1 Personal Informatics (PI) are information systems that allow people to process activities with the usage of information technology, aiming to produce informational products (data) either for themselves or for others. Technologies that enable PI are becoming increasingly popular, assisting people in collecting personally relevant information about their body and their behaviour. In sports industry nowadays, a great variety of PI wearable tools offer support to athletes and training staff to improve their performance. An example of such tool is the Electronic Performance and Tracking Systems (EPTS), which is a combination of hardware and software that facilitates the collection, storage, analysis and management of professional athletes' fitness and health data. Although significant and broadly used, EPTS have not yet received much attention from researchers and, thus, understudied. Therefore, the purpose of this research paper is to explore and understand how professional football athletes and training staff make sense of the use of electronic performance and tracking systems (EPTS) in their everyday training and work. The paper explores perceptions, benefits and challenges that professional football athletes and training staff experience when using EPTS. For this, an interpretive qualitative focused ethnographic study was conducted. The data were collected through direct observations in the field and semi-structured interviews from purposively selected Greek professional football athletes and Greek training staff that use wearable EPTS in their everyday training and work. The collected data were analysed thematically to conclude to five themes, which represent the research findings. A theoretical framework, which is built upon relevant literature from the informatics field along with the theory of sensemaking was used to understand, interpret and discuss the research findings. The research findings show that EPTS have radically changed the football daily routines for both professional football athletes and training staff members enabling them, and their football clubs, to improve individual and team performance. The use of EPTS has reshaped football athletes and training staff members' identities, making them more data driven and more accurate. EPTS build trust between professional football athletes and training staff offering them the evidence they need to justify decisions, instructions, and actions taken respectively. Visualization tools for presenting insights need to be further improved with the addition of infield monitors and 3D presentations. Furthermore, it is important for training staff members to have ethical and consistent strategy on how EPTS data are derived, used and communicated. Through daily evaluation of their work, football players and training staff members are constantly improving their work identifying exemplary patterns of training and avoiding mistakes to be repeated, and in this way improve individual and team performance. The football athletes and the training staff members through communication among them, facilitated by visualization tools, are concerned with making situations, which have been collected in the form of data by the EPTS, meaningful to them. Making sense is a collaborative cognitive and ongoing process where individual football players and training staff members try to give meaning to collective experiences retrospectively. The data that are extracted from
the EPTS help them in this process as they have the chance to examine them together, reflect on them, discuss them, make sense of them, share these meanings, and finally decide how to act based on them. To do this they raise past, tacit and private knowledge to make it explicit, public, ordered and simpler. In this way, the football athletes and the training staff members turn circumstances into well understood situations, which empower them to use their understanding to build more impactful experiences to improve their future performance. Thus, the research contributes to the existing knowledge on personal informatics and adjusts them to elite team sport context. It also adds to the theory of sensemaking regarding how users make sense of PI tools that are related with their everyday routines at work. In addition, it contributes to football athletes, sport training staff members, and other interested stakeholders by suggesting a model for efficient use of EPTS technology into the everyday football practices and a model of sustainable use aiming to the overall improvement of team performance. Keywords Personal Informatics, Wearables, Electronic Performance and Tracking Systems, Football, Sensemaking Theory, Focused Ethnography
Technology has transformed our lives shaping the activities we engage in, from the way we work
and interact with our environment to the way we find pleasure [
In sports industry, a great variety of PI wearable tools set out to offer support to athletes and improve
performance. Football is a sport that has embraced technologies that enable PI since 2015 when the
Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) approved the use of wearables in football
matches. Football as a sport encompasses kinematic, physiological, neuromuscular and tactical
variables [22] that are determinants of training optimization and match performance improvement [
In the sports science field mainly quantitative research on performance enhancing under the use of
EPTS have been conducted. Rossi et al. [23] addressed the efficacy of EPTS in injury forecasting in
football providing a set of practical rules for evaluating and interpreting performance data in relation to
injury risk. Rico-Gonzalez et al. [23] examined the accuracy and reliability of the local positioning
measurement systems (LPS or LPMS) and global positioning systems (GPS), both components of
EPTS, and proved that they are accurate and valid in determining the player position and estimating
distance and speed. Souza et al. [26] tackled the association of match running performance from EPTS
with football performance. Gamble, Chia and Allen [
Therefore, the purpose of this research paper is to explore and understand how professional football athletes and training staff make sense of the use of electronic performance and tracking systems (EPTS) in their everyday training and work. That is, the paper explores perceptions, benefits and challenges that professional football athletes and training staff experience when using EPTS. To achieve the aim of the research, the following research question is formulated: How do professional football athletes and training staff make sense of the use of electronic performance and tracking systems (EPTS) in their everyday training and work?
