To perform at their best, any competent soccer player must maintain a high level of fitness. Luckily, this can be achieved with the help of technology. Tracking your fitness level is the best way to see if you’re maintaining or perhaps increasing it.
One of the difficulties faced by many soccer players is tracking their performance accurately. This is where tracking soccer performance on a Garmin comes in.
In this article, we will discuss the following points:
- The best Garmin smartwatches to track your soccer performance
- Tracking soccer performance on a Garmin smartwatch
- Why tracking your soccer performance is important
The Garmin Fenix 6S
Although one of these watches might set you back upwards of $500, you will be getting a high-end watch for your money that you can even update to solar to gather solar energy if you so choose.
This watch offers everything you might need in a fitness tracker and can provide you with the tools and data you need to get in better shape than you ever imagined.
The Garmin Fenix 6s Pro is a multisport smartwatch that can monitor over 20 different activities, such as running, swimming, biking, and more.
You can easily get a glance at your stats thanks to a full-color UI and simple navigation. The Fenix effortlessly links with the Garmin Connect app for even more detailed and tailored training metrics.
The 6s Pro boasts greater memory, a longer battery life, preloaded maps, and a pulse oximeter – a vast improvement over its predecessor, the Fenix 5s.
The Garmin Fenix 6S comes in multiple options. You will get to choose between the Standard, Sapphire, and Solar models of the Garmin Fenix 6S. As the name implies, the Standard model is the simplest and least expensive of the three.
Then, there’s the Sapphire model, which offers better scratch resistance than the Standard, making it more durable. It’s not only in the center of the price range of all three watches but also offers some great additional features that you won’t find in the Standard version.
Finally, there’s the Solar version of the Garmin Fenix 6S, and in case you haven’t guessed it already, the solar edition can be powered by solar charging.
While this may be the more eco-friendly option of the three, it comes with the biggest price tag.
- Fit for performance with rugged, sophisticated design that features an always-on 1.2 inches sunlight-readable display with bezels in stainless steel, titanium or diamond-like carbon (DLC) coating
- Enhanced estimated wrist heart rate and Pulse Ox to support advanced sleep monitoring and altitude acclimation at high elevations (this is not a medical device and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or monitoring of any medical condition)
- Advanced training features include PacePro for grade-adjusted pace guidance throughout your activity plus environmentally adjusted VO2 max and training status estimates.Display resolution:240 x 240 pixels
- Navigate the outdoors with preloaded TOPO maps, ski maps for over 2,000 worldwide ski resorts, multiple global navigation satellite system (GPS, GLONASS and Galileo) support and built-in sensors for 3-axis compass, gyroscope and barometric altimeter
- Support for Garmin Pay contactless payments (not all countries payment networks are eligible), music storage with premium streaming service (may require subscription with third-party music provider) support, smart notifications and more
Garmin Forerunner 735XT
Of course, Garmin provides various alternatives for people who want something more. Enter the Forerunner 735XT. When it comes to measuring soccer players’ health on the field, this has been recognized as one of the best options, courtesy of Garmin.
The Garmin Forerunner 735XT is one of Garmin’s most popular gadgets for runners and for athletes alike.
It has everything you’ll need to become better on the soccer field, making it one of the better fitness watch options out there.
One of the advantages of the Garmin Forerunner 735XT is that it is compatible with both the iOS and Android operating systems.
It monitors your heart rate, steps, breathing, sleeping, and stress levels, among other things. It also provides recuperation guidance – so you know how to recover properly after an intense game or training session.
This is especially vital for football players, as breathing and rest are just as important as the activity itself for long-term training and playing football. It also includes high-intensity running, jogging, and swimming.
The Garmin community also provides real-life coaching that you can sign up for, and you get all this separately from the organized activities and workout tracking that the watch offers.
Some of the standout features of the 735XT are its live tracking, GPS, and the fact that it can track data on the soccer field in real-time.
This tracking includes factors such as stride strength, vertical ratio, time balance, and breathing. It also has a nifty little feature known as the race predictor, which lets you know how fast you can go.
