CITEworld recently featured the Seattle Sounders’ use of wearable tech, including Fatigue Science and the Readiband.
The Sounders have been using wearables to optimize training, minimize injury risks, and reduce recovery times. Their efforts seem to be working, as the number of days players were out for muscle-related injuries has been cut down by over half, from 498 days in 2012 to 214 days this season, states the article.
Dave Tenney, the Sounders’ sport science and performance manager, has vouched for sleep as a performance indicator, saying that the team’s “best players sleep nine to 10 hours a night.”
“Tenney creates graphs where he plots players’ sleep time along with their reaction time. In one graph that compared two players, there was a very clear correlation between reaction time and sleep, with reaction time dipping for the player who was working on less sleep. In fact, reaction time was slow for two days after one of the players was out one night particularly late.”
The Seattle Sounders lead Major League Soccer with 60 points, 64.5% point percentage, and have already clinched a playoff berth. With another successful season drawing to a close, it seems getting a proper night’s rest could be one of the soccer club’s secrets to success.