To address the aforementioned aim and research question, an ethnographic study was conducted among professional football athletes and training staff of elite football teams of the first category in Greece. The study generated findings interesting for the informatics and sports science research fields.
The rest of the paper is structured as follows. Following this introduction, the paper continues with section two, a brief literature review and the theory used in the research. Section three describes the methodological choices followed for the research. The findings are presented in section four followed by a discussion in section five. The paper concludes with section six which presents the conclusions of this research study.
Personal Informatics (PI) systems imply the engagement in self-tracking of any form of biological,
behavioural or environmental information of individuals with the objective to develop self-sensing,
self-awareness and individual performance. PI users obtain data-driven self-insights which can be used
to improve behaviour patterns and actions. The use of PI systems is presented as a process consisting
of five stages: preparation, collection, integration, reflection and action [
One of the most common examples of PI tools is wearables, which are computing devices that are
worn in the body and can track personal parameters and biomechanics via sensors and are applicable to
industries such as sports and healthcare. Wearable devices such as activity trackers have built-in sensors
and, through connectivity (Bluetooth, internet connection), exchange data with a software that is
installed in a connected device, without requiring human intervention. Those data can be used either by
the user or by their medical doctor (healthcare applications) or by their trainer (fitness applications). PI
wearable tools are related to self-monitoring of an individual’s or a team’s actions, behaviour, and other
parameters. Monitored behaviours must be compared to some norm or target, and then the deviations
from those norms and targets are subsequently renovated [
In sports domain, self-monitoring has been described as an activity that improves the athletes’
performance [
Electronic Performance and Tracking Systems (EPTS) are used nowadays in football to monitor and
improve the performance of players and team. EPTS mainly track player positions, but they can also be
used in combination with microelectromechanical devices, heart-rate monitors and other devices to
measure load or physiological performance [
LPS and GPS, which are also adopted in football training since 2015, can also be used at football matches. LPS and GPS are both based on radio-frequency technology and the wearable dimension of these systems requires from the football player to wear a device normally mounted on player’s upper back containing additional sensors. On the one hand, LPS wearable emits signal to local receivers that are placed in specific pattern around the field. On the other hand, GPS devices are passive receivers of signals from overhead satellites [22]. Consequently, GPS cannot be used in indoor football stadiums and indoor training facilities. All three components of EPTS - VID, LPS, and GPS - are sending data to a central chip (a reception antenna with wireless technology). The data are stored on a central computer and are available for editing, interpretation, and visualization through multiple devices such as tablets and mobile phones.
Data obtained from EPTS can be separated in four different categories of variables. That is,
physiological, kinematic, neuromuscular, and tactical [
These data are important for both training staff and football players. Physiological variables are vital
for training staff to individualize football player’s training, and for the players to evaluate their own
condition and health status [23]. Kinematic and neuromuscular variables are also helpful for football
players and the training staff to identify players’ weaknesses and work accordingly targeting to improve
those variables. Football coaches are benefited from tactical variables assessing the overall tactical
position of the football team and recognizing which player should improve his tactical behaviour and
in what way [
Sensemaking is related to the human being as an actor and is concerned with making things, that have already happened, meaningful to human actors [29]. It is the cognitive process of people making retrospective sense of the situations, in which they find themselves and, therefore, give meaning to their collective experiences and form reality. Thus, it is a collaborative process of creating shared meanings and understanding out of different individuals' perspectives and varied interests. In that sense, the theory of sensemaking can be used to understand how professional football athletes and training staff make retrospective sense out of situations through their collective experiences, and how they create shared meanings and advanced understanding of their everyday training and work using EPTS.
