Netball Australia, Victoria University and the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) have joined forces to research the effects different training loads have on our elite netball players and gain a better understanding of the best training methods for athletes.

“This will be a three-year study to really understand the demands on our athletes, from our developing Diamonds to our current top athletes,” says Mary Toomey, Athlete Wellbeing Manager at Netball Australia.

A training load is influenced by volume and intensity, and precise understanding of the loads completed during training allows coaches and athletes to modify future programs.

With indoor sports unable to use GPS technology to monitor training loads — which is a popular approach among outdoor sports — the netball project will use inertial sensors and a radio frequency tracking system. Base stations are placed throughout training buildings to pick up signals coming from transponders that are worn by athletes.

The system has been co-developed by the AIS and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and is based on the ‘RF Tracking System’ the CSIRO uses to identify fire-fighters inside buildings.

Netball will be the first sport in Australia to use the groundbreaking technology.

It is expected that over time the accurate monitoring of training loads will help coaches enhance their understanding of the best training methods and lead to improved performances by athletes in competition.

For more information on the RF Tracking System click here.