This guide will walk you through how to run speed, agility and jump drills using SmartSpeed Plus timing gates.
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Before you begin
Before your first ever session:
- Unbox your SmartSpeed Plus system and assemble your timing gates.
- Ensure all of your timing units are on the same channel.
- Download the SmartSpeed Plus app on your iPhone or iPad.
- Create profiles for your athletes in the SmartSpeed Plus app or in VALD Hub.
Before every session:
- Charge your rechargeable batteries to ensure you have plenty of battery life for your drill(s).
- Check that your profile list is up-to-date for the athletes completing your drill.
- Set up the gates in-field for a specific drill. Timing units and reflectors should be placed approximately 1m – 2m apart in a straight line perpendicular to the direction of travel.
Connect to your gates
- Turn on all of your timing units - either by inserting the battery into the timing unit, or with the battery already inserted, hold down the power button for three seconds.
- Align each timing unit with their corresponding reflector following the correct alignment process.
- Open the SmartSpeed Plus app and log in with your VALD credentials.
- On the home page, tap
to search for all SmartSpeed devices nearby.
- Select your primary device from the available list and tap Connect.
Note: Your phone or tablet must remain within a maximum 30m (32yd) range of the primary device at all times to maintain a strong Bluetooth connection.
Back on the home screen, you can check that all gates have been connected by clicking on the Bluetooth symbol in the top-right. If you are missing gates, most likely they are either turned off or on a different channel.
Set up your drill
You should configure your drill in-app to match the gate setup you have created in-field.
- Tap
and configure your drill setup.
Expand the below section for a detailed list of options available in your drill setup.
Drill setup
Sprints | Change of direction | Free timing | Jumps | Lap timing | Serpentine | Grid | |
Drill name The chosen drill from your drill type selection. |
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Total tracks The number of tracks or lanes for your drill. |
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Profile selection Choose from automatic, manual, or RFID queuing. |
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Split distance The desired distance between each gate. |
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Start type Choose from break beam, in-beam, or SmartJump/SmartPad. |
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Results display Choose from displaying either cumulative time or split velocity on your gates. |
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Signal type Choose from lights and buzzer. |
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Signal 1/2/3/4 Designated signal colours, randomised for each trial. |
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Signal delay Minimum and maximum delay of gate signal. |
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Change of direction Choose from random, left, right, or both. |
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Test mode Choose from free, reps, or time-based. For reps or time |
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Results display Metric to display results in-app. |
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SmartJump sensitivity (%) Sensitivity of the jump mat for jump drills. |
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Drop height Designated box height for a drop jump drill. |
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Laps How many laps to be completed in a trial. |
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Gate rearm (ms) Time for gate to reactivate for next athlete. |
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Trial validity Enable tags to mark each individual trial as valid or invalid. |
Review gate layout
- With your drill configured, tap the
button. Each gate is designated an alphabetical letter in the app, which will also appear on the LED display of the timing unit.
Tap Flash device if you are unable to differentiate devices.
-
Tap and drag your gates into the correct order to match your gate order in-field, then click Confirm.
If you receive an alert that your gates are not aligned, please align your gates properly before continuing.
Add athletes to your queue
- Select the athletes that will be completing the drill. You can choose a specific Group(s) that you have previously set up in VALD Hub, or tap into the Profiles tab to search for and select athletes individually.
- Tap Add to queue and review your athlete list.
- You can reorder or remove* athletes at this stage, or while you are running the drill.
* This will only remove the athlete from the current queue, not from the group in VALD Hub.
Click and drag to reorder | Click orange X to remove |
- Click Confirm and you are ready to begin your session.
Run your drill
- Have your first athlete line up behind the starting gate and tap Ready. This will arm the timing gates and the athlete's name will appear on the LED display of the timing gate.
- The first athlete can then begin their trial. Their time will start when they break the starting gate, and stop when they break the final gate.
If you have more than one track running at once, you can switch between tracks in the app at any time.
Manage your queue during a session
If needed, you can make changes to your athlete queue during your session.
Expand the below section to see how to manage your queue.
Manage your athlete queue
-
Skip profiles in queue. This will send the chosen profile to the bottom of the queue.
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Remove profiles from the queue. This will hide the profile in the queue.
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Manage your queue during a session.
- Activate and deactivate profiles individually in the queue.
Deactivated profiles can be re-added to the queue at any time.
- Activate and deactivate profiles individually in the queue.
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- Remove all active profiles in your queue using the
button.
- Update the profiles or groups in your queue through the
button. This also allows you to add new profiles for athletes that don't yet exist in your database.
- Remove all active profiles in your queue using the
- When all athletes have finished their trial(s) and you are ready to end your session, tap the pause button, then tap Finish.
View results
During your session
At any time during your session, you can tap on the Live results button in the top-right to view a live leaderboard of your athletes' trial results.
Each column can be sorted from ascending to descending and vice versa, allowing you to quickly see the performance of your runners.
After your session
Once your session is over, you can then view the results by clicking on the Results tab in the bottom navigation bar. Alternatively, you can view these results in VALD Hub.
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