Weick [29] brought together the seven properties of sensemaking - identified in his earlier work in 1979 - to create a robust explanation of how organizational actors create order from the abundance of experiences and interactions encountered every day. The seven properties of sensemaking, constitute, firstly, identity. The organizational actors’ understanding of themselves (identity) shapes what they enact and how they interpret events, which also affects what outsiders think of them (image) and how outsiders treat them, which stabilizes or destabilizes organizational actors’ identity [29]. Identity is one of the two basic properties - the second is plausibility described later in the text - that differentiate sensemaking from basic cognitive psychology. Secondly, retrospection provides the opportunity for sensemaking because it influences what organizational actors notice and, hence, attention and interruptions to that attention are related to the process of sensemaking [29]. Thirdly, organizational actors express enactment within their environments through dialogues and narratives [29]. Through narrative accounts, organizational actors understand what they think, organize their experiences, control and predict events [29]. Fourthly, sensemaking is a social activity, meaning that plausible stories are retained, preserved and/or shared [29]. The social norms that shaped organizational actors, as well as the people who are currently interacting, influence their interpretation of the world. The social activity includes both the speakers themselves and the narratives [29]. Fifthly, sensemaking is ongoing in that individual organizational actors simultaneously react and shape their environments. Organizational actors project themselves onto the organizational environment, observe the consequences and, consequently, learn about their identities and the accuracy of their accounts of the world [29]. Sixthly, organizational actors extract cues from the context that support their decisions about what information is relevant and what explanations are acceptable [29]. The extracted cues are practically simple, offering familiar structures that provide points of reference to organizational actors for linking ideas to broader networks of meaning [29]. Finally, organizational actors favor plausibility over accuracy in accounts of events and contexts [30]. That is, sensemaking is more a matter of plausibility and sufficiency than accuracy and completeness [29]. Organizational actors’ cognitive and perceptual resources make it impossible to fully know or understand. Hence, the sensemaking process is limited to what works for organizational actors in a specific context in order to take action [29]. Plausibility, as said earlier, is the second basic property - with identity being the first - that differentiate sensemaking from basic cognitive psychology.
The aforementioned seven properties interact and intertwine as individual organizational actors
interpret events. When trying to interpret events (to make sense out of events), organizational actors
create frames, which are relatively large and lasting. They also create or extract cues; a cue is smaller
and tentative and makes connections. Weick [29] mentions only one connecting device, the narrative.
Organizational actors’ interpretations become evident through narratives, written and/or spoken, which
convey the sense that they have made of events, as well as through visual representations and associated
material practices [
Sensemaking theory has received some criticism from scholars. One of the most common critiques is that it focuses on the study of retrospective sensemaking and neglects the prospective one [24]. The notion of prospective sensemaking though is not completely denied. Instead, the theory implies that future-oriented sensemaking derives from retrospective sensemaking. This is a view that we also adopt as organisational actors tend to create and project images of future situations in their subjective meanings and interpretations. Following this, another critique is that sensemaking theory is too focused on subjectivism [24]. The counterargument is that organisational actors cannot enact their own wishes to their context as the context has certain properties that cannot be enacted. It is the concept of enactment itself that allows organizational actors to understand what they think, organize their experiences, control and predict events. Thus, we are aware of sensemaking theory limitations; however, by providing a holistic account of the situation and organisational actors’ meanings, and constantly reflecting of own interpretations we try to overcome the criticism.
The literature review formed the theoretical basis of this paper by presenting the main concepts of personal informatics (PI), wearables and EPTS, and how these are used in sports and, particularly in football. The literature review along with the theory of sensemaking [29] helped us understand, analyse and discuss the research findings, but also acted as a driving force in the overall planning of the data collection. Additionally, the theory of sensemaking acted as an inspiration in the formulation of the interview guide.
For this research, the qualitative approach was chosen because, according to Myers and Avison [
We adopted ethnography as it is the most appropriate methodology for collecting data in real settings
in which EPTS are to be used [
The technique for selecting participants was purposive [
The ethnographic approach entailed two methods of collecting data: direct observations and individual semi-structured interviews.
During direct observation, the researcher visits the participants, observes them as they work, and
takes notes [
The same participants were present both in observations and interviews. Interviews are a type of
conversation that is used to identify individuals’ interpretations and the meanings they assign to their
realities [
The collected data from the observations and interviews were brought together and were analysed
thematically. This method of data analysis was selected to avoid focusing on pre-formed categories that
may risk the interpretation of the data. Thematic analysis is a coding process, which unfolds in six (6)
steps [
Five concepts (themes) emerged from the analysis of the collected data: 1. The Use of EPTS in Football 2. Reshape Existing Identities and Form New Ones 3. Make Sense through Communication 4. Build Trust through Evidence and Evaluation 5. Challenges 4.1.
