Nick Riewoldt is recognised as one of the most exciting players in the AFL. Read St Kilda football clubs news release on how minimax was used to aid in his rehab from a hamstring injury:

CATAPULT TECHNOLOGY ASSISTS SAINTS CAPTAIN’S REHABILITATION

The fundamental component of a successful return from injury is a well designed program. But within that program the ability to monitor and manage workload is just as important.

In the modern age of sports technology, finding tools that can assist in this process adds to the understanding of how a player is responding to that program.

Down at St Kilda Football Club during the rehabilitation of Nick Riewoldt’s hamstring injury Catapult Innovations, a sport technology company based in Melbourne, provided technology that enabled the conditioning staff at the Saints to closely monitor Nick’s running progression.

Catapult is well known for their GPS technology, and within this technology is the ability to track speed, distance, heart rate and workload in live time.

David Misson, St Kilda’s Elite Performance Manager, explained how Catapult’s technology was used during Riewoldt’s rehabilitation process; “The process involved Nick wearing a small GPS unit on his back, which signalled to a receiver stationed on the ground and connected to a computer. This enabled conditioning staff to closely monitor Nick’s running velocity during every phase of his rehabilitation process, ensuring that each step was not excessively loading the repaired hamstring.”

Misson further explained; “Once Nick had moved away from the initial running rehabilitation and into football specific rehabilitation, the Catapult wireless system remained by allowing traditional measures of distance, number and intensity of efforts to be tracked in live time. This ensured that any cumulative fatigue that may affect the integrity of the hamstring could be negated. This last point is also critical, not only from the injured hamstrings perspective, but also for managing the load of his remaining musculature.”

“Basically, Nick was completing another pre-season and we needed to make sure that his body as a whole responded well, not just the hamstring. The Catapult system was a key component of the success in returning Nick to competition standard, and we would like to thank the Catapult team for their support”, concluded Misson.

The Socceroos (national football team for Australia) were one of the first nations to qualify for South Africa 2010. This was their second world cup qualification in a row, and they did so without losing a match and conceding only 1 goal!

Managing fitness for a national team like Australia has a number of unique challenges. The players are based all over the world in difference time and weather zones and often have to fly 20-30 hours for matches or camps in Australia.

minimax has been a key tool for managing both this challenge, and the teams final preparations for the World Cup. Darren Burgess, Head of Sports Science for the Socceroos has years of experience using athlete tracking technology, having filled similar roles at Port Adelaide AFL Club during their successful 2007 season (where they were runners up to the eventual premiers Geelong), Sydney Swans AFL club and Parammata Power from the former National Soccer League.

The Catapult minmax system was recently featured in a story about the North Melbourne Football Club (AFL) on Nine News Melbourne, Friday 21st May 2010.