Sports Performance & Tech, Issue 14

Issue 14 | theinnovationenterprise.com

HOW IMPORTANT IS COLLABORATION? We talk to 7 of sport’s top analytical minds about their thoughts on collaboration

THE DIFFICULTIES OF LIVE VIDEO ANALYSIS IN SOCCER We have seen live video analysis take some sports by storm, William Tubbs asks why this hasn’t been the case in soccer.

Also: Analytics At The Australian Open | The Case For Hawk Eye | Doping In Sport

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Welcome to Issue 14 of Sports Performance & Tech.

We are excited to bring you this issue, packed full of the juicy insights from the Sports Analytics Innovation Summit on March 25 & 26 in London. We spent our time at the summit hearing from some of the leading minds in global sports and seeing some of the best new products currently being developed.

In addition to this, we had the chance to sit down with some of these key industry players when they weren’t on stage, getting some great interviews and gaining valuable insight into the current state of sports analytics and sports technology.

Ahead of a future issue which will focus on collaboration between sports clubs or organizations and technology companies looking to create the next big thing in sports, we asked our interviewees their thoughts on this, and included some of them in this issue.

We also have interviews with James Bunce, the Head of Sport Science at the Premier League as well as Simon Jones, Head of Performance & Innovation at Team Sky. This issue also discusses how technology could hold the key to making the controversial 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar

a success. Will it be through wearable technology, air conditioning or Big Data?

Managing Editor:

William Tubbs gives us his thoughts on why live video analysis has become so successful in many sports, but has yet to make an impact on soccer, the richest sport in the world.

Assistant Editors

Finally, as the release of the Apple Watch draws closer, we ask why the early buzz around it seems to have dissipated and what this could mean for the future of wearables.

As always, if you are interested in contributing or have any feedback on the magazine, please contact me at ghill@theiegroup.com George Hill Managing Editor

George Hill

Simon Barton Artwork: Oliver Godwin-Brown Chelsea Carpenter Nathan Wood Contributors: David Barton William Tubbs

Are you are looking to put your products in front of key decision makers?

Andy Custis

For Advertising contact Abigal at afletcher@theiegroup.com

General Enquiries: ghill@sportsperformancetech.com

2015

CONTENTS

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HOW IMPORTANT IS COLLABORATION?

TECH AT THE WORLD CUP

We talk to 7 of sport’s top analytical minds about their thoughts on collaboration

As the World Cup in Qatar has now been confirmed in 2022, what can sports tech do to improve a difficult situation?

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THE DIFFICULTIES OF LIVE VIDEO ANALYSIS IN SOCCER

CONCUSSIONS IN RUGBY

WHEN EXACTLY WILL WEARABLES TAKE OFF?

We have seen live video analysis take some sports by storm, William Tubbs asks why this hasn’t been the case in soccer.

After a number of recent incidents in rugby Andy Custis talks us through the complex world of concussions in rugby.

We were promised that the Apple watch would change everything and that it would be the first big selling wearable

16 INTERVIEWS: James Bunce, Head Of Sports Science at The Premier League Simon Jones, Head Of Performance Sports & Innovation at Team Sky

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REVIEWS

Lazer Z1 Helmet Mission EnduraCool Towel

HOW TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP AT THE QATAR WORLD CUP

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Simon Barton Undoubtedly the most monumental hurdle to overcome is going to be the heat management inside the stadiums

Assistant Editor

HOW TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP AT THE QATAR WORLD CUP

The merits of holding a soccer World Cup in one of the hottest and driest countries in the world are shaky at best. The reasoning behind the decisions may be questionable, but it is ultimately confirmed that we will have it in Qatar in 2022.

This means that we need to make sure that we are making the most of this World Cup, even if it does interrupt national seasons and has created uproar from almost every single soccer organization across the world.

So what can we do to create a successful World Cup in what will undoubtedly be very challenging conditions?

One of, and perhaps the only, bonus of the World Cup being in Qatar is that they seemingly have an infinite amount of money that can be thrown at it.

Despite claims that it is for this reason alone that they won the bid to host the tournament, it also creates a situation where technology could take a lead role in making it a success.

Heat Management Undoubtedly the most monumental hurdle to overcome is going to be the heat management inside the stadiums. The average temperatures in Qatar will be hovering in the low 30˚C (86 fahrenheit) on average, even during the colder months.

This will take some doing, just as important as the players on the

pitch, are going to be the hundreds of thousands of people spectating.