The analysis of the data collected from the interviews and the observations showed that the use of EPTS had significant impact on the way a training session is organized. Participant 6 said “EPTS helps you organizing a more effective training for today, for tomorrow and even for the next season”. EPTS were observed to facilitate the process of every football player to be trained based on their needs. As participants said, football training must be personalized. Participant 1 highlighted that with the use of technology (EPTS) you can work more specifically on the weaknesses of an athlete. In addition, the analysis made on opponent’s previous games, which is based on the provided information by the EPTS, affects the organizing of the weekly training sessions. Participant 6 explained “We adapt our training to each opponent’s tactical plans and according to the characteristics of opponent’s players. If our defender will have to face a strong and/or a slow opponent attacker, we must prepare him for that during the week”. Participant 7 said that the decision of the coach is very much influenced by how the team behaved in the previous match and added “You see the formation. What did not go well? The cooperation between players in our formation did not go well. VID help us identify those problems.” So, the training becomes also more opponent-oriented.
EPTS have tackled the problem of training evaluation. An example was described by Participant 2 “We had a disagreement with another member of the staff. I insisted that a specific drill (football exercise) is very exhausting for the players, while he insisted that it is a drill of low pace. With the help of the data that we collected from the GPS, I was able to justify my opinion and we finally classified that drill as a demanding one.” Participant 2 also added that after each training, the meeting for the analysis of the data from the GPS starts and the staff members focus on the players’ training by watching it. He continued by explaining that specific targets for the training have been set in terms of kilometers per player, heart rate, training loads, and staff members want to confirm whether players trained according to the set targets. Participant 7 highlighted “All workouts should be recorded. The targets of every workout should be clear. We analyse the workouts in comparison to the targets that have been set”. Evaluation of the training leads to a classification of every different drill in categories. Participant 7 pointed out “We have the evaluation of the training. We make a library of exemplary training sessions, drills etc. That will help us in the future. We need that archive in order to present the drill to a new player or a new member of the training staff. It is also useful for us in the process of organizing the training of the week or the month”. The long-term goal of the training staff is to be able to create own coaching methodology and coaching style, as Participant 8 said. Through the evaluation process, the training staff members add value to their coaching methodology and style. The use of EPTS has enhanced football, both for the professional football athletes and the training staff, as it allows the analysis of the collected data. The data collected from the EPTS provide information to the training staff and athletes, which is used to organize the training sessions based on individual players’ needs and, at the same time, the overall needs of the team.
The football player identity has been reshaped by developing new characteristics like discipline, professionality, self-control and the will to learn about their bodies and the measurements. Football players have become more disciplined according to participants. Participant 1 said “I can’t hide and do not try as much as I should, I can’t ‘steal’ kilometers...I must be disciplined, give 100%. That keeps me constantly at high level”. Also, Participant 4, when asked about what comes to his mind when thinking about EPTS’ use, he replied “more discipline”. Football players have also become more educated and, therefore, more demanding regarding their health-related information. Participant 7 said that players nowadays have access to a lot of information available on Internet, YouTube etc., and they want to know their results from VID in order to compare themselves to players they look up to or players of the same tactical position. As Participant 2 said “The players’ attitude towards the measurements has been changed, they ask for their data, they want to check if numbers are improved, even if they do not know much about the different variables”. Some players through their experience in the field have also developed the skill to evaluate their data. “I now have the experience; I know how to evaluate my measurements” said Participant 5. EPTS give the professional football players the opportunity to compete with themselves, retain high standards in their performance, and significantly influence the way they work out. Participant 5 said “When you see for example that in the last match you run 11 kilometers, you are motivated to run the same kilometers or even more in the next matches; you want to have a steady high performance”.
From the analysis of the collected data, a new identity in regard to the training staff members emerged, the video analyst. Participant 7 said that the specialized knowledge and expertise of the analyst supports the coaching process and the training evaluation. Participant 7 continued “I always felt that we do not give the right information to our players. We used to talk in general and we needed to be more precise regarding our instructions to players. Supported by EPTS and the interpretation of the data provided by the analyst, we have the proofs that we want”. Participant 2 added “…coaches receive so much information. They do not want to bother much about GPS measurements. The coach waits for the analyst to inform him about the results. So, the analyst’s presentation must be clear and understandable”.
