IT Master by Research Programme Details Title of Project: Quantifying physiological performance and attributes of development pathways in elite grade GAA football squads using GPS data.

Name of Principal Supervisor: Andrew Shields Department/School: School of Business, Computing and Humanities/CEED Research Centre supported by Kerry GAA E-Mail: [email protected] Phone: Ext 4231

Brief Biography of Principal Supervisor: Andrew is active in research and lecturing at the Institute of Technology Tralee. He lectures in numerous subjects in the area of software development, and business information systems specialising in data analysis and currently supervises a number of M.Sc. postgraduate research students in this area.

He completed his Master of Science degree in 2007 and obtained his First Class Honours Bachelor degree in software development in 2002, both from the Institute of Technology Tralee. Immediately after obtaining his degree in 2002 he worked as a software developer in the financial services sector for 5 years. This involved developing systems dealing with credit card payments and Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC).

As a researcher at the Institute Andrew has been Strand Leader - RFID, Internet of Things and Sensors at the IMaR Technology Gateway. Managing a team of highly skilled researchers and engineers, undertaking various applied research projects for industry. He has been principal investigator on a number of applied research projects, working directly with companies locally, nationally, and internationally.

He is a recipient of a postgraduate scholarship from The Irish Research Council (IRC) and is currently undertaking a Ph.D. at the Institute of Technology he is also collaborating with research institutes in France through the High Level Scientific Mobility Grants scheme organised by the Embassy of France.

Recent Research Publications: Shields A, Scully T. 2020. Anomaly detection for sparse data. A framework based on PU-Learning and GAN’s, 12th International Conference on Agents and Artificial Intelligence (ICAART) 2020, Open Communications, Valetta, Malta.

Noonan F, Maharjan S, Shields A, Riordan D, Walsh J, Doody P. 2018 Automation of a paper-based waste tracking system, 2018 2nd International Symposium on Small-scale Intelligent Manufacturing, DOI: 10.1109/SIMS.2018.8355290

Coleman S, Doody P, Shields A. 2018. Machine Learning for Real-Time Data-Driven Security Practices 29th Irish Signals and Systems Conference (ISSC) 2018, IEEE, Queens University, Belfast, UK. Shields A, Doody P, Scully T. 2017. Application of multiple change point detection methods to large urban telecommunication networks, 28th Irish Signals and Systems Conference (ISSC) 2017, IEEE, Institute of Technology Tralee, Kerry, .

Nukala R, Panduru K, Shields A, Riordan D, Doody P, Walsh J. 2016. Internet of Things: A review from ‘Farm to Fork, 27th Irish Signals and Systems Conference 2016. IEEE, Ulster University, Derry.

Mc Gough R, Shields A. 2016. A study of technology adoption and usage behaviour for students in Higher Education in Institutes of Technology, Annual Irish Educational Technology Conference EdTech 2016, Law Society of Ireland Education Building, Dublin, Ireland (http://ilta.ie/edtech/edtech-2016/ )

Shields A, Mc Carthy U, Riordan D, Doody P, Walsh J, Uysal I. 2015. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Wiley Encyclopaedia of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/047134608X.W8155)

Nukala R, Shields A, McCarthy U & Ward S. 2015. An IoT based approach towards Global Food Safety and Security. The 14th IT&T Conference, National College of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland, 10-17, ISSN 1649 1246 (http://ittconference.ie/uploads/conference/2015/ITT_Conference_Proceedings_2015.pdf )

Kossakowska J, Shields A, Sheehy R, Doody P. 2015. Intelligent Profiling of Blood Donors in Ireland. Conference Evolve Biomed 2015, Dublin Ireland 2015 (http://www.evolvebiomed2015.com)

Shields A. 2014, Using RFID to Establish a Secure Blood Supply Chain, RFID Journal Live 2014, 11th International Conference, London, England (http://www.rfidjournalevents.com/europe2014/session?719 ) Shields A, Dwyer B, Crowley B. 2014. Using Mobile Phones as Social Monitors of Engagement for the SME. Proceedings of the 2014 ICSB 2014 World Conference on Entrepreneurship, ICSB, Dublin Ireland 2014 (http://www.icsb2014.org)

Doody P, Shields A. 2012. Mining network relationships in the internet of things. Proceedings of the 2012 international workshop on Self-aware internet of things (Self-IoT '12). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 7-12. DOI=10.1145/2378023.2378026 (http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2378023.2378026)

Doody P, Shields A, 2011. Relationship Classification of Object to Object communications in the Internet of Things using Reality Mining, RFID in Europe, RACE network, Prague, Czech Republic (http://www.race- networkrfid.org)

Shields A, Datta S, 2008. Can We Apply Principles From Social Networking To Healthcare Informatics For Intelligent Data Analytics? MIT Libraries DSpace (http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/43944)

Shields A, Butcher D, 2007. A Local and Remote RFID Learning Environment. 8th Annual Irish Educational Technology Conference EdTech 2007, DCU, Dublin, Ireland (http://www.ilta.net)

Research Project Abstract

There has been a significant amount of research conducted in the area of performance measurement in many sports. To date there has been studies with this focus conducted in Australian Rules Football (Young et al., 2005), Rugby League (Gabbett,2002), Soccer (le Gall et al., 2008), American Football (Sierer et al., 200) and many of the other popular field sports. Much of this research has examined the physical performance that are required to perform at the various levels of participation.

