The Validity and Reliability of Global Positioning System Units for Measuring Distance and Velocity During Linear and Team Sport Simulated Movements

ABSTRACTHuggins, RA, Giersch, GEW, Belval, LN, Benjamin, CL, Curtis, RM, Sekiguchi, Y, Peltonen, J, and Casa, DJ. The validity and reliability of GPS units for measuring distance and velocity during linear and team sport simulated movements. J Strength Cond Res XX(X)000–000, 2020—This experimental study aimed to assess the validity and reliability of shirt-mounted 10-Hz global positioning system (GPS) units (Polar Team Pro) for measuring total distance (TD), constant velocity (VelC), and instantaneous velocity (VelI) during linear running and a team sport simulation circuit (TSSC). Fifteen male soccer athletes completed linear tasks (40 and 100 m) at various velocitieswalk (W) (4.8–7.9 km·h), jog (J) (8.0–12.7 km·h), run (R) (12.9–19.9 km·h), and sprint (S) (>20.0 km·h) and a 120-m TSSC. Global positioning system validity and reliability for TD, VelC, and VelI were compared with criterion measures using 2 methods (a and b) of GPS raw data extraction. When measuring TD for the Polar Team Pro device, validity and reliability measures were 0.05) at all velocities, except for the W (p = 0.001). The reliability of the device when measuring VelC during the 40 and 100 m was