Current technology simply will not allow for this kind of work to be done, with regular air conditioning shown not to be good enough in these kind of conditions.

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As yet there have been no definitive answers to how this will be fixed and is being touted as the primary reason for the tournament being moved to the winter for the first time in its history.

In fact even the cooling system designed for the job, when initially conceived, was looked at sceptically as it would necessitate such a massive environmental impact that it would not conform to FIFA’s environmental policy.

Crowd Management One of the remarkable things about Qatar is that it is so small.

It could fit into the UK 21 times and could fit into Texas over 60 times. This means that there are going to be significant logistical issues moving millions of people from across the world firstly into the country, then around it.

Simply having enough accommodation and infrastructure to allow millions of people to move throughout a country that is only seven times larger than London, but with a fraction of the historical infrastructure will require an in depth knowledge of how

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One of the remarkable things about Qatar is that it is so small.

It could fit into the UK 21 times and could fit into Texas over 60 times. and where people are moving, then creating systems that can incorporate this huge influx of people.

To do this, there will be a considerable reliance on the use of data and analytics being run in real-time. This will allow organizers to pinpoint potential bottlenecks or delayed areas, before rectifying them.

Player Monitoring In Brazil 2014, 72% of all players were from European leagues, where temperatures are generally going to be cold and wet in December. Qatar on the other hand is going to be hot and dry, creating issues regarding player wellbeing.

To rectify this, wearable tech can be used to track a player’s state whilst playing. This could mean that players can remain hydrated, their heart rates and temperature can be monitored to make sure they are at peak condition on the pitch and not in danger of dehydration or worse.

We have seen that playing a high tempo sport like soccer in hot conditions can have dire consequences, so this kind

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HOW TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP AT THE QATAR WORLD CUP

New wearable technology may well be at the forefront of this.

We have seen some being used today, but in 7 years time we are likely to be at a place that we would not even recognize today. of technology is a must for keeping players who will not be acclimatized to these conditions, fit and healthy.

The heat in Qatar, regardless of the time of year, is going to be the single biggest hurdle to overcome during this World Cup. There needs to be a considerable amount of time and effort spent on making sure that the health of players is at the forefront of people’s minds.

New wearable technology may well be a key component of this.

We have seen some being used today, but in 7 years time we are likely to be at a place that we would not even recognize today.

Custom Built Stadiums One of the aspects of Qatar that many have criticized is that they do not have the world class stadiums necessary to host a World Cup. The reason for this being that they have no major football teams and a population of only 2.169 million. To put this in perspective, if every single

person from Qatar wanted to watch an English Premier League game, it would only take three rounds of matches before that was achieved.

It does leave them with a desirable outcome though, which is that through the use of data analysis they can design brand new stadiums that are optimized for hosting these kind of large games. The longevity of these stadiums is questionable, as without popular teams to play there or indeed enough people to fill them, they may simply be left empty. This is unlike many of the stadiums built for the London 2012 olympics, which have either been repurposed (such as the main Olympic Stadium), taken down (such as the volleyball stadium) or sold and moved to other countries (such as the basketball court, bought by Brazil ahead of their 2016 Olympics).

This is in a city of over 6 million people and a country of over 62 million, so there needs to be in depth analysis about how these stadiums won’t simply become redundant and empty shells in the future.

Big Data will have a key role to play in this. We have seen big international matches being played in Qatar already in an effort to identify any problems and more importantly to acquire data to help with the design of these stadiums in 2022.

One thing remains clear regarding the World Cup in Qatar, which is that it will pose hurdles

to the organizers, but most importantly will create significant challenges to the players involved. Through the use of technology it will be possible to soften the blow that this may have, but with the amount of money available to look at these technologies, we may see the World Cup that has technology benefits spreading well beyond its 2022 start date.

The Difficulties With Spreading Live Video Analysis To Soccer William Tubbs Director, Sports Analytics Innovation

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It is not having the same impact as rugby or tennis, for one simple reason; the speed of the game.

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THE DIFFICULTIES WITH SPREADING LIVE VIDEO ANALYSIS TO SOCCER

Undoubtedly one of the biggest changes in sport over the past 5 years has been the introduction of live video analysis.

This has meant that referees and umpires now have more power than ever to make the correct decisions and they have made the most of this.

If you think about the TMO (Television Match Official) in rugby as a prime example, then it works fantastically.

