terms of understanding the specific characteristics and monitoring the external load each individual player is subjected to.

There may be further disparity in the physical requirements for players within numerous periods of a training session. Whilst a session may be divided into five key periods (i.e., warm up, position-specific training drills, special teams drills, preparatory plays, and team periods [102]), players may be required to work on different characteristics during those time periods, based on their role. For instance, starters not involved with special teams may be training separately according to their position role on offense and defense during such periods. This is an important contextual note for practitioners attempting to categorize, analyze, store, and plan periods/drills using a database.

Considering the physical characteristics of a session, period or individual play level, is worthwhile in the planning process, as American football is a sport characterised by a high tactical demand. With an intermittent play-by-play structure (Fig. 2), players are expected to learn set movement demands outlined in a playbook, more akin to set pieces in other sports. As such, certain time epoch analysis, including segmental analysis, rolling averages or game speed approaches, may be less relevant to track in this setting. Rather, tracking outputs on a specific play level may be more pertinent.

Given the prominence of the integrated combination of physical, tactical, and technical characteristics of the game, there may be benefit in aligning tracking data with video and play/scheme notations to understand the physical outputs within the game context. Indeed, machine learning techniques are exploring the ability to classify route combinations, blocking assignments or coverage type from tracking data [108].

Australian Football

Australian football is an invasion-sport contested between two teams of 22 players, 18 permitted on the field and four on the interchange bench. A unique constraint of the sport is the non-uniformity of field size. The dimensions of fields used within the professional competition, the Australian Football League (AFL) vary from 175 m in length and 145 m in width (University of Tasmania Stadium) to 155 m by 136 m (Sydney Cricket Ground).

The average length and width of AFL grounds are 163.6 ± 5.9 m and 132.1 ± 6.9 m, respectively. One AFL field (Marvel Stadium) is indoors. Collectively, field size and stadia constrain the type of tracking systems used. In Australian football, GPS is commonly utilised during matches and training [109,110,111]. Given their suitability across outdoor and indoor stadia, inertial sensors including accelerometers, are also used [112]. Only recently have LPS been utilised during elite competition [113].

Using optical tracking is unsuitable for this sport, given the vast ground sizes that require a large number of cameras be used [114]. Athlete tracking systems are therefore, largely confined to accelerometers, GPS and LPS, and their derived metrics. The selection of which metrics to use, for the purpose of profiling Australian football training and match play, from these different systems is an important consideration.

The physical characteristics of these athletes is complex, part of interacting sub-systems and often reactive to a stimulus, including the ball, umpires, opponents or teammates. Understanding how these stimuli impact physical output is useful, to decide which metrics are meaningful. Features including anthropometric (e.g., height) and physiological (e.g., aerobic capacity) may impact external load. For example, aerobic fitness has a large effect on relative total and HSR distances covered during AFL matches [109].

Rucks in Australian football are typically taller than their teammates but cover up to 45% less distance at high-speed [109]. Environmental factors also impact metrics obtained. These results demonstrate that sport scientists should be mindful of the performer constraints during training and matches, which can impact the metrics.

A number of contextual factors influence the external load of Australian football athletes during training and matches. The number of rotations, margin, opposition quality and stoppages all impact the direction and magnitude of physical output in men’s matches [109].

In women’s matches, physical output is influenced by on-field rotation stint, opposition quality and margin [115]. Other contextual factors, including stoppages or brief breaks in play, also impact Australian football athlete external load. In elite men’s matches, increased stoppages result in less relative total distance covered [116]. Sport scientists should therefore be mindful of these contextual factors when analysing men’s and women’s tracking data.

The relationship between physical and skilled characteristics has been examined in Australian football, in an attempt to give further context to physical metrics. Trivial and weak relationships exist between aggregated physical (e.g., absolute total high-intensity running) and skilled (number of involvements, including handballs and tackles) characteristics, when analysed via generalised linear models and conditional inference trees [113, 116]. Linear mixed models had low explanatory power whilst the conditional inference trees also had poor accuracy [113]. This is likely due to subtle changes in athlete physical and skilled output not detected in aggregate parameters. Moving averages have been utilised in Australian football, with men’s match intensities peaking at 223 ± 35 m^.min across one-minute moving averages [117]. However, time-series analysis as described in 3.6.3 above, removes the need for manually selecting pre-defined time windows and can utilise the mean and variance of a metric. Athlete velocity data can then be examined, without having to rely on fixed duration windows, allowing for the detection of precisely when a peak match intensity occurs at a specific point in time [73]. By utilising time series and data mining techniques, sport scientists can therefore delve beyond aggregate parameters and extract features from raw GPS or LPS data. The specificity of Australian football training drills to matches could be examined by visualising the distribution of features from raw velocity traces, identifying when players obtain match intensities and how often this happens.

Given the abundant data available from athlete tracking systems and the dynamic, non-linear nature of the sport, sport scientists should look to move beyond reporting aggregate parameters, including total distance covered per drill, on-field rotation, quarter or match. Instead, sport scientists could utilise the raw velocity (or accelerometer) trace data to identify where, when and how Australian football athletes’ external load alters as a function of time.

When combined with an underlying theoretical framework, for example ecological dynamics [118], physical and skilled characteristics could together be analysed to potentially provide rich insights into Australian football training and matches.

Basketball

While there are data describing physical characteristics from different basketball leagues [119], the description of external load at the highest professional level (NBA), is limited [62, 120].

Game positional data is only accessible through the NBA’s official optical tracking provider, Second Spectrum (Los Angeles, U.S), and there are strict rules for the use of data for publication [62]. Commonly, other tracking systems are used during practices (those pre-approved by the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association), which implies a lack of homogeneity and compromises the ability of practitioners to build complete external load profiles across practice and competition [121]. As such, basketball sport scientists, performance and medical staff face numerous challenges on a day-to-day basis when it comes to using tracking systems and how to best use the information.

Basketball is an intermittent sport that, due to the court dimensions, number of players, and the rules [e.g., ball possession time (24 s)], requires the player to perform repeated high-intensity actions, such as rapid changes of direction and cutting actions, changes of speed in short distances, contacts (e.g., post-ups, screens, box-out), or run-to-jump actions, occurring between different locomotor demands (e.g., standing, walking, running, sprinting).

Likely heavily influenced by pre-existing research from other team sports, the most common tracking metrics studied in basketball have been total distance, relative distance (distance/duration), distance and/or time in speed zones (total, relative and percentages), high-intensity actions (usually referred as distance, time and/or counts of accelerations, decelerations, jumps) and peak velocity [119, 122].

Moreover, as in other team sports, the analysis of describing the most demanding scenarios, both through discreet or fixed-length time epochs and rolling average time epochs, is emerging [86]. However, the mentioned influence from other team sports reflects a certain lack of critical thinking in the analysis of basketball specifically.

High-speed, very high-speed running and sprinting distance are commonly reported at > 10 km^.h⁻¹, 18 km^.h⁻¹ [123], and > 24 km^.h⁻¹ [86, 122], respectively, in the literature; whereas, top speed reached by players reported in the literature is ~ 20 km^.h⁻¹ [119, 124]. However, different results in peak speeds have been shown at the elite level (e.g., NBA; unpublished data). Based on the limitation of court size and the subsequent shorter lengths of explosive efforts in basketball, practitioners should reconsider the selection of peak speed as a key metric for planning and/or monitoring in the decision-making processes. The lack of consensus, and the actual requirements of distances at different intensities, requires that the practitioners consider reviewing speed thresholds for sprinting and high- and very-high speed running in basketball, independently of references from other team sports.

Data mining techniques have been used to determine sport-specific thresholds, including fitting Gaussian curves [125], k-means clustering [126], and spectral clustering [127]. Such methods warrant consideration in basketball. Given the difference in the size of the playing area, it is likely that speed thresholds lower than other sports may be more suitable for analysing tracking data in the context of basketball.

