HydroMassage and CryoLounge+: Enhancing and improving recovery

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The art of recovery has become an integral aspect for strength and conditioning coaches to manage, with clubs implementing different strategies when it comes to recovery sessions.

Whether that would include players completing a range of exercises or managing their workload after a long game, we have now seen technology such as HydroMassage and CryoLounge+ come into the fold to help athletes recover.

HydroMassage and CryoLounge+ are products of Tees Valley Innovation, a leading UK supplier of innovative fitness and wellness products and leisure consultancy.

They also work alongside WellnessSpace Brands to offer convenient, technology-based solutions for post-workout recovery.

HydroMassage is an innovative water massage lounge and bed for wellness and muscle recovery, utilising powerful waves of heated water massage to target specific body areas.

The personalised full-body heated massage has an interactive touchscreen that controls the speed and pressure of your massage, while also having the option to design your own massage.

Some of the benefits of HydroMassage include:

  • Temporary relief from minor pains and aches
  • Reduce stress and anxiety levels
  • Reduce muscle soreness, stiffness and tension
  • Increases circulation in local areas where massaged
  • Enhances feelings of well-being and deep relaxation

CryoLounge+ is an advanced recovery chair with complimentary cold and heat zones. The cold zones can lie between -1°C to -3°C which targets soreness or minor aches and pains. Whereas, the heat zones can be between 35°C to 46°C and can be applied in other areas of the body to provide a comfortable and safe experience.

This advanced technology to improve cold and heat treatment also has an interactive touchscreen that controls many features such as temperature, leg compression heat and cold to different parts of the body, and the auxiliary pad.

CryoLounge+ offers convenient and accessible treatments that can be customised to the athlete’s demands. They can select certain areas to ice while heat somewhere else on the body to reduce the discomfort often associated with targeted cold recovery.

These products have been used in places such as Leeds Beckett University for its students and community members who compete in sports or attend the gym and need a source of recovery. HydroMassage and CryoLounge+ can also be used at selected gyms and health and leisure centres that provide these products to their members.

Mark Dunstan, Interim Head of Sport and Active Lifestyles at Leeds Beckett University said about HydroMassage:

“We wanted to go a little bit beyond just putting another piece of fitness equipment,” he said on the Tess Valley Innovation YouTube channel.

“We wanted to broaden the service offers that we’ve got and when we came across HydroMassage, it just seems something that would really tick a massive box in terms of student health and well-being rather than just their physical health.

“It can also look after mental health by providing relaxation massages and it’s going to benefit students in many ways.”

For decades, various forms of massage such as cold and hot treatment have been mainly labour-intensive and can prove to be somewhat difficult to provide to certain athletes and clubs each day. However, with the introduction of HydroMassage and CryoLounge+, they both share similarities in their functions.

Both don’t need any specialist staff and it’s time-efficient only requiring 10-15 minutes of the athlete’s time. Therefore, a large number of athletes can access on-demand massages and cold or heat treatments whenever needed.

With the use of HydroMassage and CryoLounge+, sporting organisations and clubs can optimise the way they deal with recovery sessions. They won’t have to rely mainly on staff to deliver their massages and with these products, more athletes can potentially improve their game on the pitch with the right resources at their disposal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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How GPS technology is helping football keep players on the pitch

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Image Credits: USA Lacrosse

Football is becoming faster. The physical demands on players are rising. Fixture lists are getting busier. Travel adds another challenge. That makes player availability one of the biggest priorities in the modern game.

Technology is now helping clubs tackle that challenge. STATSports GPS gives coaches and performance staff a clearer picture of what players do on the pitch. It turns physical performance into data that clubs can use to make better decisions.

The company’s athlete monitoring system combines GPS tracking, wearable technology and performance software. It gives coaches and sports scientists detailed information about what players are doing on the pitch. More importantly, it helps turn that information into decisions.

A GPS Tracker Built For Football

At the heart of the system is the STATSports Apex 2.0 tracker.

The wearable sits in a performance vest and tracks player movement during training and matches. The latest Apex 2.0 uses dual-band technology and can deliver centimetre-level positional accuracy according to STATSports. It also processes more than 70 metrics in real time.

For a football club, that means far more than knowing how far a player has run. Staff can monitor sprint loads, high-speed running, accelerations, decelerations, maximum speed and intensity zones. They can also examine positional information and movement patterns. That gives the performance team a much clearer picture of the physical demands placed on every player.

Live Data Changes The Training Session

One of the biggest strengths of the STATSports system is its live capability. The Sonra Live iPad app allows staff to monitor players while a session is taking place. STATSports says teams can monitor up to 96 players on one iPad.

