Automated Athlete Haptic Training System for Soccer Sprinting

Technology has been steadily making its way into sports for the enhancement of athletes training. One of the sports that can benefit from the use of technology in sport is soccer. An important part of training in soccer -as well as other sports-is sprinting, as it is a high intensity exercise that increases athletes' performance in ways that soccer-specific training routine does not address. It is a crucial part of soccer training because, among other important benefits, it increases the athlete's speed bursts abilities. Indeed, every soccer match will require players to perform many sprints and if the player has not participated in speed training, they will fatigue quickly. In this paper, we present a haptic automated sprint training system for soccer players. Our system can be personalized by a coach as recommended for each athlete, and the athletes can then use it independently to perform the training. The coach can use the system to monitor and analyze the athletes' performance. Preliminary tests and analysis of the proposed system show promising results.

1. Introduction

Sprinting is an established training technique used in many sports as an efficient method to improve athlete performance. It is used by athletes to build strength and power as well as speed. Unlike aerobic exercises like running, walking or swimming, sprinting is an anaerobic exercise which is a high-intensity, very short duration physical activity with a high demand for oxygen, and using energy from contracting muscles [1]. Indeed, the oxygen delivered by the inhaled air cannot keep up with the high oxygen demand given the intense nature of the anaerobic exercise. This means that in this case, the oxygen demand exceeds the oxygen supply. Hence, fuel from muscles is used to provide a rapid energy source, by breaking glycogen down into glucose and converting it into energy. This process results in a build-up of lactic acid in the muscles as a by-product and explains the quick exhaustion. Regular anaerobic exercise training like sprinting or pushups, increases the body's ability to tolerate lactic acid which increases the athlete's performance.