The training staff, because of the use of EPTS, undertake new responsibilities, which change the way they carry out their daily training routines. New responsibilities like EPTS charging and maintenance have occurred. Participant 3 said “I take care of the GPS system which means that it needs charging, some set ups are needed, I prepare the system so that I can give everyone the specified GPS”. The coach of the team, as observed, is the decision maker and the staff leader. Participant 1 said “The coach will judge you according to the numbers. If he doesn’t consider numbers, the team’s bad results will be ignored. There are coaches who take them (meaning the numbers) less into account”. Participant 4 added that his coach supports that if a player does not run, he does not play. Participant 2 noted that some coaches are still afraid of technology. While Participant 7 said that he had spoken with a coach who told him that football analysis has changed him as a coach and, not only that, but it has changed the way he coaches and also has changed the whole coaching process. The aforementioned illustrate the different identities that exist among football players and training staff and how these have been reshaped by the use of EPTS in their everyday training and work. 4.3.
Communication is triggered by EPTS use and, at the same time, communication is a driving force for the successful use of EPTS. Participant 2 equated EPTS value with the value of personal communication between the players and the staff. The football team’s meetings are the place where the EPTS use is discussed and evaluated and, therefore, meetings are increased because of the use of EPTS. As observed, pre-training communication with the football players is very important for the assessment of their current physical and mental condition. During these meetings, the training staff discusses with the football players if they feel any pain or if they experience any personal problems that may affect their performance. As Participant 1 pointed out “The player is a human being, not a robot. He may have a bad day, or he may experience a problem. Maybe he has some family issues...”. Participant 2 said that “You can often misunderstand the data produced by EPTS. Two things are important so that you avoid mistakes. One is personal experience and the other and very significant is communication with the player”. Communication among the players and training staff allows them to understand the provided by the EPTS information and make better use of it for the benefit of the team.
Video and visualization tools were observed to facilitate the communication among football players and training staff. The video analysts analyse the data provided by the EPTS and show it to the football team members with the support of visualization tools. In this way, on one hand, football players can watch a match and retrospectively identify their mistakes during that match. On the other hand, coaches can watch a match and retrospectively analyse it along with football players in order to improve performance. Participant 4 provided an example “I saw in the video from the match that I was not in the right position when the ball was on the left line. In the next match one week later, I was in the right position and scored a goal”. Participant 6 said “Apparently, players do not fully understand by just getting instructions. Videos are needed to help them identify, understand and improve specific details. Sometimes we prepare for them a video of exemplary reactions from elite players that play in the same tactical position”. One of the benefits of videos, as Participant 6 said, is that video enables repetition and facilitates the communication and cooperation among the members of the football team. Participant 7 said “A player reached a velocity of 36 Km/h during the game. The trainer wanted to know when that happened. We matched the timeline of the GPS system with the timeline of the VID system, and we detected how the player managed to reach such velocity”.
A need for improved visualization tools was observed during the discussion with the participants. Participant 2 said “…the software of visualization tools should be improved. That is where companies should pay attention. To be honest, most of the coaches do not want to see numbers! They prefer an easy well-prepared graph that illustrates a lot of collected information”. Participant 3 pointed out the need for a monitor in the training ground so that the analysts and the rest of the training staff can easily demonstrate to the players mistakes happening during trainings “I feel that it would be important to have a monitor available on the field. Live analysis of the training, accurate corrections by the staff with the use of video”. Participants 7 and 6 shared the same opinion.
Concluding, the use of video was observed to significantly facilitate the analysis of the opponent. The video analysis also helped in identifying and understanding own mistakes when it comes to football players, however, improved visualization tools are suggested by the players and the training staff. 4.4.
