Head of Hockey Harry Jones and Team Manager Simon Tyson

UoE Performance Hockey x STATSports

University of Exeter Men’s and Women’s Hockey squads have partnered with STATSports, the world’s leading company in GPS technology, as a performance supplier for the 2022-2023 season.

With both squads playing National League BUCS alongside weekend hockey in the England Hockey Men’s Premier League and Women’s Division One South, never has the performance hockey programme had such a demanding schedule. 

To help manage this and improve the level of performance support offered to performance hockey here at Exeter, both programmes will now have access to STATSports Apex GPS technology. 

The GPS units will be utilised for both home and away BUCS and weekend fixtures to gain a greater understanding of the physical demands of a performance hockey team. Athletes wear a specialist vest with the GPS unit inserted into a small pocket between their shoulder blades. The Apex GPS units can collect data live on over 100 metrics including distance, speed, intensity, accelerations, decelerations, collisions, and fatigue, assisting live decisions and changes on match days based on the data provided. 

Hear what Matthew Hamilton, Account Manager for STATSports had this to say about the recent partnership…

‘We are thrilled to welcome University of Exeter onto our growing list of universities utilising our APEX system.  

The University of Exeter will be one of the first Universities based in England to offer access to this level of technology for their training, domestic and BUCS matches. With the demands on student athletes growing, it is imperative that practitioners can see real-time data on how their players are performing and use that data to inform decisions. Working with an Elite University will bridge the gap, for players going from a university setting to a national setting where they use GPS systems daily. 

Our technology is as essential as shin guards and a stick in today’s game. Through our educational events, we’ll be able to provide coaches with new training techniques and equipment, that will help young aspiring hockey players reach the top of their game.

We are thrilled to support the University of Exeter as they continue their traditions of performing at the very top of the game, both in their domestic leagues and BUCS competitions.’ 

Matt Hamilton (STATSports Account Manager).

GPS support will be led by Tom Elliott (Lead Performance Analyst) and Kai Hill (Strength & Conditioning), with several Performance Sport Placement Students helping assist on match days and with post-match analysis. In the coming months, they also hope to be able to share the data collected with students for independent research projects and dissertation modules as part of the relationship with the BSc and MSc Sport & Health Science degree programmes we have here at the University of Exeter.

“Having access to STATSports GPS technology for us this season will be a game changer.

On a match day, we get live data to an iPad on the bench, which for a sport which allows rolling substitutes is vital. The data and live feedback will allow us to make informed and evidence-based adjustments or suggestions to maximise a player’s performance and for the management of their game minutes.

Also, due to the large volume and load the players go through in a season- playing twice a week- collecting that longitudinal data will allow us to help manage player loading better whilst also investigating the physical demands of particular positions in hockey.” 

Tom Elliott- (Lead Performance Analyst).

Date: 23 November 2022