Gaelic football is an intermittent high-intensity sport in which activities that rely on maximal strength, speed, and power are interspersed with periods of lower intensity aerobic activity and rest. Training for

success is a balance between achieving peak performance and avoiding the negative consequences of excessive training.

Less is understood in how the superior physiological qualities of elite players, transfer to enhanced competition running performance across the levels of competition. There is accumulating evidence to suggest that ‘burnout’ in talented young GAA players is a serious issue that needs to be urgently addressed by the Association. (Report of the Task Force on Player Burnout: GAA 2007).

Global Positioning Systems (GPS) are gaining popularity in field-based sports as a means for coaches to assess the activity profiles of their athletes in competition (Gabbett, Jenkins, et al., 2012; Petersen et al., 2010). Much of this research has examined the physical performance that are required to perform at the various levels of participation. The importance of these findings has enhanced athletic performance and have aided the changes in performance attributable to varying periods of training load (Banister & Calvert, 1980; Foster et al., 2001; Gabett & Jenkins, 2010; Lambert & Boressen, 2010).

In more recent years, researchers have used GPS to study the physical demands of (Collins, 2013; Malone et al., 2015; McGahan et al., 2018). However, there is a dearth of such research within the sports of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), and in particular in the game of Gaelic football across age grades. This project aims to address the lack of research in these areas by conducting a thorough examination into the differences presenting physical demands, with the use of Global Positioning System (GPS), performance variables associated with competition of Gaelic football by examining squads at different levels of participation (U/15, U/16, U/17, U/20 and senior inter ).

Research Context (Technical Merit & Impact) Sensor technologies such as GPS heart rate and other Internet of Things (IoT) technologies allows coaches/managers to get a more accurate reading of how a player is performing physiologically, their fitness level, and have their team in the best possible physical shape prior to competition.

Aim To provide an insight into the physical demands of competition across different age grade squads in the sport of Gaelic football.

Objectives: The purpose of this project will be: 1. To explore and examine the differences in physical demands of elite Gaelic Football of different age Grades (U/15, U/16, U/17, U/20, Senior inter county) using Global Positioning System (GPS) during competitive games. The aspects that will be included in the study will be distances run across five speed zones, number of sprints efforts a player is involved in during competition across the five outfield positions. 2. Using these variables, the project will aim to generate an effort score and stress score for each player after a game. 3. Using these scores should capture how much a player has worked during a particular game, so management can monitor a players’ work rate and exertion during a game, and also establish a more individualised post game training/recovery plan. 4. The study will try determining that position requirements are statistically different. Measuring the effort and stress scores should allow for positional requirement comparison, player comparison and also monitor the teams overall scores from game to game.

With no existing performance standards established, the management and backroom staff have no

a) Generic and/or b) Position Specific standards from which to measure the current physical demands of competition of their players and have baseline scores to compare their ongoing development.

Research Methodology

Key Literature The key literature will include a review of relevant and pertinent scientific research conducted in the Gaelic football domain. To facilitate this comprehensive review of the literature, online searches of PubMed and Research Gate will be conducted for all relevant and appropriate studies published. Keywords to be selected in the search will include GPS, LTAD, athlete monitoring, Gaelic football, training load, athlete profiling, over training, validity and reliability and mind-set.

Squads from four different age-grade levels (U/15, U/16, U/17, U/20), in addition to the elite Senior inter county squad will monitored across all competitive games. A global positioning system (GPS) analysis will be completed during matches with players who have been pre-assigned to one of the five outfield positional groups representing the line-up on a Gaelic football field (i.e. full forwards, half forwards, midfielders, halfbacks and fullbacks). The data collated over a 10-month period will include all pre-season and in-season matches.

A series of comparisons will be explored between the various squads to provide an insight into any significant differences present between age grade performance levels. Further comparisons will also be conducted between the senior inter county and the minor inter squads, which will provide a greater insight Into the performance differences between the senior elite and junior elite sample population.

The stages will be

Data will be analysed in order to monitor changes across the season for each respective squad, and the rates of such change of each squad.

Data Analysis

Data analysis will be carried out on SPPS (version 21 for windows). All data will be examined for normality of distribution to ensure that there are no violations of the assumptions required for respective statistical procedures.

For test-retest analysis of pre-season to post pre-season to championship data, a repeated measures ANOVA with one group in variable (time) will be used. This analysis will be conducted for each respective squad. With regards to between subject group analysis i.e. examining the relationship between the selected squads, a repeated measures ANOVA with 2 grouping variables (time X age grade) will be used.

PROJECT SCHEDULE / GANTT CHART

Gantt Chart – Year 1-2 (20/21) Task Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar April May June July August Ethical X approval Training on X Test Procedures Literature X X X X X Review U/15 X X X Testing U/16 X X X Testing U/17 X X X Testing U/20 X X X Testing Senior X X X Testing Preliminary X X X Results 1 Conference X Presentation Review X X Paper 1