Trust emerged from the analysis of the collected data as a significant factor that affects the relationships among football players and training staff. “To get a 100% from a player, you must gain his trust” said Participant 2. In addition, mutual trust has been developed among the members of the football team (players, training staff, and coach-manager). Participant 3 said that “We trust the data from the GPS and the coach trusts our analysis, he trusts our evidence”. There was a lot of doubt and ambiguity in the way training staff used to organize and perform the training process. Although some players had always trust in their trainers, in our research it was observed that most of them did not. The use of EPTS provided evidence for the training staff members to support and justify their training suggested plans. The provided evidence through the use of EPTS helped in building relationships of trust among the members of the football team. Participant 4 said that “EPTS has helped trainers to explain their work and I believe that most football players now appreciate the work of the trainers”. Participant 7 said that a player’s mistake can be presented with the help of the video, if what you say is correct, you automatically gain the trust of the player, and the player develops confidence on the training process.
Evidence reinforces trust. Participant 7 said that by showing evidence to the fellow colleagues and players, and by sharing this knowledge with them, helps everyone to evolve. It creates relationships of trust and a prosperous ground for work. Let us not forget that football is a team sport and teamwork, and team spirit are necessary. Participant 7 added that technology, in that sense, brings closer training staff members and football players. Participant 3 added “…Why do you say this, why do we have to do this, why do we have to get trained in this pace? Now we are able to explain to the players based on evidence why they have to do something.” Participants 7 described that he is usually on the stands with his computer. If he observes something worthy, he tags the time slot from the video, crops it, and sends it live to the other members of the staff at the bench with comments attached. He shares an image of what is happening real-time.
Besides evidence, trust is reinforced through evaluation of the training process and of the football player’s physical condition. Participant 3 said that now training staff works more focused and targeted to an aim, they know what they are doing and where they are heading. Participant 5 said that “no one can tell you that you did not try, your effort is depicted in numbers”. Participant 2 said “Daily evaluation of players and staff have increased the level of trust among the team”. In addition, players’ said that now with the use of EPTS and the ongoing evaluation of their physical condition, and of the followed training process, trust is achieved, which leads to fairness. 4.5.
Some participants discussed the different approaches that training staff has regarding the use of EPTS and underlined the significance of staff’s perceptive ability. They indicated that data alone cannot be translated without human talent. For example, some coaches rely mainly on data provided by the EPTS, while some others are still ‘afraid’ to use technology to a wide extent. Participant 4 described an incident when a coach complained about him that he did not run as much as he could and should and that he did not train as much as he should. For this reason, the coach decided to not include him in the first five matches of the season. When Participant 4 checked his results from the EPTS, he realized that they were the same with the average of other players. He discussed it with the coach to show him that he deserved to be included in the upcoming matches. We also observed that the coach of the participant decided to exclude him from the first eleven because of own perception. While Participant 3 said that there is a risk of focusing only on seeing numbers, which he believes is a big problem, seeing only numbers and not being able to use own talent. Participant 3 added that “The human eye is always necessary; the human talent of the coach is necessary. The best assessment of the current condition of the player is the one we do. Because the system sees only numbers. With the questionnaires and the communication with the players we exploit better the data we collect”. Participant 3 stressed the significance of reading behind the data. He indicated that training staff must not be trapped into the numbers. That comment implies the need for accurate analysis of the data by the training staff in order to facilitate the preparation of the match. It also implies the significance of the perceptive ability of the training staff. Perceptive ability is the key for accurate analysis of the data provided by EPTS.
Participants suggested that it is important to be careful with the analysis and presentation of data provided by the EPTS regarding the football players’ performance. EPTS allow the identification of individual performance. However, although football is a team sport, when it comes to discussing individual mistakes made by the football players during a match, caution should be taken. Participant 6 noted that training staff members must be very careful when they have a video that contains 8-9 mistakes from the same player. It is better to show and discuss the player’s mistakes in private. He suggested to not show them in front of the whole club. Participant 3 added that he always informs the players in private. Participant 1 said that “We usually ask each other how our numbers were? How many kilometers you run today? You compare your numbers with the others’, and this sometimes creates rivalry”. On the other hand, Participant 5 said that he does not believe that there is a question of unfair competition or that they are moaning with each other about anything. He believes that EPTS have created a climate of healthy competition and that is another motivation for the player. Therefore, caution should be taken to use the data provided by the EPTS in a way so that rivalries among the football team members are not caused.
