Fins Take On The Tech World To Improve Their Game
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The Dolphins are taking training to a whole new level equipping every player with a "Catapult GPS " device that monitors each player and provides valuable information on conditioning.
It's something strength and conditioning Coach Darren Krein feels is just the beginning of football in the tech world.
The GPS gives them a more in-depth look at what the player is going through on the field.
Click here to WATCH CBS4's Kim Bokamper's report
"It's pretty detailed you can get a speed from under eight miles an hour from 8 to 12 to over 16. You know how fast they are going from right to left. It really tells you an abundant amount of information," said Krein. "It gives us probably too much information but we're storing the information. We're using all the information on a daily basis to try to help the players manage practice."
The device is about the size of a large pack of gum. It's mounted on the players' undershirts. Later, coaches are able to plug it into a laptop and read exactly how much players are exerting on the practice field.
"It gives a more quantitative explanation of how practice was," said player Cameron Wake.
"You see your load. You see how far you traveled in practice, the stress on your legs," said Ryan Tannehill.
It's something Tannehill said helped him on the field.
"One thing I did was increase my conditioning after practice just because we saw that I wasn't getting that much conditioning, much distance traveled as some of the other guys so we amped that up," said Tannehill.
The data used in the right hands can allow the staff to put conditions on players to get the peak performance out of them on game day.
"When we look at it, we look at the stress being put on each player during practice and there's guys that we have alerts on and guys that we look at and say....and we kind of say based on other practices and based on injuries in the past that there is sometimes we like to maybe pull them out of practice just to make sure that he doesn't get an injury," said Krein.
"It's really important for a bunch of the other guys, receivers, defensive backs who are running a lot further, running a lot faster consistently just to make sure we don't over stress their legs," said Tannehill.
CBS4's Kim Bokamper asked if it also helps those managing pin point those who may take a play off every now and then.
"Yeah but that's not really what we are trying to do. I think a lot of times that will show up more in the film. We're trying to use it in a proactive way. We're not trying to use it in a negative way. I think that is part of what we sell to the players," said Krein. "We are taking a step towards technology in a way that I think is going to continue to help us."
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