Marcet closes the Calderón with New Technologies

It’s the last time in football history that a ball will be kicked around inside the Vicente Calderón. We’ve witnessed over half a century of football and glory. What was the home of Altético de Madrid was sent off last weekend by the king of all sports giving an insight into the innovations of what lies ahead. The Cotec Foundation – Lead by the King of Spain, Felipe VI – was in charge of organising the event and, rightly, Marcet was invited to show off the latest advancements in football training technology.

This is how the event was covered on Instagram:

Not all of the latest technology on offer arrived to the Spanish capital. Franco Sanchírico, tour leader and director of the New Technology Department at Marcet, says that “when it comes to exhibiting something with limited time and on the pitch, it’s necessary to choose with the upmost care exactly what you want to show. It’s not about showcasing said technology, but showing the innovative spirit that’s behind an institution like ours.”

From all of the technology that could have been taken from one city to the other three were chosen. “We regarded them as the best options, as they embody three important aspects here at Marcet: working with data, the implementation of advanced technology on the pitch and teaching a more mindful approach to football.”

The Free-Kick Instant Analysis, the first in question. Uses a smart ball, that’s linked to a tablet, that can register individualised data for each shooter. Like the trajectory, force, speed and rotation that the ball makes. This is all complemented with footage of the free-kick, that coaches can instantly show the player, the extracted data of successful shots and postural errors from the free-kick. The player himself, as he keeps taking free-kicks can check his progression in a matter of seconds.

Reaction goals are a clear example of implementing real life match situations during training. The technology uses various small goals that are made of LED lights instead of posts (at the Vicente Calderón only two were taken). The coach controls the goals via a remote control and, choses which one and when, to light up. Thanks to this simple but effective equipment, the variability is a mystery to the player until the coach feels it’s appropriate, this way the trainee has to be fully focused for every different variable.

In order to teach players to see and anticipate everything that can happen on the playing field, it’s necessary to work on their peripheral vision and train the brain to predict what’s going to happen before it does. To do this, the use of Strobe Training is implemented. The user wears glasses that blinds them completely for a set amount of time, they are then given their vision back for a fraction of a second and blinded again, this happens many times over.

“This is the latest addition that Marcet exposed”, explained Sanchírico. “Depriving a player of his vision forces their brain, during the fraction of a second that they can see, to register much more information in less time, resulting in them being able to anticipate what’s going to happen whilst they’re blind. This way we teach of students to understand their surroundings and logically predict the future. The players starting position on the ball can indicate where the ball can end up once kicked. If we combine this information with everything around the action (players positioning, opponents speed, etc.) we are training a logical deduction in the brain that will end more intuitive, in the background but always present. Both on and off the pitch.”