Developing Athlete Monitoring Systems in Team Sports: Data Analysis and Visualization

In professional team sports, the collection and analysis of athlete-monitoring data are common practice, with the aim of assessing fatigue and subsequent adaptation responses, examining performance potential, and minimizing the risk of injury and/or illness. Athlete-monitoring systems should be underpinned by appropriate data analysis and interpretation, to enable the rapid reporting of simple and scientifically valid feedback. Using the correct scientific and statistical approaches can improve the confidence of decisions made from athlete-monitoring data. However, little research has discussed and proposed an outline of the process involved in the planning, development, analysis, and interpretation of athlete-monitoring systems. This review discusses a range of methods often employed to analyze athlete-monitoring data to facilitate and inform decision-making processes. There is a wide range of analytical methods and tools that practitioners may employ in athlete-monitoring systems, as well as several factors that should be considered when collecting these data, methods of determining meaningful changes, and various data-visualization approaches. Underpinning a successful athlete-monitoring system is the ability of practitioners to communicate and present important information to coaches, ultimately resulting in enhanced athletic performance.