During the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, SportTechie and N3XT Sports are surveying key soccer experts around the world to understand the current state of soccer technology and innovation. (More soccer technology viewpoints.)
Martí Matabosch serves as the strength and conditioning coach for FC Kairat. Matabosch is originally from Spain and has over nine years of experience working with professional soccer clubs. He is currently part of the technical team for both FC Kairat and the Kazakhstan national team.
Based in Almaty, Kazakhstan, FC Kairat plays in the Kazakhstan Premier League. FC Kairat has won the league twice, and is a record eight-time winner of the Kazakhstan Cup, most recently winning that trophy in 2017. The team currently sits second in the 2018 season table behind rival FC Astana, which is on a four-year streak of league championships.
Matabosch believes that the key to sports performance, and where technology has provided the most recent advancement, is in specific strength training. This includes “injury prevention work and maintenance or improvement of the performance of the athlete.” And through technology, trainers can now assess and quantify the work done by athletes in real time.
One challenge Matabosch has encountered is that athlete monitoring software is not always flexible and easily adapted to his methodology. “The user (physical coaches) should be able to introduce the variables that he wants to register,” explained Matabosch.
“It is very important that specialists in developing computer software,” he added, “work together with sports specialists.” That way, the programs developed will better fit the requirements of trainers and coaches in professional sports.