Here, in addition to the three pitch based referees, there is an additional referee away from the pitch with access to live feeds from rugby matches.

This includes multiple angles and the ability to slow down or speed up the images in order to get a better perspective on any potential infringement.

In the recent 6 Nations Championship it allowed several potential tries to be either given or disallowed and more powerfully, to inform the referee of any foul player that he/she may have missed. For instance, James Haskell was given a yellow card in the England vs France match for a trip on Jules Plisson after the TMO, Ben Skeen, saw the incident and informed the referee, Nigel Owens, who punished the player.

We have also seen in tennis and cricket with the use of Hawkeye technology, that this kind of video analysis can be the point of winning or losing a match. Ultimately

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it allows players to always win based on sporting prowess, rather than refereeing mistakes.

Even in soccer we have seen technological innovations being used, with Hawkeye cameras now being used to detect if a ball has crossed the goal line.

However, it is not having the same impact as rugby or tennis, for one simple reason; the speed of the game.

At present the way that video analysis works in these successful implementations is either through appeal systems from players or officials, then analysis, then decision. Between these nothing happens in the game, it is a timeout, then the game can continue after decisions have been made.

In sports like soccer, hockey and similar field games, this can’t happen because the pace of the game would not allow it.

The time between receiving a free kick and the taking of the free kick is normally less than 10 seconds, unless it is a chance to shoot at goal. This means that there is roughly a 10 second window where decisions can be made based on video evidence. To look at an incident from multiple angles and speeds, then make an educated decision based on it would take significantly longer than this.

lost during game time (with free kicks, injuries and throw-ins) is tallied then added at the end of each half. If games were paused for an extended period for every decision, it would add far too much time on at the end of each half, extending matches to an unmanageable length.

We have seen significant decisions that would have been rectified through the use of video analysis, such as the wrong players being sent off, simulation that has resulted in goals or even fouls that have been deemed to be simulation.

So is there a way to circumvent this timing issue?

At present there is not, simply because by the time a video referee would identify and communicate to the referee that there may have been a foul, the game would have moved on so far to have made it irrelevant.

In future there may be automated ways of analyzing this in order to alert referees, but even this would require stoppages within the game that would disrupt the flow.

So will this technology ever be used further than it is now? It will require a fundamental change in the way that people view, officiate and appreciate the games, so with the often archaic views in soccer especially, perhaps not.

Soccer games need to have speed in officiating as any time

Ultimately it allows players to always win based on sporting prowess, rather than refereeing mistakes.

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CONCUSSION IN RUGBY Poor Knowledge Or Bigger Hits?

Andy Custis Co-Founder, YourPhysioPlan.com

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it used to be if you were 6’6’ and 17 stone you were playing in the back row, these days those are the stats for wingers and centres

CONCUSSION IN RUGBY – POOR KNOWLEDGE OR BIGGER HITS?

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Rugby is a very physical game, and this physicality has increased year on year since the game turned professional, with the guys getting bigger, stronger and fitter. The hits that occur in the game today are testament to how well conditioned and prepared the players at the top level are, otherwise they simply wouldn’t be able to get up from each knock.

generally, we are always striving to understand things better, and put policy in place to safeguard individuals, so I would never say that clinicians dealing with concussion regularly, such as myself, don’t need to evolve and update their understanding of it, but the knowledge of it by the Doctors and Physiotherapists working in rugby is not poor.

I’m 6’8” and well built, but it’s clear that the intensity in contact has greatly increased even since I finished playing at Bristol in 2004. It’s not hard to understand why players are suffering more concussions and more injuries that result in surgery.

I had a great example of this just last week. I was looking after the 1st team at my local National League club, when I witnessed a fairly innocuous collision on the pitch next to us, where the Colts were training. With this collision, one player was left on the floor looking decidedly groggy, holding his left shoulder.

After clearing his cervical spine for any nasty injuries I was able to investigate further, and my questioning went onto if the player had a headache, or if he felt sick.

Previously if you were 6’6” and 17 stone you were playing in the back row. However, nowadays, those are the stats for wingers and centres in the professional game, and those guys move a fair bit faster than we ever did in the pack!

Concussion has always been in the game, it just seemed to be less prevalent when the guys were a bit lighter. The forces exerted on players as a result of the simple physics of moving a heavier person faster into a collision zone will obviously start to increase the frequency of more serious injuries such as concussion.

