Football NSW

Football NSW is the governing body for soccer in New South Wales, Australia. It is responsible for the development, promotion, and administration of the sport at all levels within the state, overseeing grassroots programs, elite player pathways, coaching, refereeing, and community initiatives. Football NSW works closely with clubs, schools, and local associations to foster talent and expand opportunities for players of all ages and abilities, contributing to the growth of soccer as one of the most popular sports in New South Wales.

Christopher El-Hayek is the Head of Strength & Conditioning and Physiotherapy at Football NSW, where he plays a key role in enhancing athlete performance and ensuring player health across all levels of the sport. With a strong background in sports science and physiotherapy, Christopher leads initiatives that focus on injury prevention, rehabilitation, and conditioning programs tailored for soccer players. His expertise supports Football NSW’s commitment to fostering athletic excellence and longevity within New South Wales’ soccer community.

When and where did you first find out about Catapult and/or GPS technology?
I have known about Catapult since the product became commercialised to the general public/grassroots sport.

Why did you decide to implement Catapult? What were your goals/vision at the time?
I know catapult to be a user friendly product that simplifies key metrics. This has been a game changer for setting training targets, tracking physical performance on matchday, establishing performance KPIs, and enhancing overall athletic development.

What performance metrics do you use most regularly? What do you use these to analyse?
High speed metres and very high speed metres to see the physical output in training drills and matches for given positions. Accelerations and decelerations to track intensity, and load monitoring. Max speed to track anaerobic development, and effort/intensity of training drills/given scenarios in matches. Total distance for tracking volume over a session/week, and the overall distances covered in specific drills and matches for specific positions.

How does the technology help with your goals?
More objective data on key metrics means more specific training loads, volumes, and intensities can be designed specific to the individual and team.

How do you find Catapult to use?
Catapult is user friendly, and watching through the tutorials when we originally received them, we haven’t really had any issues with set up, uploading, and overall connectivity.

What recommendations would you have for anyone looking into this technology for their own teams?
Don’t go down a rabbit hole of over analysing too many metrics. Focus on key metrics, try to be consistent with them ,and learn all there is to know about them. Remember that context is key before you make recommendations or assumptions (e.g. player positions, tactics, formations, opposition set up etc).

What feedback have athletes shared with you? What’s their level of interest and buy-in in terms of their performance data?
Athletes love seeing their distance covered and top speed. I’m all for that as long as they are not distracted by these metrics which changes their tactical/technical performance in a game. Education on key metrics is important, and through this process our players have started to see value in other metrics such as high/very high speed metres, and accels/decels.

Catapult has been an easy to use system, with staff that are approachable, well-mannered, passionate, and go above and beyond for their customers.