Why Do Soccer Players Wear Bras – GPS Sports Bra

Ever seen a soccer training match and wondered what the players were wearing? Because unless you were mistaken, you were trying to watch men’s soccer, and now you’re watching players wearing what seems like a bra. Which begs the question, why do soccer players wear bras? And what is a men’s sports bra doing in soccer. Let’s take all these questions and answer them.

For starters, what you might see soccer players wearing during, say, a training match or session, would not be a sports bra, but rather something of a ‘GPS sports bra’. And it isn’t actually a bra, per se. More like a pouch that is conveniently located at the chest cavity. Why GPS and chest cavity? Let’s delve deeper into this mystery.  

This technology-infused bra is something that you might see players even wear during matches, albeit not over their jerseys or shirts, but rather under them, as the number needs to be displayed during a match (or a sponsor’s logo). This is a GPS pouch, modelled to look like a sports bra, and while men wearing bras isn’t something you would usually see in a stadium, the pouches that are used to carry the GPS are modelled after a bra since the region it occupies is most securely handled by a bra.

What is Inside This ‘GPS Sports Bra’?

This technology-infused sports bra is actually a vital piece of GPS that is used by coaches, managers and even the commentators as a way to keep track of a player’s performance. This GPS is equipped with incredibly detailed and precise telemetry computers and chips, and these note things like heart rate, the players speed and the acceleration among many other things to again, track the performance of a player.

It consists of a GPS device, a telemetry-based chipset and some wires that are attached to the chest cavity which measure heartbeats, beats per minute and other things to cover in detail the parameters listed beforehand, among other things.

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So Why Do Soccer Players Wear Bras?

Well, like it has been stated beforehand, tracking a player’s performance over the course of a season or a match is imperative for clubs, and managers do so by these GPS bras. What these do is use telemetry and an array of sensors to measure heartbeats, beats per minute and other data (including maximum speed reached and acceleration). All this data is relayed back to a main control screen that is constantly being monitored.

What’s more, on many occasions, this has also been used to not only gauge performance, but also to warn players to not over-exert themselves too much. An athlete certainly has more endurance and power than your average Joe, but that doesn’t obviously mean that they can misuse their body for as long as they want. Which is why, when players begin to overexert or strain their bodies too much, managers and coaches use the input from these GPS bras to tell a player to either take it down a notch or substitute him.

What And How Does The Men’s Soccer Bra Measure?

We’ve already established that it isn’t a bra per se, but rather a convenient pouch that holds all the chipset and the related equipment that makes up the GPS-enabled bra. Following are the parameters it measures and relays back to the control screen, which is manned by the coach and other technical aides.

Heart Rate

One of the primary parameters is heart rate, which also includes the beats per minute monitor, oxygen monitor and the stress rate. All of these are measured by a sensor embedded in the chipset, attached to the peritoneal cavity, situated just at the left of the chest (which is where the left ventricle and the strongest chamber of heart is located). It is turned on at the start of the game and tracks and monitors the heartbeats and the beats per minute of the player it has been strapped. The information it relays back to the operations room helps managers and coaches track their athletes’ performance and exertion capacity.

Speed

As it is equipped with high-accuracy telemetry and a GPS, it can also measure speed of the players. It does so by the telemetry chipset and by regulating the position of the players constantly, tracking the changes with a Global Positioning System. However, the GPS only measures the speed within a short geographical area (within the vicinity of a football ground).

Acceleration

Another one of the aspects the telemetry-enabled GPS system is wired to measure is acceleration of the players, as it helps the coach and the manager to keep track of their best players and their abilities; sprinting is particularly useful for positions in the forward arena; and acceleration forms the basis of sprinting. Measuring these abilities allow the coaches and managers to tap into the potential of a particularly quick player.

Distance Covered

The telemetry and GPS also allow the distance covered to be tracked. While this may not be particularly useful during the training sessions, it is particularly useful as it allows for the coach to monitor the performance time of each player, and give them rest wherever applicable. This has been the case as many coaches look to not tire out their star players, and by tracking their distance covered, they can substitute the player easily and by having kept track.

Energy Measurement

Further use of the beats per minute sensor and the distance covered telemetry allows the coach to monitor the energy consumption and levels throughout the game, allowing them a better understanding of when to substitute a player or when to keep the player on the field.

Reducing Risk Of Injury

Players also run the risk of injuring themselves badly if they push their bodies too hard, which is where, again, this sports GPS-enabled bra comes into play. As it can be used to monitor energy levels and distance covered, coaches and managers can accurately guess when a player is tired out, so that he can be sent off the field and in to the substitution bench. Similarly, keeping track of players and their statistics can help prevent flame-out injuries, wherein a player could injure themselves due to running low on energy.

So, despite the fact that it may seem a bit weird and sometimes might foray into the territory of cross-dressing, these men’s sport bras are actually useful tools that help maintain the quality of the player’s effort and the overall game, and these bras aren’t even bras, they are just modelled to emulate the look of a pouch to hold the GPS and telemetry chips and whatnot.

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