The research findings show that football athletes and training staff members have their own knowledge background on EPTS and their own experience on using EPTS. The participants were observed to make sense of EPTS differently, and, thus, exhibit various behaviours and attitudes towards the use of EPTS, ranging from non-technology enthusiasts to technology enthusiasts. Their different stance towards technology was depicted in the way each of them uses EPTS and through the benefits and/or challenges they experience from that use. That is, depending on the participants’ enthusiasm towards technology, some perceive the same situations in regard to the use of EPTS as benefits, while others perceive them as challenges. This is also related to the obligatory use of the EPTS since, if you sign and work for a football club that uses EPTS, you are obliged to use it, which is the case in the elite football teams.
No matter individuals’ attitudes towards technology, the research findings show that the use of EPTS
enhances football, both for the professional football athletes and the training staff, as it allows them the
analysis of the data collected from the EPTS parts (VID, LPS, GPS), which provides useful information
that is used with the aim to improve the team’s performance. That is, the football athletes and the
training staff members through communication among them are concerned with making situations,
which have been collected in the form of data by the EPTS, meaningful to them in order to use them
latter in improving the team’s performance. Findings no3 and no4 showed that the research participants
perceive and understand EPTS as a communication enabler. James, Wallace and Deane [
Football players use EPTS aiming to develop and maintain high standards of performance and to
compete with one’s own self. The football players also acknowledge a sense of security because they
feel they can improve, based on the information from the EPTS on monitoring and reporting their
performance, which extends Kirschenbaum et al. [
While data provided by the EPTS offers the training staff members the evidence they need to
organize training sessions in such a way in order to improve individual football players’ and the team’s
performance, as shown in finding no1 and similarly with Wakefield, Neustaedter and Hillman [28]. The
training staff members’ work has changed as now they are able to control and analyse quickly vast
amounts of information, which was previously addressed as problem by Saw, Main and Gastin [25].
This leads to the continuous assessment of the training, which, consequently, leads to improved training
methodology. The accurate analysis of the EPTS data also adds to the perceptive ability of the training
staff members, as shown in the finding no5, and allows them to organize effective training sessions.
However, it is not only the quantification of data that matters, as said by Pettersen et al. [
The use of the advanced technology of EPTS [
Football players, who showed enthusiasm for EPTS, have developed the ability to observe, make
sense, and analyse their personal data. When it comes to training staff members, the findings show that
they have positive inclination towards the use of EPTS, as, benefited by the information they get from
EPTS, they achieve a more specialized and personalized on individual players outcome of their work,
strengthening in this way the football athlete-trainer relationship, also found by Michahelles and Schiele
[
Coming back to the communication among football players and training staff members in order to
make sense of situations, the findings show that through this collaborative process, which is supported
by EPTS, they give meaning to their collective experiences. Continuing, they share these meanings and
form new plans of action. To share understanding, though, the football players and training staff
members need to raise knowledge out of the past, tacit, private, random and complex, in line with Rapp
and Tirabeni’s [
More specifically, the findings show that the football athletes and the training staff members have
an understanding of their own identities, which affects and shapes their understanding of certain
situations and how they interpret them, in line with Weick [29]. What they, themselves, think of their
identities, consequently, affects how others - inside or outside the team - think of them. For example, a
player based on the data from EPTS regarding his performance, creates a certain idea of himself. Have
the player show confidence in himself, his skills and his performance, it motivates him to perform well
during match or training. The coach, or other staff members, understand when a player has good or not
performance and they act towards him accordingly. In addition, as shown in finding no2, re-shaped or
new identities may emerge from the use of EPTS, such as the trainer’s and VID analyst’s respectively.
