Worldwide, sport brings people together to share ideas, drink a beverage or two, and watch some of the greatest athletes on the planet. Such activities are a major entertainment globally with spectators bombarded with a growing amount of information about athlete and team performance. This growing amount of ‘big data’ extends beyond spectators with team analysts, practitioners, coaches and athletes provided with a plethora of information to engage with as part of their daily working lives. The amount of data provided from video, sensors and athletes themselves is growing exponentially within international sport that requires a variety of unique assessments to support teams and their successful performance. The capacity to interpret and analyse performance data in meaningful ways is also moving increasingly beyond the scope and skill set of often over-burdened coaches and sports executives. Thus, roles for performance analysts who can generate, curate and translate insights are increasingly prevalent. In this invited symposium, prominent international researchers will explore further: 1) the professional practice of performance analysis in applied sports ecosystems; 2) the application of performance analysis in international sports such as badminton and basketball; and 3) research direction for future sports performance analysis.
ECSS Paris 2023: IS-AP05
Applied performance analysts (PAs) are a well-established applied sports science practitioner group, embedded under various titles in the majority of the world’s elite sports performance ecosystems. However, there has been little investigation of the nature of their professional practice within applied environments, or if performance analysis does indeed constitute a profession. This presentation will consider the evolution of applied practice within performance analysis as it has evolved to keep pace with technological developments and the emergence of big data. The presentation will focus on three key strands; 1) Harnessing data to co-create insights and ultimately value within performance ecosystems; 2) The current status of applied performance analysts as professionals; 3) Performance Analysis 3.0: future directions for the profession. Given the huge investment by sports performance organisations in the technology and human resources to generate performance data it is pertinent to pause and consider the value these data create, how value is created and for whom. Recent studies suggest that value is co-created between analysts and coaches; the analyst team generate, curate and translate insights based on the direction and guidance of the coaching or executive staff. It is becoming clear that while analysts need domain and technical knowledge, they also need particular personal attributes and professional behaviours to allow them develop the contextual intelligence required to deliver a valued service. Investigations which have captured the lived experiences of applied PAs reveal a group of dedicated and passionate practitioners who face several challenges including general role ambiguity, ad-hoc recruitment and job insecurity, poor working conditions, widespread use of unpaid internships and poor salaries, continually having to ‘prove their worth’ in an often volatile micro-political climate, and a general uncertainty about what skill set is required as the profession and technology rapidly evolve. There is an opportunity to re-imagine and rebrand to ‘Performance Analysis 3.0’ with a clear role definition, professional regulation, and a development pathway for applied professional practitioners. This presentation will be of interest to attendees engaged in the application of performance data in applied environments; analysts, coaches, and sports scientists. It will also appeal to delegates involved in professional development, reflective practice and accreditation.
Read CV Denise MartinECSS Paris 2023: IS-AP05
Sports performance has evolved since the origin of sports where performance metrics were used to control, model, and prescribe the players behaviours from different approaches (e.g. technical, tactical, positional, physical, psychological). In particular, there is a need to bridge the gap that exists between sports science and the field/court. The coaches need to feel and see sports performance analysts as a relevant and contributing role within their staff where scientific knowledge is offered to improve practice and management of competition (i.e. from theory to practice). The research approach should consider the scope and relevance of coaches’ research questions, instead of scientists research questions alone, which may be useful from a coaching point of view. Racket sports involve a wide range of data and key performance indicators that can be used to support decision-making with elite players including predicting, classifying, or establishing rule-based decisions that allow improvement in the quality of coaching decisions. The use of scientific methods and machine learning models may help to support this process and (sometimes) lead to success in international sports, such as badminton. This presentation will provide cooperative examples between a performance analyst and a successful badminton coach who engages with performance available information, to improve the quality of training sessions and player’s performance. Thus, a holistic method will be provided to clarify how sports scientists and coaches can work together to support and assist athletes in their careers.
Read CV Miguel Gómez RuanoECSS Paris 2023: IS-AP05
Basketball is an international game that continues to increase its popularity worldwide. Many studies have examined the physical demands of this game however, there is a growing interest in metrics and performance analysis to assist basketball athletes and coaches to win at all competition levels. Examination of data from regional, national and international tournaments has highlighted potential key metrics for match success. Although, the success of these metrics across competitions, countries, and sexes to enhance winning remains unclear, possibly due to methodological issues and changing trends in athlete ability and competition strategies. This invited session will review the current application of performance analysis in basketball with a focus on those metrics most applicable to winning across wide domains. Further, it will examine the historical relevance of these metrics and analyses to modern day competition. This session will engage analysts, sport scientists, players and coaches with discussion of the crucial metrics and analytical methods for success in international basketball while proposing the future of performance analysis in this global sport.
Read CV Anthony LeichtECSS Paris 2023: IS-AP05