There has been some discussion recently in the press and on social media around whether the knowledge of concussion in rugby is poor. In healthcare

He then reported to me that he had had a headache for 5 days since falling while skiing and this headache had gotten worse the day before when he tried to use the gym. He had not been to his GP as he had a helmet on while skiing, so his parents didn’t feel his headache was anything to worry about. I soon explained to them that not only should he have seen his GP, but he should also not have been at rugby training or even using the gym, as his headache, severity of pain from an innocuous challenge and the fact he had been struggling with bright lights meant he was certainly

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So the poor knowledge of concussion, in my opinion, lies with the misconceptions of the public concussed, and should be having 3 weeks rest from all activity, to be followed by a staged return to activity after this, providing no further symptoms were experienced.

Luckily on this occasion, I was able to identify and manage things for the Colt; however, repeated knocks and performing to exertion while concussed could have had serious repercussions for him. So the poor knowledge of concussion in my opinion lies with the misconceptions of the public, and it should be our job as clinicians to educate the public on this, which is one of the major things YourPhysioPlan.com does.

The misconception that a helmet while skiing will prevent concussion is the same misconception that a scrum cap will do the same. Scrum caps have been shown to purely limit the chance of head laceration, and will not prevent concussion from a head blow. Concussion occurs when the brain is shaken inside the skull, therefore scrum caps or ski helmets will not prevent this.

In rugby, concussion can be limited by being well conditioned for the level you are playing at, and working on tackling technique and body position

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CONCUSSION IN RUGBY – POOR KNOWLEDGE OR BIGGER HITS?

at the collision zone. If you have your head in the ‘right place’ during these actions, you will reduce the risk of developing concussion, however, if you play a contact sport you are likely to take knocks which could produce concussion despite having good technique.

I would never say that clinicians dealing with concussion regularly such as myself don’t need to evolve and update their understanding of it

WHEN EXACTLY WILL WEARABLES TAKE OFF? George Hill Managing Editor

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We were promised that the Apple watch would change everything

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WHEN EXACTLY WILL WEARABLES TAKE OFF?

We were promised that the Apple watch would change everything and that it would be the first big selling wearable.

We are still yet to the see the watch’s release, but if public opinion is anything to go by, it is not going to reach the heights that many predicted.

With a price tag ranging from around $500 to over $10,000 they are not the cheapest and people seem to be unwilling to pay this kind of money for something that has no proven track record.

In fact on Twitter the main message from consumers is simply that close to pre-launch, they aren’t that interested in it as a product.

So if the Apple Watch doesn’t kick start an industry that many have predicted big things for, what will?

Proper Narrative One of the most important aspects that has seen Apple become the richest company in the world has been that they have managed to create narratives around their products. From the computer in your pocket with the iPhone to the powerful creative imagery of the Macbook range.

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Each of Apple’s products have created a story that people can buy into, they have been marketed as a lifestyle choice but at present, the Apple Watch has not done this.

In order for a wearable product to be truly successful, the public need to know why they should be using it. At the moment the narrative for most is simply, ‘do things without having to get your phone out of your pocket’. This alone is not going to be the key to changing society’s mindset on the technology.

More Intuitive Controlling wearable devices has always been a challenge.

From the way that people needed to actually talk to their Google Glass, through to the fiddly nature of many of the existing smart watches. Nobody has cracked the code and nobody knows if it is something that can actually be cracked. Sure, in spy films having something on your wrist has always looked cool, but if you are on a bus and need to use your wearable, you don’t want to have to talk to your wrist.

At present, we are unsure about how the Apple Watch will make a difference to this, with their ‘digital crown’ claimed to be the breakthrough, but with no consumer information backing this up.

Cheaper Pricing One of the main reasons that the iPhone was such a success was simply because it was a phone.

This sounds strange, but essentially people could afford this technology through getting a phone on contract rather than needing to pay for it up-front.

This meant that as more people had them, others felt the need to get them and subsequently more were sold.

With the Apple Watch, is this something that will be included in contract packages? And if it is, would this be something that people would want to pay more money for?

More Credibility Unfortunately for us, wearable technology is still very much in the early adopter phase. This essentially means that it is seen as off the wall and nerdy. It is not something that has yet been embraced by a wider audience who could make it cool.

This means that in order to get to this point, there needs to be some kind of change where it is accepted and adopted by the cooler elements of society.