Measures of velocity change (i.e., accelerations and decelerations) are other commonly used metrics, however, there is a lack of clarification and consensus across different tracking systems and manufacturers on how signals are filtered, calculations performed, or which are the suitable thresholds for this sport.

Regarding the latter, thresholds for LPS vary from <  > 2 m^.s⁻² [86, 123], while research utilising IMU has used <  > 3 and 3.5 m^.s⁻² for total and ‘at high-intensity’, respectively [119]. Similarly, there are differences across tracking systems as to whether acceleration and deceleration data are reported in counts, distances or time spent changing velocity. Alternatively, a simple method for averaging the acceleration and/or deceleration profile of a team sport has been proposed to overcome issues with using predefined thresholds with time-series data [128].

While this analysis was conducted on rugby league athletes, the authors discuss the importance of such movements to physical preparation and performance across a variety of team sports. While sport-specific research should be undertaken for basketball, given the court size, the nature of the rapid movements required and the importance of actions such as turnovers, cuts, close outs, or defensive shuffles, it appears these movements are vital for managing injury risk, planning and monitoring the training process, and quantifying competition characteristics. Which calculation to use will depend upon the use of the information by the practitioner; for example, the summated acceleration profile may be most relevant for description and monitoring; whereas, the count and distance covered accelerating may be useful in programming individual workouts in a rehabilitation process.

Quantifying overall external load using accelerometery technology has been become a key metric in basketball. Many manufacturers have their own version of accelerometer-derived load, although PlayerLoad™ may be the original and the most commonly used [7].

It is recommended that practitioners seek to understand how manufacturer-specific “load” metrics are calculated, not only in basketball but all sports using this metric, since the measurement, filtering processes, and threshold rules differ. For example, some manufacturers calculate “load” from three-dimensional accelerometery data, while others use two-dimensional LPS for the calculation.

Additionally, Schelling and Torres (2016) showed that constraints such as number of players, opponents, and court dimensions (i.e., half-, full-court) influence the external load [124]. Such studies are relevant for the practitioners to understand how the manipulation of constraints affect external load. Another pertinent aspect in basketball is the impact of the vertical load (z-axis) in the total count of ‘load’. The nature of this sport implies vertical actions (e.g., shooting, blocks), an aspect that has not been commonly reported in the literature, probably due to the lack of studies validating the quantification of jumps (and landing impact) across different tracking systems.

The evolution of tracking systems and machine learning techniques is allowing greater precision in the detection of basketball-specific movements. At present, technical aspects such as types of shots (e.g., driving layup or floater, pull-up jumper, step back, catch and shoot), picks, posts, isolations, off ball screens, among others, are recorded during matches with optical tracking. This, in combination with the metrics quantifying physical characteristics, can become a powerful tool for the generation of new and powerful insights in the description, planning and monitoring of external load in basketball.

Ice Hockey

Ice hockey is an intermittent, collision sport played on ice, characterised by high-intensity bouts of skating with rapid changes in speed and direction [129] and high technical demands, such as puck control, evading defenders, and body checking [130]. Players rotate on and off the rink in shifts, each lasting approximately 30 to 80 s, generally between 20 and 35 times across 60 min of game time [131].

At the highest professional level, the National Hockey League (NHL), the 82-game regular season is played with a game approximately every 2.25 days, prior to a post-season that can include an additional 28 games over 60 days [132]. Due to shift rotations, there is a wide range of individual game-time per player, with the total time on ice potentially varying from approximately 5 to 28 min for skaters (excludes Goaltenders).

Given this variation in game participation, compounded by the rate of competition, monitoring individual external load with a team is a worthwhile application of athlete tracking.

In order to monitor external load, tracking technology should be validated for the distinctive requirements of this sport. Notably, describing the unique biomechanical challenges of ice-skating reveals different characteristics to running [132].

Recent research has deemed an accelerometer-derived measure a reliable quantification of on-ice external load in a closed-roof hockey arena [133]. This measure can also reliably distinguish between certain ice hockey-specific movements including: acceleration, top speed, shooting, and repeated shift timing [133].

Describing external load, stratified into sport-specific categories and/or metrics, can further the understanding of technical and physical characteristics of training and competition. However, such microsensor technology may not be permitted in official competition and therefore, practitioners may be required to integrate such systems from the training environment with the different solutions permitted in competition.

Describing the high-intensity characteristics of skating with validated tracking technology is useful for the physical preparation of such athletes.

One study of 36 NHL players demonstrated an average of seven high-intensity bouts per minute required, with high-intensity (> 17 km^.h⁻¹) skating accounting for approximately 45% of total skating distance [131]. However, this distribution of skating intensity is different according to position. Defensemen and forwards accumulate a similar distance across a game but in a different manner; with defensemen skating significantly higher distances at lower velocity skating speeds and forwards covering more in higher velocity bands [131, 134, 135].

Given these positional differences, there is opportunity for tracking data to assist with planning appropriate training drills and sessions, both on a positional and individual level. The selection of suitable temporal durations for analysis and in turn, planning, should be considered by the practitioner based on training objectives. While game-time is structured by shifts with varying work-to-rest ratios, training drills may at times be more continuous in nature with all skaters participating on the ice. This warrants a critical appraisal to consider the most appropriate time-series analysis. For instance, given a forward could spend ~ 22.7 s of a shift in maximal or near-maximal skating [135], a similar time epoch (notably less than one minute) may be used to better understand skating intensity. In addition to understanding the intensity across positions, there is also a “special teams” component in ice hockey with “power play” and “penalty kill” periods. These passages may have implications for physical preparation, given the difference in the number of skaters permitted on the ice.

Using the playing environment to assess fitness parameters, rather than requiring additional time for isolated testing, is an appealing solution that tracking technology may assist with. Positioning systems may be capable of measuring on-ice sprint times in place of timing gates, although the context of the sprint should be considered, with the duration and movement complexity influencing the reliability of the measure [136]. The ability to repeatedly produce power is important to success and tracking systems may be able to objectively capture this ability [137]. This may be particularly valuable given that similar off-ice (i.e. land-based) measures do not necessarily relate to on-ice performance [137].

Tracking systems are still a relatively recent addition to ice hockey, with competition player and puck training introduced to the NHL in the 2019–20 regular season [138]. As such, there may currently be a paucity of tracking research within this sport, but numerous potential avenues to explore going forward. These include; the indication of fatigue based on drop-off in tracking outputs [136], assessing team pace of play using spatio-temporal possession data [32], quantifying the unique characteristics of the Goaltending position, and continuing to describe the characteristics of the game across different competitions, age groups, and genders.

Rugby Codes

All three rugby codes (league, union and sevens) are played on the same field dimensions and are characterised as high-intensity intermittent contact sports [148]. Yet despite these similarities, distinct differences exist between codes. Rugby union and sevens are played under similar laws, with different playing numbers (15 vs. 7), whereas rugby league is played with 13 players per team and extensively different laws [148]. The different laws and playing numbers of the rugby codes result in unique characteristics that should be considered by practitioners when determining the use of tracking systems data in each code. Here we will focus on some key considerations for rugby league.

Rugby League

Games of rugby league are played over two 30 to 40 min halves (depending on the level of competition), separated by a 10-min rest interval. At the professional level players cover between ~ 5367 to 7064 m, with ~ 335 to 563 m HSR distance, whilst also carrying out ~ 21 to 34 collisions, depending on playing position, within a match [149].

Given these physical characteristics, and specifically the associated physiological, biomechanical, and energetic cost of such contact elements on players [1], quantifying both locomotor and contact demands as part of the external load is vital.

Following the validation of a collision detection algorithm [150], the use of tracking systems data to quantify collisions has increased [151]. Hulin et al. (2017) found Catapult Optimeye S5 devices to be sensitive (97.6 ± 1.5%) to detecting collisions, and the overall accuracy to increase when low intensity (< 1 PlayerLoad™ AU) and short duration (< 1 s) collisions are removed [150]).

