Brazil’s “Train and Play”: Heart rate monitors used for first time

Aug 16, 2018 Sports

Golden Jaguars indulging in a game of head tennis on the beach at their team hotel in Rio.

For the first time in the history of Guyana’s football, heart rate monitors were used for each player on the field during the National Senior Team’s “Train and Play” being held in Rio de Janiero, Brazil.
This was utilized during an internal match played at the team’s training base of Estadio Municipal Jose Maria De Brito Barros.
Head Coach Michael Johnson explains the purpose of the heart rate monitors: “They were little gadgets that went into the back of a special vest, which basically mirror all the footsteps of the players so we can start to work on the distance being covered by the player in the game. It also tells us the high intensity runs, how many sprints each player does so now we can start to see what they are actually doing.”
It was further explained that the instrument enables the team to marry certain positions in the game in terms of what distance a Defender or a Midfielder is expected to cover within the game:
“It doesn’t rule out decisions but it influences how we choose to do the next day’s training and also how we motivate players to be a lot fitter and stronger. So, it gives us a great tool to analyze a player’s performance; it gives us a great tool to see what the team is doing collectively over 90 minutes of game.”
Johnson noted that a lot was learnt about the players in the match that ended 1-1 as he recapped the day: “Things went really well on Tuesday; the first day on Monday was tough and intensive so was the morning when we had a game that allowed the staff to see what the players are all about and it was a really good game.”

Head Coach Michael Johnson and staff enjoying some head tennis on the beach.

During the afternoon, the players and staff were engaged in a session at the beach of Hotel Porto Real. “Some chose to go into the water whilst others played a bit of head tennis which was fun and engaging, so we got a lot out of it.”
Later in the evening the players were again involved in a classroom session which dealt with the psychological aspect of the game.
Meanwhile, two additional players, Canadian-based Defender Jelani Smith and Trinidad and
Tobago-based Sheldon Holder joined the camp.

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