Question Number: 30010

Other 1/5/2016

RE: Competitive College

Rob of Eagle River, WI USA asks...

I am looking for a recommendation for a GPS enabled sport watch to use during games.

I prefer a countdown timer for time keeping.

Primarily, I want to be able to use the GPS tracking to review my positioning.

Any thoughts?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Rob
I guess it depends on how much you want to spend. Refs that I know have use Garmin Forerunner and I see reviews on Suunto, Polar and Timex. Many are also into running so it is used mainly for fitness and running stats
I have not used a GPS watch just a Seiko Referee RFT 100 which is probably the best referee watch out there although now discontinued. From what I read many have mixed views on these GPS watches. Some are rather large which I don't like and probably need to be techie to use the full benefits. From what I see the positioning software covers total area covered which in itself is somewhat meaningless except for width and depth on the FOP. One review I saw online was just a mass of red lines from penalty area to penalty area? I guess to add in incidents that needs concentration which in itself is unhelpful.
Im old school so I just rely on my own after game analysis of game incidents - where I was, what did I miss / see, my angle of view, how well did I think I performed, what did I do incorrectly that caused a problem, what did I do correctly to prevent a problem and could I have done something differently.
I also think that video is the best tool to review positioning and that is what happens at the highest level. A mentor is also a very valuable resource. Personally if I was using GPS I would keep it simple with perhaps total distance travelled and speed which is a fitness tool.