The use of tracking systems to detect collisions in rugby league enhances the ability to consider the locomotor and collision characteristics concurrently as opposed to separate entities [152].

For example, when quantifying and monitoring the ‘peak demands’ of rugby league competition, practitioners should consider: (1) the concurrent collision count, during the duration specific peak locomotive periods, and (2) the concurrent average running speed of the duration of the specific peak collision periods, to appropriately prepare players for the periods of competition.

Due to the collision nature of the sport, and the spatial confinements, players regularly accelerate and decelerate at high intensities; given the metabolic cost of these movements [128], it is important that they are also quantified and monitored. A range of acceleration metrics are utilised in rugby league, with average absolute acceleration becoming increasingly popular, especially for the analysis of the peak characteristics [82, 128]. This is an important trend given that acceleration has been shown to occur separately to peak periods of speed and yet, are equally important to the match outcome [81].

The use of PlayerLoad™, and its variants, has also been proposed to capture the acceleration, deceleration and change-of-direction, as well as the contact load [150] and are widely used in practice [16, 153].

Interestingly, the variant capturing the slow component (< 2 m/s) of PlayerLoad™, known as PlayerLoad™ Slow, has been used in rugby codes as a measure of sport-specific low-speed activity (e.g., rucking) [154]. Such accelerometry-derived metrics are also useful to capture external load in indoor training environments, given it is common practice for rugby league teams to carry out contact training in specific ‘padded’ rooms, and GPS derived acceleration metrics cannot be used in such environments.

Additionally, the unique technical and tactical requirements of the different positions within a rugby league team [155] result in differences in the physical characteristics of match-play. A main difference between positions is in the playing time of the match; forwards have lower playing times than backs [149, 156], which consequently influences the physical characteristics and should be taken into consideration.

Backs are reported to cover greater total distance than forwards [152], however studies report no differences in the average running speed of match-play, given the differences in playing time between positions [156, 157].

Therefore, practitioners are encouraged to not only utilise total distances, but also consider the intensity of the work given the differing playing time, via analysis of the average running speeds of match-play and the peak characteristics for position specific training practices. Importantly, differences in HSR, very HSR, and collisions are present between positions. Forwards cover less HSR distance compared to adjustable and backs, but carry out more collisions [149]. As such, tracking metrics may therefore be of differing value to practitioners when seeking to monitor the external load, and subsequent dose–response, across positions.

Finally, the tactical characteristics of rugby league should be considered alongside the physical, to enhance the application of tracking systems data and aid in training practices. Whilst competition is 80-min in duration, the match can be broken up into distinct phases of play given the rule of the set of six tackles: attack, defence and the attack-defence transition, as well as ball-in-play periods. By considering the physical characteristics within these periods of play, practitioners can work with coaches when planning and evaluating technical-tactical training. Distinct locomotor characteristics exist during attacking and defending phases, with greater average running speeds during defense, but greater HSR distance per minute during attack [74].

Further positional differences are likely due to the unique positional requirements such as ‘backs’ leading the kick chase or challenging for the ball during the attack-defence transition. Therefore, practitioners working with tracking systems data in rugby league should consider the nature of the sport (e.g., contact) and positional differences, alongside the tactical characteristics when collecting, analysing and interpreting data.

Soccer (Association Football)

Soccer is an intermittent field sport played by two teams of 11 players (10 outfield plus a goalkeeper) over two continuous 45-min halves, separated by a 15-min half time period [158]. The sport may be viewed as an early adopter of tracking systems, with much of the early research conducted in the 1990s stemming from optical tracking (predominantly semi-automated camera systems) and GPS use, in competition and training environments respectively, in the men’s professional game [158].

Despite being permitted in professional competition from 2015, many teams prefer to restrict GPS use to training only, potentially due to the less invasive nature of optical tracking. Thus, practitioners in these environments often face the challenge of integrating tracking data in order to consistently describe, plan, and monitor across the season. While integrative equations have been proposed, these are tracking system-specific, as well as dependent on the pitch size of the data collection [64].

Physical competition characteristics vary by playing position, depending on a number of situational factors, including tactical decisions, team formation, opponents style of play and level of competition [159, 160].

Total distance during a professional men’s match ranges from 10 to 12 km, with central midfielders covering the highest distance (11,885 m) while central defenders and strikers cover the lowest (10,671 m and 10,790 m, respectively) [161]. High-speed running (> 5.5 m^.s) constitutes on average 12% of the total distance, however wide players are seen to cover a greater contribution of their total distance at high speeds [162, 163].

Similarly, wide players compared to central also produce the highest acceleration efforts, which is important due to the greater energetic demand of these movements [164].

The unique demands of the goalkeeping position result in 50% less total distance than outfield athletes (4–6 km), with 98% of match time spent in low intensity movement [165].

However, tracking systems have recently aimed to quantify goalkeeper-specific movement demands that include the number of dives, jumps, and overall forward and lateral explosive movements.

While absolute totals are necessary to describe the sport’s characteristics and monitor individual external load, practitioners are encouraged to think beyond absolute values to help guide physical preparation. The most simplistic use of relative (per minute) metrics enables identification of athletes’ ‘pacing strategies’ [70]. For example, elite outfield male soccer players will range between 102 and 118 m/min depending on playing position [166]. Similarly, Fereday and colleagues (2020) identified the relative total distance between 120 and 190 m/min across a range of rolling average durations in professional male soccer players [90].

Rolling averages have been suggested as a superior analysis method compared to discrete 5–15 min epochs, due to a 12–25% underestimation in peak running demands [87]. Utilising peak locomotor demands to design position-specific training drills is common in applied soccer practice in an attempt to simulate game intensity [18].

However, concern has been raised over the validity of this concept, given that peak demands do not occur concurrently across metrics and players [94]. Practitioners are therefore reminded that the training process is complex and no single metric or calculation can surmise the external load an athlete is subjected to.

Drills in soccer are often manipulated in their design via field size, the number of players, or work-to-rest ratios, in order to elicit particular intensities. Practitioners using tracking systems in soccer can analyse the data to quantify the effects of such manipulation.

For instance, larger pitch size provide greater opportunity to sprint whereas, smaller pitch sizes may allow less exposure to high velocities but greater exposure to changes of direction, accelerations and decelerations [5]. In particular, small-sided games have garnered popularity as a training methodology in soccer, however they should be combined with other forms of drills due to limitations on reaching higher velocities.

High-speed exposure has been particularly highlighted as important for performance and injury risk perspective in soccer and therefore, many practitioners use the objective characteristics of soccer drills in comparison to competition characteristics to monitor athlete speed exposure over time [167]. However, despite the widespread adoption of regular high-speed exposure in practice, along with experts’ opinion behind the concept [168], further work is required to establish stronger evidence in support of injury protection properties against regular high-speed exposure.

While this focus on quantifying and planning training drill design from a physical perspective is important, the technical and tactical components of soccer are also key contributors to success.

Therefore, coaches and practitioners strive to combine physical preparation with the tactical element. One method, tactical periodization, has become a popular training strategy [169]. This methodology stresses different physical and tactical elements in turn across the microcycle, whereby the main focus is soccer-specific training [170].

Furthermore, the coach’s style of play heavily influences physical characteristics in soccer, as in other team sports, with tactical periodization assisting in training exercise selection that represent the specific coach’s principles of play [170]. With many professional leagues competing multiple times a week, along with congested schedules at other levels of play, the taxing schedule adds an element of complexity regarding preparation and recovery. As such, combining physical and tactical goals into training drills and sessions provides a time-efficient approach that tracking systems can support.

While soccer research has historically focused on male athletes, there has recently been an increase in the women’s game [171]. Whilst the volume and intensity of total distance in the women is similar to that of males (8–11 km total; 108–119 m/min) [171,172,173], male players perform on average 30% more high-intensity movements during matches [171].

