NASHVILLE, Tenn. — If Vanderbilt is to go full-throttle on Saturdays this fall, first-year head coach Clark Lea wants to make sure his team is a finely-tuned vehicle.
“Just like a race car you don’t take it out to the track on race day and push the pedal down,” Lea said. “That’s something that needs to be done ahead of time.”
To assist with how the Commodores are operating this preseason, Vandy is using Catapult. Catapult utilizes performance-tracking software that uses Global Positioning System technology to monitor player effort and exertion.
Vanderbilt football has 50 GPS devices it uses daily during preseason practice and distributes those devices throughout the roster. With a team of more than 100 student-athletes, not every Commodore is tracked, but assistant strength coach Ryan Bellerose explained that every position group is represented which allows the staff a solid barometer to measure the data.
Bellerose tracks data in real time from the sidelines during practice and relays that information to the on-site strength staff. If a student-athlete is in need of hydration or nutrition, for example, the call to action is that much quicker.
As Vanderbilt continues to practice and prepare for the season-opener Sept. 4 against East Tennessee State at Vanderbilt Stadium, the Commodores are taking advantage of the ability to better treat their diagnostics. That way the engines can roar at kickoff.
“You’re just attentive to player loads and max velocity,” Lea said. “We’re both making sure we’re hitting numbers that will allow us to build in our internal systems of recovery. Every time as a player you push yourself you also expedite your recovery process, you’re training your body how to recover for the next rep.
“We get to know about the conditioning of our team, we get to know about the explosive athleticism of our team and we use that very closely daily to monitor the progress of the program.”
— Chad Bishop covers Vanderbilt for VUCommodores.com.
Follow him @MrChadBishop.
