Revolutionizing Performance Sports: The Impact of Ledsreact on Testing Protocols

At Ledsreact we are passionate about technology and sports. That is where our journey began to transform how we test athletes' performance. Gone are the days of stopwatches and spreadsheets; welcome to a world where precision meets passion, and innovation fuels every step towards excellence.

Today, we are witnessing a rapid evolution in technology that is not only transforming our daily lives but also revolutionizing how we approach sports performance assessment. This technological progress offers coaches and performance specialists a wealth of new opportunities to gain insights and enhance player development in a totally different way than before. Yet, with these opportunities come the complexities of integrating and leveraging emerging technologies effectively in our daily training programs. That’s where we step in.?

Ledsreact was born out of a realization that traditional player assessment methods were falling short. For decades we relied on basic tools like stopwatches and manual data recording to assess player performance. These methods, although straightforward, present numerous challenges. The accuracy of manual timing can be questionable because the margin of error for stopwatch timing can range from ±0.1 to ±0.5 seconds (100 milliseconds to half a second) or more, depending on the skill of the operator and environmental factors.

Also the manual part of processing data player by player is time-consuming and often lacks depth in insights because it’s based on only time. In a fast-paced sports environment, these limitations can hinder the assessment of an athlete's performance and potential for improvement. This drove us to create Ledsreact, a solution aimed at bringing a new level? to player performance testing and evaluation.?

Why is Ledsreact changing the way we test performance of players???

Testing players just to store the data is a waste of time.

Let’s take the sprint test. In a lot of cases only time is collected during sprint testing. Because time does not bring an added value to optimize the performance of players, those data points are only used to compare the results over time and are in most cases stored on an Excel file. In our case, when using the Ledsreact Pro, we provide actionable insights on which different sprint characteristics can be created. For example, does? the speed of the player drop after X distance or is he/she able to hold his speed. These insights are key to optimize player’s sprint performance which cannot be done with only taking the time aspect into account. Therefore, it was key for us to provide coaches more actionable insights from all standardised tests on which they can build to improve athletes performance.?

Above: results from sprint testing The red coloured graph shows that the player who ran this test is not able to build up his speed in the first meters but also can't hold his speed. The black colored graph shows that the player who ran this test? is able to build up his speed in the first meters and can maintain his speed.?

Sport and position specific testing protocols?

Ledsreact goes beyond traditional testing methods, emphasizing sports-specific and position-specific assessments to meet coaches' unique requirements. With the Ledsreact Pro, custom tests can be created easily. Resulting that coaches now can tailor evaluations for goalkeepers, quarterbacks, or specific Return to Play (RTP) protocols based on unique player or position requirements. This feature revolutionizes the testing process, allowing to establish benchmarks for different positions or sports efficiently, saving valuable time.

Above: example of a custom build keeper test?

Due to the distinct movement patterns of goalkeepers compared to other team members, goalie coaches utilize the Ledsreact Pro to develop specialized tests. In this test the player needs to react to the colored indication provided by the Ledsreact Pro each time the player enters the starting position. This way coaches can assess his goalkeeper performance based on acceleration, deceleration, speed, times and split times.? These assessments yield crucial benchmarks for' Return to Play (RTP) protocols and scouting endeavours.

Save 75% of your time during standardised testing moments

Also, staff and teams face daily pressure to complete tasks within limited hours, making them selective about adopting new technologies. Ledsreact Pro addresses this challenge by being developed in collaboration with coaches across various levels to meet their specific needs. It is portable, easy to set up, and offers valuable data that enhances the performance coaching process. The Ledsreact Pro allows coaches to efficiently test multiple players in minutes, saving them 75% of their time. This gives coaches the opportunity of using the Ledsreact Pro during warm-up sessions which provides them more accurate benchmarks over time. On the other hand player’s do not love being tested but with the winner signals they do not have the feeling of being tested. Win-win, for players it is fun to know who is the winner when sprinting in multiplayer mode and for the coach it is all about collecting data for accurate benchmarking.

Optimising the RTP process to prevent re-injury

A suitable rehabilitation program is necessary to avoid re-injury, as has been proven during research. The results are quite impressive as there were 90 injured players (132 injuries) in the intervention group, of which 10 (11%) suffered 14 reinjuries during the season. In the control group, 23 of 79 injured players (29%) had 40 recurrences (134 injuries) [2]. A proper rehabilitation program thus becomes imperative and should be paid more attention to. That is why we provide coaches with additional benchmarks during the 4th and 5th RTP phase via sports specific movement tests. During the 4th and 5th phase it is important to add closed and open skills during rehab sessions. Closed drills are vital for the recovery process. These are drills that are very easy to execute and don’t have a reactive element. By not including a reactive element, the athlete knows exactly what to do and there are no sudden movements, thus decreasing the risk of reinjury. Open drills are drills with an unpredictable element, where you have to react to external stimuli which are triggering the sensorimotor system. This is the point where coaches and staff see most setbacks or delays in the Return to Play process, reason being, while the athletes are prepared for the physical demands of their sport, they are not ready for the perceptual-cognitive demands. These last demands are typically difficult to train in an individual setting, except that now, thanks to the Ledsreact Pro, these constraints can be provided.

Above: example of a specific RTP test (Y-test) which can be used during the 4 and 5th RTP phase This is a test which is used to define if the player is ready to get back to the competition in a way that was not possible before. Built from an open skill set on which the player will not know towards which direction he must run. This is a more realistic reflection on what is happening on the field and a great added value during the latest phase of the RTP protocol. These tests can be performed with or without a ball.

Results of the Y-test

Above: the red coloured graph indicates benchmarks during healthy period. The black coloured graph indicates the results from testing during the latest phases of the RTP. The results indicates that the player is not ready for competition.

Conclusion

Technology is advancing rapidly, with new products showcasing great promise introduced to the market every other year. Examples include GPS vests utilized during training and games, smart balls offering insights on the power of your shots, and interactive systems designed to enhance agility training. However, the abundance of available technology often leads to information overload, prompting the question: "What should be done with all these systems?" Every technology should streamline processes and improve efficiency. With Ledsreact, its user-friendly interface simplifies data collection, enabling the acquisition of more relevant benchmark data aligned with sports-specific movement patterns on a weekly or monthly basis. These data points are crucial to benchmark performance and for defining the Return to Play (RTP) moments of players.

And now you!

Elevate your athlete performance testing and refine your RTP protocol with our expertise. Reach out to schedule a call or demo and discover how our solutions can benefit your team.

Koen Vercauteren | Founder Ledsreact | [email protected] | www.ledsreact.com | +32 474 677 398