Therefore, to ensure appropriate application of tracking data to inform training and match preparation, an understanding of the physical characteristics specific to the female athletes is required. Particularly important to practitioners working with tracking data in women’s soccer is the consideration of suitable speed thresholds, given that most research has been conducted on men.

A Gaussian curve fitting approach was used with instantaneous velocity data from women’s soccer and other team sports, with the intersections between curves used to determine sport-specific speed thresholds [125]. However, concerns have been raised, including the appropriateness of the technique itself—as there is no evidence to suggest that the velocities within each zone follow a Gaussian distribution—as well as the dataset used, which was not from an elite female population [127].

Consequently, another group used the spectral clustering technique on a dataset from 27 female players across 52 international matches, which determined thresholds of 12.5, 19.0, and 22.5 km/h most suitable to denote high-speed, very-high-speed, and sprint categories, respectively, for elite women’s soccer [127].

Outdoor GPS market is dominated by some players like Catapult, and STATSports

In the GPS outdoor market, Catapult and STATSports are dominating. In fact, according to Upside Global’s internal data, Catapult and STATSports currently capture 50%+ of the GPS outdoor market. For example, Catapult has nearly 3000 customers today. In terms of brand recognition, both GPS vendors are top of mind among teams and leagues. However we are starting to get a sense, based on our conversations with pro teams, that many teams feel that those dominant players, especially Catapult, are a bit too expensive. This means that there is an opportunity for the emerging players to disrupt this market.

Emergence of smaller low cost players with good GPS accuracy and focusing on lower level leagues (SPT, McLloyd..)

Over the past few years we have seen the emergence of emerging GPS vendors which offer low cost GPS systems with good GPS accuracy. Unlike Catapult or STATSPorts which primarily focus on the world of elite sports, McLloyd and SPT essentially focus on High school, college teams as well as private coaches. Their GPS products are typically available for less than $5K per year (for 10 units) with payment flexibility and short term contracts. We expect those emerging players to continue to disrupt and gain traction at the lower end of the market in the coming years.

M&A activities are accelerating

In recent years the phenomenon of consolidation has accelerated in the GPS outdoor market. For example, Catapult acquired two startups. In 2020, Catapult acquired a subscription online sport learning platform, Science for Sport. Then last year, Catapult Catapult Sports bought SBG Sports Software (SBG), a global leader in video and data analysis to elite sports teams and motorsports. Through these acquisitions, Catapult was able to acquire new engineering talent, and new customers. But more importantly, the company was able to enhance its product offering in order to maintain its dominance. In 2021 Demcon acquired JOHAN Sports.

Picture: JOHAN Sports / Demcon

44% of athletic trainers plan to invest in GPS systems, according to the 2020 Upside Global survey

As shown in the graph below, 44% of the athletic trainers we surveyed last year are planning to invest in GPS systems in the future. This compares to 48% of the athletic trainers looking to invest in sleep trackers in the future.44% of them are also planning to invest in neurotech & mental health devices in the future. This does not come as a surprise as being on quarantine likely affected some players mentally and trainers want to make sure that they can address any mental issues moving forward. 32% of them are also planning to invest in HR monitors and video analysis systems. 32% of the athletic trainers are also looking to invest in temperature sensing & screening solutions.

Hydration/electrolyte monitoring solutions also gathered a lot of interest with 24% of the respondents indicating their plan to buy hydration/electrolyte monitoring solutions. Lastly, 16% of athletic trainers also indicated their plan to invest in connected fitness (Peloton, Tonal..) in the future.

Source: Upside 2020 Top Coaches Sports Tech Budget Survey Results, Confidential, April 2020.

Upside GPS vendor survey: Catapult and STATSports captured nearly 50% of Mindshare.

Back in 2022, we surveyed 82 pro teams and leagues to assess their use of GPS monitoring technology and their perceptions and sentiments on the vendors involved in the market.

We surveyed teams from the NBA, NHL, NFL, MLS, MLB, Premier League, Ligue 1, Swiss soccer league, Turkish soccer league, South American soccer, NCAA, Pro tennis, pro rugby, and others, to assess the performance and share of mind of key GPS vendors, including Catapult, STATSports, Polar, McLloyd, SPT, WIMU, Kinexon, Titan, ASI, Johan Sports, Inmotion, Q-Track, Playmaker. Note: Johan Sports, Playmaker, Inmotion, Titan & Q-Track, and others. If you want to buy our full GPS vendor survey report click on the button below:

Buy GPS Survey Report

Here are some of highlights of the 2022 Upside GPS vendors survey:

• 82 pro teams and leagues (MLS, European soccer, South American soccer, NCAA, Pro tennis, pro rugby, etc.) responded to our survey.

• 60% of teams surveyed were soccer teams in EMEA and NA.

• Catapult and STATSports captured nearly 50% of Mindshare.

• 74% of the teams surveyed plan to renew their current GPS systems.

• Source: Upside Global, Confidential, November 2021.

Source: Upside Global GPS vendor survey, Confidential, April 2022.

Want to get unbiased team data on GPS vendors (Catapult, STATSports, WIMU..)? Check out our Upside Tech scouting platform

If you are a team and want to get unbiased team data on GPS vendors (Catapult, STATSports, WIMU....)? Please check out our new Upside Tech Scouting platform, the world’s first platform providing granular anonymized team data on specific teams (NBA, NFL, MLB, NCAA, Premier League, Laliga, Ligue 1, Bundesliga, national teams, Olympic teams, pro rugby, pro tennis..). For each team profile, users can see critical information provided by teams such as their annual sports performance budget, the GPS vendor(s) that they are currently using, their rating per vendors and the price range that they are paying for each vendor. Now keep in mind that each team profile has been anonymized as we take data privacy of teams very seriously.

Here is a video explaining how the platform works with video testimonials from teams (NBA, MLS, Premier league..) and vendors.

As illustrated below, users can search for team profiles in specific leagues (NBA, NFL, MLB, NCAA, MLB, Premier League, pro rugby, pro tennis..), sports types (soccer, hockey, basketball, baseball…), geographical area, and budget size, and using specific GPS vendors (Catapult, STATSports, Polar, McLloyd, SPT, WIMU..). For each team profile users can see what their annual sports performance budget is, which GPS vendors they are currently using, how they rated those vendors and the price range that they are paying for each technologies.

As we mentioned earlier, each team profile has been anonymized as we take data privacy of teams very seriously. This is why we only show the league logo (NBA, MLB, NFL, NCAA..) under each team profile. We do not show the specific team logo under each team profile.

As shown in the picture below, teams can also search for complete profiles of GPS vendors with critical information (product info, contact information, customers by leagues, survey data..).

To learn more about our new Upside tech scouting platform, see a live demo, get pricing information and subscribe to our new Tech scouting platform contact us at julien@sportscouncilsv.com or click on the button below.

Subscribe to Upside Pro Combo

Discrepancy in GPS accuracy between various vendors

Several studies have shown that there are discrepancies between GPS systems in terms of GPS accuracy. The most common factors affecting GPS accuracy include clock errors, ephemeris errors, atmospheric delays, multipathing and satellite geometry.

Remote monitoring, and mesh network driving adoption of smaller GPS vendors

In the outdoor GPS market, we are starting to see a number of smaller GPS vendors offering value added features and capabilities such as remote monitoring, and mesh network. This is the case of GPS vendors such as McLloyd. In our view, this is a nice way to differentiate their offering. Of note, remote monitoring is interesting especially in the context of COVID-19 where coaches are oftentimes trying to limit contacts with players. Creating a GPS system based on a mesh network is another great way to improve the accuracy of GPS measurements. In the future we expect more GPS vendors focusing on value added features in order to further gain market share.

GPS systems integrating more biosensing capabilities such as HR. Hydration measurement is next?