- Premium GPS running/triathlon watch with wrist-based heart rate
- Offers advanced running and multisport Features in a comfortable watch you can wear all day, and it only weighs 49 grams
- Provides elevation changes with a built-in barometer; altimeter and electronic compass help you keep your bearings
- Evaluates your training status to indicate if you’re undertraining or overdoing it and offers additional performance monitoring Features
Tracking Soccer Performance on a Garmin
When you’re playing soccer, you will probably be running the entire time, which is why the activity tracker by Garmin is a great way to track your performance on the soccer field.
But one of the difficulties that many soccer players face during practice sessions is that there are also many rest periods in between, which could lower the vo2 max stats, pace, etc.
This is where Garmin’s fitness watches shine. If you are playing soccer, you will have noticed that there’s no dedicated set up on the Garmin fitness tracker, but that’s not a problem.
All you have to do is copy the cardio activity and set up the data fields on the Garmin fitness tracker related to the areas you need tracking.
Once you identify them, just rename them to soccer. Also, since the wrist HRM is not as accurate as you’d expect, it’s best to add a chest strap to the mix for a more accurate reading, and you will get better training load estimations.
Also, try to set the fitness tracker to indoor run since most of your movements on the soccer field are going to be smaller than the resolution of GPS. This means if you have not set it on the indoor run, you’re not going to get an accurate reading for the distance covered.
It is also possible that wrist motion detection will get confused during those soccer drills, which is another reason why setting the watch to indoor run is going to be your best bet when it comes to tracking your performance on a Garmin. Also, don’t forget a calibrated footpod and chest strap for a more accurate reading.
Rather than buying a more expensive model fitness watch by Garmin, just change the name in the file to run, and you’re good to go as long as you get all of the fields you want to track, such as HR, time, etc.
Why Is Tracking Fitness Important for a Soccer Player?
Soccer clubs and researchers are working to enhance players’ overall performance, preserve their health, and win more matches as the sport grows in popularity throughout the world.
Official matches in local or international tournaments, as well as unofficial matches, such as team training sessions, training matches among team members, and friendly matches with rival teams, are used to track player performance.
Because of the pressure to win, official bouts are usually more heated than friendly matches, but that doesn’t mean you do not have to bring your A-game as a player.
Technical and health-related performance indicators are important when evaluating a player’s total performance, which is why soccer coaches are interested in these factors.
Technical performance measurements include the number of successful passes, duration of ball possession, number of passes between players, and number of shots a player attempts to score a goal throughout a match.
The total distance traveled by players at moderate, high, and extremely high speeds are one of the best health-related performance indicators.
Soccer players and coaches use various types of monitoring devices capable of tracking numerous parameters of the players to monitor their performance.
These technologies have taken the place of the manual procedure of specialist observers reviewing filmed matches and coding players’ activity patterns.
Tools such as the Garmin fitness tracker help coaches and players acquire more data about different elements of their performance on the soccer field while reducing the time it takes to collect data about them during matches.
Some of the reasons why it makes sense to track player performance using a Garmin fitness watch are as follows:
- Helps you achieve your goals
- Keeps you committed to your plan
- Helps to drive the focus and direction of your programming
- It’s motivating and reinforcing
- It allows you to be more efficient on the soccer field
- It ensures significant improvement over time
Why Use the Garmin Fitness Tracker
Garmin fitness watches have a lot to offer athletes in general. For soccer players, in particular, the Performance Condition stat compares your capacity to perform to your typical fitness level in real-time.
This statistic has a range of -20 to +20, with each point reflecting 1% of the VO2 Max specified on your device. The gadget will notify you of your current Performance Condition within the first 6-20 minutes of an exercise.
This can also be used to measure exhaustion, particularly towards the end of a strenuous exercise.
If you’re wondering about tracking soccer performance on a Garmin, then you can simply use the running mode, which provides important stats such as heart rate, heart rate variability, and pace.