Continuing, the football players and training staff members were observed to make sense through
retrospection of experienced situations, and pay attention to those that are considered important for
them and the team, while they discard the rest. To make sense of those situations to assess them as
important, the football players and the training staff members discuss, try to understand the situations,
organize their experiences, control, and predict future situations, events, and actions. In the process of
making sense, all team members (football players and training staff) participate, communicate, and
interact - it is a social activity - and together they decide which situations are important to keep and
preserve those which help them improving their future performance. Understanding how to use EPTS
in a football team with the aim of improving its performance is an activity that provides a more ordered
social reality by reducing ambiguity, in line with Weick, Sutcliffe and Obstfeld [30]. This is an ongoing
process as the football players and training staff members meet daily to discuss the data extracted from
the EPTS and how they will use them. In addition, to decide what information is relevant to keep, they
link meanings and ideas and connect them to broader meanings and contexts. For example, the findings
showed that they compare their previous training routines and knowledge on training process with the
differences that occurred in their routines from the use of EPTS. In this process, the visualization of the
EPTS information, as shown in finding no3, is considered important for the training staff members in
order to present it in an understandable way to the football players and other team members. Extending
the findings of Rapp and Cena [
Based on our findings, a situation is discussed through interactive exchanges of the football players and the training staff members in order to produce an improved view of situations, including the involved team members, the technology used (the EPTS), their elite football club and its history and their team in a finite time and place. The aforementioned ‘steps’ that football players and training staff members take to make sense, interact and intertwine with their connecting ‘device’ being the communication among the involved team members. The football players and the training staff members’ interpretations become evident through communicating narratives, which convey the sense that they have made of situations, as well as through visual representations and associated material practices. By reflecting on each of the steps of making sense, the players and training staff members that have gone through a certain experience are able to make sense of it and evaluate the impact it has on them. In this way, they turn circumstances into situations that are well understood. These situations serve as starting points for their action plans. Then players and training staff members become empowered to use their understanding to build more impactful experiences to improve their future performance.
Figure 3 illustrates the seven intertwined and interrelated properties of sensemaking theory adjusted to the research findings. The research findings have been categorized under the relevant property. As shown, there are different roles in a football club and every member have their own perspectives regarding the use of EPTS. Their perspectives depend on the different roles (football players, training staff members, including coaches) and on personal motives. The research findings show that EPTS are mainly understood as a way to improve individuals’ and team’s performance, as well as for growing the training staff members’ knowledge and experience.
This paper has presented how professional football athletes and training staff make sense of the use of electronic performance and tracking systems (EPTS) in their everyday training and work, including experiences, perceptions, benefits and challenges. A qualitative focused ethnographic study was conducted and data were collected through direct observations in the field and individual interviews from eight purposively selected professional football athletes and training staff of elite football teams in Greece. The collected data were analysed thematically to conclude to five concepts, which represent the findings of this research. A theoretical framework, which incorporated main concepts such as personal informatics, wearables, and Electronic Performance and Tracking Systems used in sports science along with the theory of sensemaking was applied to understand, analyse and discuss the research findings.
The research findings show that EPTS have radically changed the football daily routines for both professional football athletes and training staff members enabling them, and their football clubs, to improve individual and team performance. The use of EPTS has reshaped football athletes and training staff members’ identities, making them more data driven and more accurate. EPTS build trust among professional football athletes and training staff offering them the evidence they need in order to justify decisions, instructions, and actions taken respectively. Visualization tools for presenting insights need to be further improved with the addition of in-field monitors and 3D presentations. Furthermore, it is important for training staff members to have ethical and consistent strategy on how data derived from EPTS and on how data are used and communicated. Through daily evaluation of their work, football players and training staff members are constantly improving their work identifying exemplary patterns of training and avoiding mistakes to be repeated, and in this way improve individual and team performance.
The football athletes and the training staff members through communication among them, facilitated by visualization tools, are concerned with making situations, which have been collected in the form of data by the EPTS, meaningful to them. Making sense is a collaborative cognitive and ongoing process where individual football players and training staff members try to give meaning to collective experiences retrospectively. The data that are extracted from the EPTS helps them in this process as they have the chance to examine them together, reflect on them, discuss them, make sense of them, share these meanings and finally decide how to act based on them. To do this they raise past, tacit and private knowledge to make it explicit, public, ordered and simpler. In this way, the football athletes and the training staff members turn circumstances into well understood situations, which empowers them to use their understanding to build more impactful experiences to improve their future performance.
An interesting future research will be to repeat the same research in different research settings such as elite football clubs in other countries, elite clubs of other team sports (basketball, volleyball etc.) in Greece and/or other countries and in youth football teams. In addition, the findings could be examined for validity in the international level collecting data from elite football teams of different countries. Another suggestion for future research is to turn the findings into a set of hypotheses and to assess their validity in a quantitative approach involving a larger number of participants. Finally, an interesting future research will be to include female football athletes to examine whether gender affects the outcome of the research.
This research paper generates contributions for the informatics field, and specifically the
humancomputer interaction (HCI) body of research, and the sports science research field by providing insights
into the use of EPTS by elite teams in sports context. Examining how EPTS is used in the football
context, this research expands the stage-based model of PI use by Li, Dey and Forlizzi [
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