Over the past few years, we have also seen a number of GPS vendors offering GPS systems with biosensing capabilities such as HR measurement. This is the case of GPS vendors such as Polar. In the future we expect GPS vendors to go one step further and add new biosensing capabilities such as hydration, lactate, electrolyte, measurement and HRV sensing. It only makes sense to do so as it would allow teams to see the correlation between load and biometric data in order to better assess the health of players and prevent injuries.

Video analysis is becoming another great way for GPS vendors to differentiate

A growing number of GPS vendors also offer video analysis as it is a nice complement to GPS systems. The idea there is that you can also overlay the GPS data on top of the video analysis systems. Of note, this is partially the reason why market leader Catapult bought SBG a few years ago in order to remain competitive. We expect more GPS vendors to follow suit and offer video analysis in the future as a way to be on par with the competition and enhance their GPS offering.

3D/VR/AR based GPS system, another emerging trend among GPS vendors

Due to the growing adoption of VR solutions and VR headsets (Oculus Quest, PSV4..), a number of GPS vendors have started to add VR/3D capabilities to their GPS offering. For example, McLloyd built a 3D/VR/AR based GPS system allowing sports organizations to provide GPS data in 3D, AR, or VR to their fans. By doing so it helps enhance the fans’ experience. It also helps increase fan engagement. We expert other GPS vendors to offer similar capabilities in the future.

The outdoor GPS market ecosystem: From GPS vendors to AMS:

The outdoor GPS market is comprised of the following subsegments:

• GPS vendors: Typically those include companies manufacturing outdoor GPS systems. It includes vendors such as Catapult, STATSports, WIMU, McLloyd, SPT, Polar, Q-Track, Titan, Gpexe, VX Sport, FieldWiz/ASI, Johan Sports, among others.

• AMS (Athlete Management Systems) vendors: These are typically player assessment & performance tools used by coaches in training and live games. Some of these tools track and analyze statistical (video analysis, distance ran..) and performance data (GPS, workload, HR, Motion, hydration, fatigue..) via the use of wearables and GPS trackers. Key players in the space include companies like Beyond Pulse, Myagonism, Sportgo, Apollo Youth, Kitman labs, Kinduct, Smartabase, Yguara, Pitz, Edge11.

• GPS data accuracy software vendors: This includes vendors which provide special software enabling GPS providers to improve their GPS accuracy. This includes companies like ADI or Geoflex.

Source: Upside global Confidential, 2021

Now looking at the respective positioning of GPS vendors in terms of pricing strategy and targeted customers, we can categorize those GPS vendors in several groups:

• GPS vendors primarily, which target elite teams and charge a premium ($20k-$40k per year) for their GPS solution: Those include companies such as Catapult, STATSports, Polar, WIMU, to name a few.

• GPS vendors, which target low-mid level teams (High school, college teams, private coaches) and charge affordable pricing (<$5k for 10 units) for their GPS solution: Those include vendors such as McLloyd and SPT.

Source: Upside Global confidential, 2021

Also please note that on the chart above the purpose was not to show all the GPS vendors on the chart but to show some GPS vendors as a way to categorize GPS vendors.

Key outdoor GPS vendors

In the following section we will go over the main outdoor GPS vendors. Please keep in mind that this list is not meant to be exhaustive.

1. Catapult

Founded: 2006

HQ: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Amount money raised: N/A (Public company)

Website: https://www.catapultsports.com/

Investors: Catapult is funded by Aura Ventures. Catapult has acquired 4 organizations. Their most recent acquisition was SBG Sports Software on Jun 23, 2021.

Total employees: 474

Customers / partners: 2970 customers. Bayern Munich FC, LA Galaxy (MLS), Wales Rugby and NFL’s Steelers, amongst others, use Catapult.

Company/product description: Catapult is a sports performance analytics company, listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, that provides performance technology to 2970 teams, across 39 sports, in 137 countries. The company is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia.

There are three physical products: Catapult Vector, the ClearSky T6 and Optimeye S5. Each of these pieces of hardware is worn by athletes to help track different elements of their performances.

ClearSky is a local positioning system (LPS) Catapult developed in conjunction with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) that delivers accurate positional and inertial data in varying environments.

Catapult also developed a goalkeeper monitor, the G5, which quantifies the direction and intensity of dives, jumps, accelerations/decelerations, changes of direction, repeat high intensity efforts, and time to recovery.

Through its acquisition of GPSports, XOS Digital, PlayerTek, SportsMedElite and Baseline Athlete Management Systems Catapult also offers video technology and GPS systems for semi-professional sports teams and amateur football players.

2. STATSports

Founded: 2007

HQ: Newry, Newry and Mourne, United Kingdom

Amount money raised: TBD

Website: https://statsports.com/

Investors: TBD

Total employees: 124

Customers / partners: 1000 customers (PSG, Tottenham Hotspurs,, Liverpool, Juventus, England National soccer team, US national soccer team..)

Company/product description: STATSports STATSports has grown from its humble origins in Ireland to be the world-leading provider of GPS player tracking and analysis equipment. They now have offices in Ireland, London, Chicago and Florida. The STATSports APEX/Viper System is a customer driven platform. The user-friendly interface was designed and shaped alongside some of the world’s top strength coaches, medics and sports coaches. It is the only system to offer sports specific software for Football, Basketball, American Football, Rugby and Athletics.

3. WIMU

Founded: 2008

HQ: Almeria, Andalucía (Spain)

Amount money raised: TBD

Website: https://www.wimu.es

Investors: FC Barcelona

Total employees: 29

Customers / partners: 400 customers (FC Barcelona, Real Madrid and the Spanish national team, Arsenal FC, Bundelsiga teams..)

Company/product description: WIMU is a Spanish GPS vendor. Its Spanish Elite Tracking System WIMU PRO is used by FC Barcelona, Real Madrid and the Spanish national team (amongst others). FIFA approved its GPS system for player tracking both indoor and outdoor.

Wireless wearable device with advanced sensors providing muscle oxygen levels, respiration and heart rate and presents all the data from compatible devices from one single platform.

4. McLloyd

Founded: 2013

HQ: Paris (France), US subsidiary in Miami, FL (USA)

Amount money raised: 2M€

Website: https://mclloyd.com/

Investors: TBD

Total employees: 15

Customers / partners:

« Sport Performance » : 100+ customers in Europe (Stade Rennais. Standard de Liege, Amien SC...), North America (Florida’s PSG academy , Miami city, House of Athletes & SD legion. Etc.).

« Racing Tracking & Broadcast major clients » : PMU, France Galop, Le Trot, 52 Super Series, Professional Triathlete Organisation (PTO)

McLloyd was born in 2013 in France. Based on the growing demand for performance optimization tools in sport and the limitations of existing equipment, McLloyd has set itself the goal of bringing a technological breakthrough in this area. After 3 years of R & D and several million euros invested, a first World Rugby Compliant system was launched in 2016, propelling McLloyd as the leading supplier of French professional rugby (TOP14 / ProD2). Then in 2017, McLloyd won the international PMU bidding competition for 42 companies and is now the official tracking system supplier for the french gallop and trotting races (6000 races/year). Thus was born the first centimetric GPS tracker in the world compatible with the constraints of sport and racing due to its size and weight. This range of products for Horse Racing led to a new generation of high-accuracy trackers now used also on sailing (52 Super Series) and Triathlon (Professional Triathlete Organization) races.

In 2018 McLloyd opened a subsidiary in Miami, and today addresses the European, Asian and American markets of tracking in professional sports and racing.

McLloyd’s goal for the next 24 months is to keep growing and hope to reach 100 clients by the end of the year. They will also adapt their racing tracker (HPv2) for sport performance purposes with a new packaged solution.

They would like to do more than just providing data. Using GPS it’s a good step but knowing what to do with your data is the key in modern sport. They are trying to build a community of coaches that use their products and can exchange with other teams and staff.

They are known as a reference in matters of accuracy and robustness of the system but at the same time they have to remain affordable to be able to work with every team looking for performance.

