Club employ new "Fitbit" wristbands to track players sleep patterns and more!
Well this is a bit 1984 isn't it! The Swans have today announced (link) that a few months ago they teamed up with FitBit to trial the UK launch of the Flex-Wireless Wristband Activity Tracker. Choosing Ashley Williams as the photo model for the article was brave though given the current speculation about his future!
The wristbands will track sleep patterns, distance traveled and more, and synchronises with apps and computers at the Swans HQ. With nutrition and proper rest now key in the recovery of modern footballers after injuries, being able to monitor the players away from the training ground is, while a bit weird, definitely to the benefit of the club. Club physio Richard Buchanan agrees:
“The backroom staff are always looking for ways that can help us gain a small one per cent advantages over our rivals in the way we prepare and recover players for matches and training sessions, while also attempting to minimise the risk of preventable injuries.
“Utilising the Fitbit devices has allowed us and the players themselves to monitor activity levels away from the training ground, together with sleep length and quality which are all key factors relating to injury prevention and the mental and physical capability to perform at their peak.”
A quick look on the FitBit website shows that there all sorts of ways the system can be utilised by the wearer. There are leagues online where you can track your fitness level and more, and I can easily imagine super-competitive footballers wanting to be known to be working harder than their team-mates. I've heard stories of managers posting ProZone stats to the wall of the training ground, so players knew who'd run the furthest, as a way of bolstering competition and this could well be something in a similar vein.
There'll certainly be no way of blagging a late start though - with the wristband tracking sleep patterns anyone caught having a lie-in will soon be rumbled!