End of 2002
PSV and TNO Sport start a joint project to develop aids for coaches in order to:

• measure the performance of footballers during training
• measure the strain footballers experience during training
• more precise coaching of footballers during and after training

2003
The PSV coaching staff, in close collaboration with TNO Sport, make a selection of the performance aspects of the footballers that they wish to monitor. Tactics and heart activity are ultimately seen as the key aspects.

End of 2003
In order to measure information on tactical aspects, like positioning and speed of play, in real time, the position of the footballers on the pitch during training has to be determined very precisely. And to achieve this precision measurement (real-time and remote), TNO enters into a collaboration with the Austrian company Abatec.

2004-2005
A positioning system for football is developed and together with the viewing software extensively tested at PSV’s training complex (De Herdgang) with the club’s B and A youth squads as well as the emerging talent squad. The system shows that it works perfectly in ‘real football’ and is able to measure all the positions of the footballers very accurately (to 5cm and up to a distance of 500 metres), plus the speed, acceleration and distance between the players. This enables the coaches to check whether the players keep to the tactics.

In order to be able to measure heart activity real-time and remote, TNO engages the help of Philips whose electronics enable the heart rates of footballers to be measured remotely during training from a distance of some 25 metres. The upshot is better information on strain during particular training sessions.

2006
The systems for measuring heart activity and positions are coupled so that heart rates and tactical parameters can be monitored, on a PC for example, in real time, remotely and from a large distance. The coaches are also able to follow all this information on an electronic tablet as they stand by the touchline. By measuring immediately, the training can be more rapidly adjusted and feedback given to the players’, resulting in a more consequential ‘player monitoring system’.

PSV hopes that these aids will improve the performance curve of its footballers and that more of the youth squad will make the transition through to the senior team.

Future
The measurement system and software are expected to be commercially available for football clubs from June 2006 through the new company Inmotio B.V. (founded jointly by TNO and Abatec).

In addition to applications for football, TNO is working together with NOC*NSF (the Dutch Olympic Committee and Sports Federation) to make the system also suitable for sports like ice-skating and athletics > more