5. SPT

Founded: 2015

HQ: Melbourne, Australia & Austin, Texas

Amount money raised: $8.5M

Website: www.sptgps.com

Investors: Family Offices, Elite Australian Athletes (Leyton Heywitt..)

Total employees: 10+

Customers / partners: 75,000 Users, 3,300 teams across 120 countries.

Company/product description: SPT is the Australian market leader in the prosumer space for wearable and performance analytics. Launching in the USA in 2018, SPT has also become one of the College and High School go to technology choices. It simplifies the complex and provides an easy-to-use system for those looking to adopt technology to improve their sporting programs without spending their whole budget.

SPT’s business model simplifies the path to success. It allows teams at all levels and individuals looking to improve the ability to partner with SPT and use our patented hardware and analytics program (GameTraka®). GameTraka® is a leading analytics platform that provides a simple system and allows for customisation and complexities our top organisations can upgrade to. Premium offerings for all teams at the flick of a switch provides in-depth analysis or simple analysis – depending on the level of your program.

SPT’s goal for the next 24 months is to become the market leader in the USA as they are currently in Australia. Their system has recently been wholly re-launched with an updated design and more specific features for the customer. They bring the complex and turn it into simple decision making and powerful outputs for all programs. Their Division 1 colleges, global, national programs, and smaller high school and club development teams all find massive value in the SPT system.

6. Polar

Founded: 1977

HQ: Kempele, Oulu, Finland

Amount money raised: TBD

Website: https://www.polar.com/

Investors: TBD

Total employees: 1200

Customers / partners: VFL Wolfsburg, South American soccer teams, Asian soccer teams, etc.

Company/product description: Polar is a manufacturer of sports training computers, particularly known for developing the world’s first wireless HR monitor.

The company is based in Kempele, Finland and was founded in 1977. Polar has approximately 1,200 employees worldwide, it has 26 subsidiaries that supply over 35,000 retail outlets in more than 80 countries. Polar manufactures a range of heart rate monitoring devices and accessories for athletic training and fitness and also to measure HRV.

Designed for professional team sports, Polar Team Pro combines high-precision GPS-derived movement data, inertial sensor metrics and integrated heart rate monitoring into a mobile and easy-to-use wearable player tracking system.

7. Q-Track

Founded: 2002

HQ: Huntsville, Alabama, United States

Amount money raised: TBD

Website:https://q-track.com/sports-tracking/

Investors: TBD

Total employees: 7

Customers / partners: South American soccer teams, etc.

Q-Track is applying its precision indoor location technology to accurately and objectively measure athlete performance. The Sports Medicine Assessment Tool (SMAT) provides comprehensive kinematic and physiological data to trainers, coaching staff, and athletes alike. SMAT allows for a quantitative assessment of training intensity providing for maximum performance while minimizing injuries. The result is a better prepared more competitive team.

8. Titan

Founded: 2004

HQ: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Amount money raised: TBD

Website: https://titangps.com/

Investors: TBD

Total employees: 54

Customers / partners: European soccer teams, etc.

Titan GPS design, develop, manufacture, and support end-to-end GPS location and fleet management telematics technology. Certified Tracking Solutions design, develop, manufacture, and support end-to-end GPS location and fleet management telematics technology under the brand name Titan GPS. Titan GPS is a trusted partner to thousands of fleet customers in the public sector, field service, winter maintenance, transportation, construction, transit, auto dealer, and OEMmarkets across North America, including particularly strong relationships with municipalities throughout Alberta.

9. Gpexe / Exelio

Founded: 2009

HQ: Udine, Italy

Amount money raised: TBD

Website: https://www.exelio.eu

Investors: TBD

Total employees: 18

Customers / partners: 150+ teams (AC Milan, Inter Milan, Sampdoria, AS Monaco, etc.)

Gpexe is a GPS system manufactured by Exelio. Gpexe is a tracking system for team sports performance analysis, working through a high sampling rate GPS receiver. The majority of the Italian Serie A teams, over 150 clubs and National Teams worldwide, use Gpexe.

Their strength in the market can be attributed by its 20 Hz device frequency, much higher frequency devices than that of most of its competitors. This is due to the fact that they only have one GPS reference (no Galileo, no glonass). Other GPS vendors are multiple constellations which is why they can only use a 10 Hz device frequency. With this high frequency GPEXE achieves a higher accuracy of information when tracking a player’s changes in speed and direction, something a lot of providers struggle to do with lower frequencies.

10. VX Sports

Founded: 2007

HQ: Louisiana, USA

Amount money raised: TBD

Website: https://vxsport.com/

Investors: TBD

Total employees: 6

Customers / partners: NCAA teams.

VX Sport athlete monitoring products are used by world leading teams to drive performance decision-making. Only the VX System combines the tracking of physical and readiness data with simple planning tools that empower coaches to improve athlete performance. VX Sport provides the most accurate and affordable athlete monitoring solution.

11. FieldWiz / ASI

Founded: 2012

HQ: Lausanne (Switzerland)

Amount money raised: CHF655K

Website: https://www.asi.swiss

Investors: FieldWiz is funded by 2 investors. Business Angels Switzerland (BAS) and Foundation for Technological Innovation (FIT) are the most recent investors.

Total employees: 18

Customers / partners: Swiss soccer teams, Belgium soccer teams, FFR XIII, among others.

Based on the joint passion for sports and technology of its founders, Advanced Sport Instruments SA (FieldWiz) is specializing in the development of electronic performance and tracking solutions. At the core of the company is a team dedicated to reimagining how technology can be leveraged to improve the performance of elite athletes. Advanced Sport Instruments works with hundreds of organizations and brands around the world like nation winter sport federations, football club from Champions League level to ambitious amateur teams, motorbike racing and adventure sports solutions. The company was the first to obtain the FIFA IMS certification for its solutions.

10. Johan Sports

Founded: 2014

HQ: Noordwijk, Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands

Amount money raised: TBD

Website: https://www.johansports.com/

Investors: TBD

Total employees: 7

Customers / partners: South American soccer teams, etc.

JOHAN Sports offers an easy-to-use, affordable and practical performance tracking and analytics solution for field sports.

JOHAN serves field sport teams, both coaches, trainers, players and club management. They focus on teams with a medium to small staff, which generally have little to none scientific staff like data analysts and sports scientists. Although they provide all the raw data and statistics, most of their users need the relevant context of this data such that they can put it into practice. This way complex science and technology becomes available to every type and level of trainer.

Recommendations to teams and leagues looking to adopt an outdoor GPS solution

Here are some recommendations for teams or leagues looking to adopt a GPS solution:

• Ask yourself some key questions and assess your ideal game style: Teams need to ask themselves some key questions before adopting a GPS solution.

“Take the time to ask key questions and assess your ideal game style, athlete makeup and squad goals. Ask how GPS data would inform this”, recommended Ben Sharpe, Product development manager at SPT, during an interview with Upside Global.

• More precisely, teams could answer the following questions:

“Teams need to answer the following questions: Requirements of the GPS system in terms of quality/accuracy, software quality, the types of data needed, the number of GPS systems needed, the need to use live cardio or not, the type of GPS (indoor or outdoor) needed, the monthly budget. This will help the team determine which GPS system is the best fit for them”, explained Laurent Debrousse, the head of McLloyd North America, during an interview with Upside Global.

• Adopt a GPS system that fits your actual needs: It is critical for teams to pick a GPS system to meet their needs.

“Consider your actual needs, some systems that require a large amount of staff hours may in fact carry too much functionality that does not get used. Ask your coaching staff what they need from a system”, recommended Ben Sharpe, Product development manager at SPT, during an interview with Upside Global.

• Make sure to mix the GPS data with other data points to get a better picture of the athletes’ health: As we mentioned earlier, it is critical for teams to aggregate their GPS data and mix it with other types of biometric data such as HR, HRV, etc. By doing so, it will give the coach a better sense of the health of his/her players.

