Evaluation of Team-Sport Training Effort Control Systems

Abstract

This work studies different analytical systems to evaluate and control effort in team-sport training. They analyze real-time training data obtained by means of biometric belts and provide instructions to direct athletes' training. The decision techniques estimate the ratios of each effort regime, based on three different methodologies: (i) best-fit polynomial approximations, (ii) Kalman filters and (iii) sliding-window distribution estimation. The goal is to predict the future effort regimes and to provide suitable training orders to control that effort. The complete system results in a virtual coach, operating in real time and automatically. This methodology has been piloted in an experiment with the UCAM Volleyball Murcia team, top of the Spanish national women's volleyball league. Data obtained during training sessions have provided a knowledge base for the algorithms developed and allowed us to validate results. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014.