This can change how coaches manage training. Instead of waiting until the session finishes, staff can see whether players are reaching the required intensity. They can adjust drills. They can alter workloads. They can give an individual player more exposure to a particular physical demand. The data becomes part of the coaching process rather than simply a report produced afterwards.

A More Individual Approach

No two players are the same. A young academy player may need a different workload from an established first-team player. A player’s position can ultimately decide their required workload. A player returning from injury needs a carefully controlled progression.

STATSports helps clubs build those individual profiles. Coaches can set player-specific thresholds for measures such as sprint distance, high-speed running, maximum speed and acceleration. Live alerts can then highlight when those limits are reached. That allows staff to make decisions based on the individual rather than treating the entire squad in the same way.

From First Team To Grassroots

The technology is also becoming more accessible. STATSports offers Sonra for elite and professional teams, while Sonra Lite targets semi-professional and amateur clubs. The company says Sonra Lite provides key performance metrics and tracking tools in a more affordable and user-friendly package.

That matters for the wider football community. The benefits of performance data should not belong only to the biggest clubs. If smaller teams can access useful information about workload, speed and physical development, coaches can make more informed decisions too.

The real value of STATSports is not the number of metrics it can collect. It is what clubs can do with them, and when every training session, recovery day and match matters, that information can make a significant difference.

Global Institute of Sport hosts Masterclass on Athlete Management and Engagement

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Image Credit: Global Institute of Sport

The Global Institute of Sport (GIS) held an Industry Masterclass on Athlete Management and Engagement, featuring guest speakers Brad Lloyd and Stefani Chinn.

This is part of its broader course offering, which includes a Master’s in Sports Business and Sports Analytics through the University of Newcastle.

The Masterclass addressed four themes: the day-to-day operations of player management, the construction of authentic athlete brands, the role of agents, and the impact of data.

The Panellists

Brad Lloyd is the founder of Apogee Sports Advisory, which develops micro-credentials in sport, and previously served as General Manager of Football at Carlton Football Club and as a player agent.

Stefani Chinn is a sports marketing consultant specialising in ambassador program design and formerly served as Senior Vice President of Global Marketing and Communications at the World Surf League (WSL).

Player management: the daily operations

Lloyd outlined the complexities of player management, drawing on his experience as General Manager at Carlton, highlighting the role of “list management.”

This involves negotiating player contracts and managing the composition of the list, including age profile and positional spread, to align with the club’s broader requirements.

Player welfare also falls within this remit, with a high-performance manager tasked with ensuring athletes remain fit and available.

“It’s all about attraction and retention,” Lloyd explained.

He noted that communication with club shareholders is a constant part of the role, with “talking up and down” the organisation requiring a strong team.

“Getting people, you trust with their credentials in these roles is paramount,” Lloyd explained.

Building Authentic Brands

Chinn addressed the construction of athlete-focused marketing strategies, arguing for a shift away from organisation-centred approaches.

“What was needed to do from a fan, athlete and commercial perspective was lead with an athlete-first approach.”

For this Chinn emphasised the importance of understanding athletes beyond their on-field performance.

“Knowing the athlete first is such an important piece, there is so much to the athlete than just how they play,” she said, also cautioning against an overreliance on social media metrics: “What we say is fit over followers, followers is a metric, but not a central one.”

Role of Agents

Lloyd addressed the function of agents, noting that while contract negotiation is central, agents must first understand the player and assess whether an opportunity is a suitable fit.

“I find if you get the agent onboard quickly, they will work with you,” Lloyd said.

Chinn distinguished between agents and managers: “Practically, in sports less governed, there are less agents and more managers”,

“It’s important to get the manager onside… the management team is critical” Chinn highlighted.

She noted that within the WSL, relatively few athletes have formal management, making direct engagement with players important.

The Impact of Data

Lloyd underscored the value of organised, accessible data that allows analytics to support and verify observations made within the team and the club’s image.

Though, he did stress that data-focused staff need to communicate their analysis clearly into club strategy.

Chinn discussed the evolution of data use in marketing, noting it was once used in a limited capacity, described as “spots and dots,” to determine audience reach.

Its current application allows more targeted decisions, resulting in what she described as “incredibly informed decisions.”

Though not football-focused at its core, the Masterclass offered insights applicable across codes.

Football’s scale means the club and agent-based environment is ever-present.

As individual athlete identities grow more prominent within sport, lessons from individually driven codes, offer valuable insight for a growing market.

These findings from other codes can be adopted into football; to benefit the whole system, it would be restrictive to not take these into account.

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