“Don’t over complicate or over rely on one single metric or data point. Embed any technology as part of a holistic monitoring and performance tracking ecosystem’, recommended Ben Sharpe, Product development manager at SPT, during an interview with Upside Global.

• Adopt a data visualization software in order to better visualize the GPS data: Many times GPS vendors do not offer good data visualization software as part of their GPS offering. This is why it is important for teams to adopt data visualization tools provided by companies such as Rock Daisy in order to help them better visualize the GPS data.

• Adopt an injury prevention software in order to prevent injuries: Adopting an injury prevention software that will aggregate both the GPS data as well as other types of biometric data (HR, hydration, electrolyte, sleep data/HRV..) in order to fully assess the risk of injury per player, is absolutely critical. Injury prevention software such as Kitman Labs, use advanced algorithms which help identify patents, and baseline of each player, and therefore can identify when a player is at high risk of injuries based on increased load, increased body temperature, poor sleep quality, or other factors.

• Adopt a GPS system that fits into your workflow: This is probably one of the most important points. Whatever GPS solution a team decides to adopt the GPS system needs to fit into the team’s workflow, meaning that it should not disrupt the routine of the athletic staff, players and make them less productive. Those GPS systems should be easy to use, intuitive, and easy for the players to wear. Overall, if a GPS system does not meet those criteria it is probably not a good fit for a team.

• Make sure to have staff members (GPS analysts, sports scientists) that can manage your GPS systems on a daily basis: Teams also need to have a dedicated person on staff responsible for the GPS system. In some cases a GPS analyst would be required to analyze the GPS data if the GPS system does not provide good insights.

• Focus on GPS vendors with great customer service: This is another key factor when buying a GPS system. It is important for the team to adopt a GPS system with great customer service. Some GPS vendors provide staff members who can go on the customer’s site in order to assist teams with any problems. Some GPS vendors even have the ability to build custom data to teams. These are the type of GPS vendors that teams need to work with when adopting a GPS system.

• Focus on GPS vendors with remote monitoring: In the pandemic world that we are living in, it is also important for teams to work with GPS vendors who can provide remote monitoring, meaning the ability for coaches to remotely monitor their players. GPS vendors such as McLloyd offer such capability.

• Focus on GPS vendors with affordable pricing without long term contracts: Oftentimes we hear from teams that they are locked into long term contracts by some GPS vendors. Therefore it is important for teams to look for GPS vendors that offer pricing flexibility (1 year contract or monthly payment) as well as affordable pricing options based on the teams’ needs. GPS vendors such as McLloyd fall into this category.

• Focus on GPS vendors with value add services (AR/3D/MR..): As we mentioned before, working with a GPS vendor that can visualize the GPS data in AR/VR/3D in order to better understand and visualize the GPS data is critical as well. Companies such as McLloyd have such capability today.

Bottom line: Outdoor GPS systems have become a must have for sports such as soccer, or American football teams can choose from a wild variety of GPS vendors today. It is critical for sports teams to carefully assess those GPS vendors in terms of pricing, product quality, GPS accuracy, and vision of the management team, and other factors. Moving forward we expect M&A activities in the outdoor GPS market to accelerate. We also expect new emerging players to enter the market in order to disrupt the dominance of the incumbents. This will help fuel innovation in the GPS market which will be a win win situation for the teams and GPS vendors.

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Brijesh Patel is the Associate Athletic Director and Director of Athletic Performance at Quinnipiac University, where he built and now leads the school’s comprehensive strength and conditioning program after becoming its first full-time strength coach in 2008. A University of Connecticut graduate, Patel began his career with early hands-on mentorship under respected strength coaches and gained experience at both major Division I and mid-major programs, shaping a philosophy centered on reducing injury risk, developing better overall athletes, and educating them for long-term growth.

At Quinnipiac, he oversees basketball and ice hockey while managing staff, budget, return-to-play protocols, and department culture. Known for his movement-based training approach, emphasis on stress adaptation and durability, and balance of qualitative coaching with practical performance metrics, Patel has established himself as a respected leader in collegiate athletic performance.

You can watch the video interview below by clicking on the Youtube link. You can also listen to the audio interview by clicking on the link at the top of the page:

📝Show Notes: During the interview with Brijesh we discussed his journey into athletic performance and the experiences that shaped his philosophy as a coach and leader. He shared how he discovered his passion for strength and conditioning in high school, created his own pathway through internships and mentorship at the University of Connecticut and Holy Cross, and ultimately became the first full-time strength coach at Quinnipiac University. Over time, he built the program from the ground up and developed a clear performance philosophy centered on three pillars: reducing injury risk, developing better overall athletes, and educating them. He also explained how his role today balances hands-on coaching with department leadership, emphasizing accountability, respect, and work ethic as cultural non-negotiables for both athletes and staff.

We also discussed his movement-based approach to training, his focus on building durable athletes by progressively dosing stress in the offseason, and why he believes resilience comes from systematically increasing an athlete’s capacity to tolerate workload. In the return-to-play process, he highlighted the importance of matching team workload to avoid deconditioning and addressing the psychological component of injury recovery. On the topic of technology, Brijesh shared that while he values data and tools, he prioritizes coaching instincts, relationship-building, and simple volume tracking—such as “time on feet”—to guide decisions. Overall, the conversation highlighted his practical, disciplined, and athlete-centered approach to long-term performance development.

You can read the full transcript of the podcast interview with Brijesh located at the top of this blog post.

Here are the quotes from the interview with Brijesh:

1️⃣ Background & Career Path

On discovering his passion early:

“I knew I wanted to be a strength coach when I was a senior in high school. Not a lot of people know what they want to do at 17 or 18 years old, but I had a fascination for training. I loved athletics, I loved sports, and I loved the mindset that you can improve — that you can get better. I saw how manipulating exercises and variables throughout an offseason could lead to completely different results, and that just fascinated me.”

On choosing impact over playing:

“I realized I wasn’t the best athlete and probably wasn’t going to compete at the next level. But what I really wanted to do was impact other people — help them reach their dreams. That realization shaped everything for me. If I couldn’t compete at the highest level as an athlete, I could still contribute at a high level by developing others.”

On creating his own path:

“Back then there weren’t formal internships everywhere like there are today. So I had to create my own journey. I would ask questions, observe, look things up if I didn’t know them, and come back with answers. I think the coaches were testing whether I was truly committed. That process built my foundation — not just technically, but mentally.”

On forming his philosophy:

“Through those experiences I started to formulate my philosophy: number one, reduce the chance of injury. Number two, make better athletes. And number three, educate them. How we do that can vary — it depends on the sport, the research, the resources, the technology — but those three pillars stay the same.”

On persistence and leadership mindset:

“If you want to be successful, that’s not normal. You’ve got to be able to do things in an uncommon way if you want to accomplish uncommon things. I don’t think I’m normal in how I think or operate — and I try to teach my athletes that. If you want uncommon results, you have to behave differently.”

2️⃣ Role at Quinnipiac

On building the program:

“I was Quinnipiac’s first full-time strength and conditioning coach. When I started in 2008, I essentially built the program from scratch. It was just me at first. Now we have a staff of four full-time coaches, two weight rooms, and we oversee every team year-round.”

On balancing performance and administration:

“My coaching responsibilities haven’t really changed over time. I still program for basketball and hockey, I’m involved in every return-to-play process, and I work with them offseason and in season. From an administrative standpoint, I manage the staff and the budget, but I’ve built systems in place so that I can still coach at a high level.”

On culture and non-negotiables:

“We talk about having non-negotiables. Our three non-negotiables are accountability, respect, and work ethic. That’s what we expect from student-athletes, but I expect the exact same thing from my staff. If we’re going to hold athletes to a standard, we have to hold ourselves to that same standard first.”

On eliminating excuses:

“We don’t make excuses. We don’t complain about lack of funding, lack of technology, or limitations. If we as leaders start making excuses, it gives the athlete permission to make excuses. And that’s something we can’t allow culturally.”

