CASE STUDY

Same touches, more intensity: a C2X × PlayerMaker case study

The short version: When coaches added praise, players made 26% more high-intensity accelerations and decelerations on average. Their touches and passes stayed the same. Praise didn't change how much players got on the ball. It changed how hard they worked off it.

Same touches. More intensity. Three coaching groups ran sessions with and without praise. High-intensity accelerations and decelerations per player rose in all three groups (Group A 5 to 7, Group B 9 to 11, Group C 5 to 6), +26% more high-intensity efforts per player on average; 3/3 groups made more high-intensity speed changes with praise; 2/3 groups covered more ground per player; roughly zero change in touches and releases per player.

The question

Our Beyond Pulse study showed that praise gets players moving more. With PlayerMaker, we wanted to know what kind of movement: more time on the ball, or more effort?

How we tested it

In February 2025, three coaches each ran their group through sessions with and without deliberate praise. Every player wore PlayerMaker foot sensors, which log each touch, release (pass or shot), sprint and change of pace. We compared each group's per-player averages between the two conditions.

What we found

  • High-intensity accelerations and decelerations went up in all three groups: +40%, +22% and +20%, or about +26% on average.
  • Distance covered per player went up in two of three groups (+16% and +4%). The third group held steady.
  • Touches and releases per player didn't move (for example 43 → 42 touches and 16 → 16 releases).
What changed with praise, and what didn't. Average per player in each coaching group, no-praise session to praise session: touches and releases stayed the same in all three groups, while high-intensity accels/decels rose +40%, +22% and +20%, and distance covered rose +16% and +4% in two groups with the third flat. On the ball: unchanged. Off the ball: more intensity.

Why it matters

Same ball, same drills, more effort. Coaches ask for extra bursts and changes of pace all the time, and asking louder rarely gets them. Here the change came from how the coach talked to players. Together with our Beyond Pulse study, a pattern is starting to show: praise moves players.

What's next

These are early findings from three groups, not a controlled trial. We're running more sessions with partners to test this across ages and sports. C2X shows coaches how often and when they praise, so they can make it a habit instead of a guess.

See how C2X works →

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