FIU Wins Back-to-Back Conference Titles with the Help of SPT's GPS Tracking
In 2021, FIU Men's soccer changed GPS tracking systems to SPT and they saw an immediate result, defeating the then #1 team in the nation (Marshall) winning the Conference-USA regular season title and making the NCAA playoffs. Then, FIU switched conference from C-USA to the American Athletic Conference.
The result?
2022 Regular season and conference CHAMPIONS! FIU entered into the 2022 playoff bracket as the #10 team in the country and won a thriller vs UNH to send them to the sweet 16. FIU has established itself as a national contender and one of the best programs in the nation.
We caught up with Head Coach Kyle Russell to share how SPT’s GPS tracking helped FIU become conference champions last year.
"SPT has been a fantastic tool for us getting the most out of our team. We monitor everything our guys do from hydration and sleep to academics and community service. So, of course understanding key data points from matches and trainings is highly important to us. Using SPT gives us a great insight on how to structure our trainings heading into a match and also how to approach recovery on the back end,” said Russell.
Russel continued to state, “Physical preparation is such an important part of college soccer. Training in an extremely hot and humid region like South Florida, we lean on data from SPT to understand the physical demand of each phase of our training sessions. This way we know we can demand high quality from our players at all times.”
In addition to helping FIU achieve program goals, we also wanted to hear how this technology can help FIU athletes at the next level.
"Many of our players have aspirations to be professional players. GPS data from SPT is a great motivator for our guys who see the metrics pros are able to achieve in matches and push themselves to be able to reach the same numbers. Now the guys have something to chase on the physical side of the game. We’ve noticed their fitness going into each season improve because they have a clear goal in mind that can be measured,” said Russell.