3️⃣ Training Philosophy & Durability

On movement-based development:

“We take a movement-based approach. Everything we do is designed to enhance the athlete’s ability to move more efficiently. We work primarily with skill-based sports like basketball and hockey, where you can be very skilled without being physically developed. Our job is to enhance their movement capacity so their skill can express itself at a higher level.”

On driving capacity instead of minimal dose:

“I’m not a big fan of the term ‘minimal effective dose,’ especially in the offseason. In the offseason we have to drive stress. We have to raise the athlete’s capacity to tolerate stress so that when the season comes — with school stress, social stress, financial stress, and physical stress — they can handle it.”

On stress and adaptation:

“You can’t tolerate stress unless you dose stress. That’s one of the biggest principles we operate under. We progressively and systematically apply stress in the offseason so athletes can adapt, recover, and build resilience. That way, when it’s time to perform, the physical capacity is already there.”

On resilience during the season:

“Our goal is to drive their capacity to do more work more frequently, so they can perform their skills harder, faster, and longer. If capacity is high enough, durability improves. Resilience improves. And performance improves.”

4️⃣ Rehab & Return-to-Play

On psychological readiness:

“Looking at the research, the biggest component of return to play is psychological. Physically you might be recovered, but being able to get over that mental hurdle — to let yourself compete at the level you were at before — that’s the most challenging part.”

On maintaining workload during rehab:

“Our first goal is making sure that their total overall workload matches what the team is doing — if not more. If the team practices for an hour and a half and lifts for 45 minutes, we want that injured athlete accumulating similar total volume between rehab and training. That way when they return, they’re not deconditioned.”

On performance benchmarks before clearance:

“Before they return to play, ideally we want them within at least 90 percent of their previous speed and power numbers. From a strength standpoint, they’re often stronger because we’ve invested more focused time. But speed and power need to be within that range.”

On multidisciplinary collaboration:

“It’s a multifactor approach. Athletic trainers, sports psychologists, sports nutritionists — everybody is involved. Return to play is not just a strength decision. It’s a coordinated effort.”

5️⃣ Technology & Innovation

On budget realities:

“From a budgetary standpoint, we don’t have an expansive budget. So we have to be smart with what we use.”

On moving away from excessive tech:

“At one point I realized I was spending more time looking at a computer than building relationships with athletes. And my strength is connection and communication. So I leaned into that. I’m much more of a qualitative coach than a quantitative coach.”

On reading fatigue without tech:

“You can sense their energy and fatigue level just by watching them — by their eyes, by their foot strike, by how long they spend on the ground. You can see when legs look heavy. Coaching instincts matter.”

On volume as the primary stress metric:

“Volume is our key indicator to stress. We simply time practice — time on feet. Acute-to-chronic workload ratios, total weekly volume — those matter. Just because practice doesn’t look intense doesn’t mean they’re not accumulating stress.”

On a key learning moment:

“We had a team practicing for three hours a day. Coaches thought it wasn’t intense because they were teaching and standing around. But they were still accumulating volume on their feet. We shortened practice, slightly increased intensity, and a week later everyone was out of the training room.”

On individualized power profiling:

“We use jump mats, Excel formulas, bodyweight, squat max — we calculate a power quotient to determine whether an athlete needs more strength work or more velocity work. Even without force plates, you can still individualize effectively if you understand what you’re looking at.”

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In high-performance sports, resistance training has historically been the foundation of strength and conditioning. However, over the past decade, there has been a seismic shift from traditional, manually controlled equipment to smart, programmable, and data-driven resistance systems. These systems allow for highly controlled, measurable, and adaptable training environments tailored to the individual athlete’s biomechanics, injury history, and performance needs.

The emergence of this vendor ecosystem reflects broader trends: athlete monitoring, sports science integration, return-to-play optimization, and individualized load management. These systems go beyond simply making athletes stronger — they enable practitioners to detect early warning signs of injury, refine movement patterns, track recovery, and align training with sport-specific neuromuscular demands.

From robotic resistance and isokinetic machines to motorized dumbbells and smart cables, the vendor ecosystem is now a vital component of elite performance departments. Teams across the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS, and NCAA — along with Olympic committees and military organizations — are embedding these technologies into their daily workflows.

Market Size

The market for resistance training solutions — particularly smart, data-integrated technologies — is expanding at a steady pace, driven by increasing demand for precision in athlete development.

Key Market Insights:

• Strength Training Equipment Market: Estimated at $14.04 billion in 2025, projected to reach $17.74 billion by 2030, with a CAGR of 4.79%, according to ​Mordor Intelligence.

• Source: Mordor Intelligence, 2025

• Elite Sports Spend: Professional and collegiate teams now spend between $50,000–$500,000 per year on performance tech, with resistance systems often representing the largest capital investment outside of force plates and GPS.

• Regional Trends:

  • North America: Leads in adoption, driven by NFL, NCAA, and Olympic integration.

  • Europe: Rapid growth in soccer and handball, with flywheel and robotic systems integrated into youth academies.

  • Asia & Middle East: Driven by national Olympic programs and military contracts.

The financial case for these tools is increasingly clear: they reduce injuries, accelerate return-to-play, and help teams make better training decisions — all of which impact wins, losses, and athlete careers.

Strong Adoption Across Major Leagues

Widespread adoption across elite performance environments highlights the transition from experimental to essential. These systems are no longer “nice-to-haves”; they’re performance essentials and are used across various leagues (NFL, NBA, MLS, NCAA, Olympic sports..) and the military sector today.

• NFL / NBA / MLS /NCAA: The majority of teams use smart cable systems in either rehab, testing, or VBT.

• Olympic Sport: Full integration at USOPC, EIS (UK), and AIS (Australia) for strength diagnostics and injury mitigation.

• Military: U.S. Special Operations and NATO partners are now integrating smart, portable resistance systems for deployable strength training and rehab in-theater.

This widespread adoption is driven by both performance gains and risk mitigation — especially as athlete health, load management, and return-to-play timelines become performance-critical.

Key Use Cases

The application of these systems varies widely across sectors, but several dominant themes have emerged:

1. Return-to-Play (RTP)

• Real-time force and asymmetry monitoring

• Controlled eccentric/concentric phases

• Replication of sport-specific loads under supervision

• Integration into RTP decision-making frameworks

2. Power Profiling & Load Prescription

• Force-velocity profiling across joints/movements

• Identifying neuromuscular bottlenecks (e.g., weak takeoff strength, slow RFD)

• Prescribing loads based on daily bar speed

• Monitoring chronic load tolerance over a season

3. Injury Risk Reduction

• Eccentric overload to reinforce tendon-muscle junctions

• Unilateral testing to spot strength deficits early

• Use of VBT to monitor fatigue and prevent overtraining

4. Travel & Remote Training

• Voltra dumbbells allow remote load control and progress tracking

• OHM and Beyond Power used during road trips to minimize performance dips

• Cloud-based systems offer coach oversight even off-site

5. Sport-Specific Conditioning

• Sprint-resisted cords (1080 Sprint) simulate match velocity and acceleration load

• Tennis and baseball teams use resistance tracking to profile swing speeds

• COD-resisted drills used in ACL and lateral chain rehab

These use cases not only optimize performance, but also integrate deeply into medical, rehab, and coaching workflows.

Key Drivers

Several strategic forces are accelerating the adoption of advanced resistance systems:

• Data-Driven Coaching: Greater emphasis on evidence-based decisions in pro and college sports

• Injury Reduction Mandates: Financial and performance pressures to reduce injury rates and shorten RTP

• Sport-Specific Individualization: Increasing demand for customized load and velocity profiles per athlete

• Integrated Systems: Desire for interoperability with GPS, force plates, HRV, and athlete management systems (AMS)

• Remote Athlete Management: Post-COVID trend toward mobile systems for traveling teams and decentralized rehab

• Recruiting & Branding: NCAA and Olympic organizations use tech-forward facilities to attract elite talent