In their English Premier League title-winning season, Leicester City had the least significant injuries with 12 and had 313 days being lost to injury in that season according to the Premier Injuries website, a site that keeps track of all injuries in the prestigious league. For the purposes of the said statistic, a significant injury is defined as one that kept a player out for 10 days or more.Among other things, The Foxes made use of technology to alleviate as many muscle injuries as they could with the help of technology and the end result was a magical season that saw them join the list of clubs that have won the Premier League.Back home, having such statistics is next to impossible, sometimes because a good number of top teams across different sports disciplines are reluctant to give that information, and partly because record-keeping for such is an eyesore still.Also, being able to prevent muscle injuries that are preventable is not a common thing because those involved can hardly tell when players are nearing the breaking point, or are in the breaking point by just looking at them.Perhaps, that could change and be a thing of the past if teams across different disciplines embrace technology as a way to enhance performance and help in a team’s planning, with one of the direct results being alleviation of muscle injuries that occur due to fatigue.Enter Catapult Sports.Often, the sight of players donning a black bra-like vest in top European leagues and different national teams with ‘catapult’ written on the vests is not something new. Maybe you might have noticed it with the Harambee Stars at some point or one or two clubs in the local league.Nick Kimathi, Catapult Sports’ representative in the country, explains that it is an Australian Company that specializes in wearable technology and performance analytics, operating at the intersection of sports science and analytics, and have their products designed to optimize performance and mitigate the risk of injury.Kieran Dannatt @kierandannatt of Catapult Sports speaking on the player GPS system being implicated throughout Africa @CAF_Online @BafanaBafana @Banyana_Banyana pic.twitter.com/mFWmZWFQ2X— SAFA.net (@SAFA_net) February 23, 2019 The devices track key metrics such as distance covered, speed, PlayerLoad, impacts, work ratio, and heart rate in real-time among others, enabling coaches to reach a more detailed understanding of team and player performance.“Catapult Sports is a company that focuses on high-performance options for players. We are trying to discuss with different teams in different leagues in the country and demonstrate to them how they can use this technology. We have already done so with Gor Mahia and Police. We are having two sessions with the teams to have data to compare the data and show them what they can use it for. Probably a coach will not remember how a certain player performed in training but I will be having the data to show the performance. The technology helps both the player and the technical bench to plan better. It does not help a player score goals. It gives a player something to aim for in training as it gives enough data on what to put more effort in, or what to relax on,” Kimathi explained.Catapult Sports seeks to venture into the Kenyan sports market with hopes of closing technological gaps that exist in the sport, specifically when it comes to football in the country.Confédération Africaine de Football signs exclusive Catapult Sports performance agreement https://t.co/T55AJM7z6M pic.twitter.com/EeH7jBEFQR— CAF (@CAF_Online) November 14, 2018 Despite CAF advancing the technology to its members following a partnership with the company in 2018, the national football team has made little to no use of it as compared to their compatriots in the rugby arena who have used the technology extensively, according to Kimathi.“In the country, one of the consistent clients of Catapult is Kenya Sevens. When you compare the performance of Kenya sevens and Harambee Stars you will notice a huge difference yet they were given the same technology by CAF when they qualified for AFCON in 2019 because that was the deal between Catapult and CAF in an attempt to help prepare players better,” the representative revealed. Angella Okutoyi – Tennis barrier breaker who rose from a children’s orphanage to the Grand SlamAccording to Kimathi, the data can come in handy not just in matches and during training sessions but also to showcase what a player can offer when they are moving to more lucrative leagues in Europe.“Catapult is a global company and probably the teams in Europe are using the same software. It is easy for those teams to believe the data represented to them through the software as opposed to being given a player’s goals tally for instance. The data will give the actual level of the player in terms of fitness,” he continued.Catapult system provides the physical performance team, sports scientists, and technical staff with an in-depth view on all the key metrics for players depending on how advanced the solution they are using is, thus giving the coaches a better understanding of how the players are performing.“We are coming with an analysis solution that gives the basic detail on how a player performed, their energy levels, their heart rate, and other basic things such as distance covered and where it was concentrated. With time we will introduce more advanced options but for now we have to start somewhere. If we are serious with this game we have to embrace data and sports science,” he addedThe company’s head of sales in Africa William Venter, while making reference to data collected during the demonstration to Gor Mahia in February 2022 opines that the technology aims at changing how coaches analyze teams during matches as well as in training.“From the data you could see that the player who stands above the rest of the group is Mathew (Goalkeeper Gad), and this is all from the data that we looked at after training. Catapult is here to change the way coaches analyse their teams during training and matches. You can actually see the amount of time and the percentage of that time that a player has spent in each third on the pitch. As a coach you can rectify the positioning as the game is going on. It also helps the player understand the coach because he can actually see the data analysis from his performance,” Venter said.Among the fresh pieces of innovations for the Malkia Strikers from the land of Samba have introduced is Catapult, a GPS performance tracking device that enhances coaches’ ability to assess player fitness and efficiency. #TeamKenyaOlympics— Jessica (@jessicah_jessy) July 16, 2021 Gor Mahia coach and former FKF Technical Director Andreas Spier terms the technology as a game-changer going by what has been witnessed across the world, adding that the record Kenyan champions should embrace that kind of technology.“This is sports science which is very important in modern football. Gor Mahia should pace itself with this progressive development because it gives a view of the players performance. For me I want to know how fast and how much they are running and their positioning on the pitch. We need it in our football,” Spiers said.During the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Kenya’s Malkia Strikers made use of the catapult GPS system in training for the first time ever, an idea that was welcomed by both the players and the coaches. Zachary Gathu: Three promotions and a graceful growth out of the gameThe technology might be with us, but are we prepared for the takeover? Do we have the specialists to crunch the analyses and get the best out of it? Much needs to be done, it is just the start!
