I'm very much pleased to see a lot of developments hovering around in Nigerian football leagues across all levels including the state and national leagues. Back in the days, the game of football wasn't being treated as important by many. It was being seen as a thing for people that didn't go to school or for illiterates. Also, I remember that the National team players were being paid peanuts but all that has changed now. Football is now a pride; everyone wants to associate with football.
In Nigeria, there are majorly two big leagues which includes the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) and the Nigeria National League (NNL). The former is the first-tier league while the later is more of a junior league. However, at the end of every football season, about three top teams from the Nigeria National League gets promoted to the professional league as it is being done everywhere else.
Vandrezzer Football Club - (The Lions of Naija)
This is one of the most popular and talked about team in the Nigeria National League because of the many improvements and technological advancements this team has birthed. Vandrezzer Football Club was founded in September 11, 2019 with its head office in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The club's official colours are White, Orange and Blue. The club goes with the slogan, "Won't Walk that Road Without You." Here's telling how important they take their supporters and fans to be.
Vandrezzer Football Club happens to be the first football team in Nigeria to own a functional website where intending fans can apply for membership and also news/ announcements being posted for the masses. They own a stadium which is located at Ikot Ekpene, Nigeria and this is where they carry out their trainings and also play their home games. Also, there is a Vandrezzer Football Club foundation with a unique mission.
Just recently, the Vandrezzer Football Club pioneered another development in players' training, health and fitness. Vandrezzer Football Club has made history by being the first Nigerian football team to launch/ provide a wearable GPS and fitness tracker for its players use. The device was being launched by the team's captain, Onyekachi Akakem during a session with the sports science Director named Chris Barnes, who explained the workings of the tracker to the whole team.
The wearable GPS tracker also known as fitness or activity tracker has been embraced by advanced sports teams all over the world because of its technology, trusted to drive performance at all levels of sports, with the ability to push athletes to new heights. By definition, the wearable GPS tracker is a device or application used for monitoring and tracking fitness-related metrics such as distance walked or run, calorie consumption, and in some cases heartbeat. It has numerous advantages to the users and it helps in improving the overall performance of a team.
With the GPS tracker, players can effectively monitor and manage their workloads as well as general physical/ health developments so as to be able to meet the demands of football competition. The device also said to be useful in minimizing injury risk for players. It is not only useful to the players alone but to the coaches too. The tracker helps the coach ascertain when to keep pushing a player to train or play and when to slow down to avoid preventable injuries. Simply put, it is useful in players' management which in turn leads to improved team performance.
Truth is, we have seen coaches over-stretch or overwork some players just because they are good. Players need rest for better performances but when they are overly fatigued, they can't perform effectively. According to the club news, the GPS tracker is also used to objectively manage the rehabilitation process of a recovering player, through performance benchmarking and robust return to play protocols.
I do hope that many other football teams in Nigeria would adopt this technology and many others so as to give more standard to the nation's local football competitions.