We may see famous people wearing them in adverts, but

the main message from consumers is simply that pre-launch, they aren’t that interested in it as a product

WHEN EXACTLY WILL WEARABLES TAKE OFF?

are they likely to adopt wearable technology outside of being paid to do so?

job easier and can add a mobile element to computers, but it does not try to replace them.

Forcing cool is not something that has ever had commercial success. It is, after all, a state of mind rather than anything else.

Blackberry tried to do it when they appointed Alicia Keys as their creative director, which did not end well for the company.

Equally when you look at the more niche wearable devices that have become popular, like Fitbit and Jawbone, they have made their millions by not trying to do everything, but have instead focussed on the health needs of an individual.

To get these kinds of devices to become cool, they need to actually be cool. That is to say, useful, aesthetically correct and worthy of a place on people’s wrists. As it stands, the Apple Watch may get to this stage, but at the moment consumer opinion says otherwise.

Will people want to have something on their wrist that tries to do everything? Something that attempts to put together everything their phone can do, but on a smaller screen, whilst also having all of the functionality of the more specific sports bands?

Better Focus There is no such thing as a catch all device.

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Think about the iPhone, it may well be a computer and you can access apps and browse the internet, but people cannot work from their mobile device alone.

It certainly manages to make the

In order for a wearable product to be truly successful, the public need to know why they should be using it

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IE INTERVIEWS

Name SIMON JONES

INTERVIEWS

Position HEAD OF PERFORMANCE SPORT & INNOVATION

Company TEAM SKY

Simon’s background is in cycling, and high performance sport.

A self-confessed average amateur cyclist, he studied sport science to learn about what differentiated elite from sub elite athletes. In 1999, Simon was given the opportunity to be GB track cycling endurance coach. At Sydney Olympics, the team pursuit won bronze for the first time in the event for 30 years, and picked up 2 4th places, narrowly missing 2 bronze medals.

The GB cycling team’s performance continued to grow and program develop year on year. In 2003, Simon’s additional responsibilities included Head Coach to the wider GB cycling program. Simon coached the Great Britain team pursuit squad to 8 successive world championship medals. By 2008, Simon was the Performance Team director of the Western Australian Institute of Sport. In 2013, he returned to the UK as Head of Endurance for the English Institute of Sport, and following 18 months in that role he accepted a position at Team Sky as Head of Performance Support and Innovation.

1 How do you think sports technology and data has changed cycling in the last 10 years?

It has massively changed cycling because we can measure things like power. Then we have coaching tools and you can start doing analysis, then analysis brings about new questions and ultimately it moves the sport forwards. Therefore, in cycling it has had an enormous role.

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IE INTERVIEWS

2 What do you think is the

most important aspect of any sports analytics programme?

It needs to be evidence based and it works back from the outcome that you want. I think that’s the absolute fundamental.

Therefore you need to know what it takes to win, trying to understand that and setting KPIs. Then the data should be trying to answer those questions. For me it’s like performance backwards. So fundamentally, that’s what you need to do.

3 Do you think that data in sports should be introduced at a young age or wait until athletes have developed further?

I think there is data available anywhere. Kids have access to it whether it is on websites or social media, so there is data out there and I think it is important for sports organizations and clubs to push the data that they want.

Ultimately kids will go and find it anyway, they will speak to their mates about it. So why not give them good education at

the level that is appropriate for their development?

4 How do you see the

collection and use of sports data changing in the next 10 years?

Probably in integration if you have multiple platforms and different tools. Essentially, how you can pull that together and have some of those Hadoop capabilities that allow you to integrate across different platforms.

It is something that we are going to be looking at ourselves because we’ve got quite a lot of different software and I think that bringing that into one database isn’t really an option because they offer different solutions. So integration and then some more advanced analytics where you can start to cross reference things in different data sets.

5 Do you think that the

public truly appreciates the impact that sports science and data has had on sport in the last few years?

I think you see a lot more stats on television, you see Sky Sports, bit of a plug there, but they are good at providing that

post critical event analysis. It’s a bit more tricky in cycling, but in tennis, rugby or football there is more analytics so people do appreciate that there is a bit more science behind it.

But overall, I am not too sure actually. Maybe.

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IE INTERVIEWS

Name JAMES BUNCE

INTERVIEWS

Position HEAD OF SPORT SCIENCE Company PREMIER LEAGUE

James joined the Premier League as Head of Sport Science 12 months ago, having previously spent 8 years as Head of Athletic Development at Southampton FC. Since beginning the role, James has designed, developed and delivered 3 national projects in collaboration with 29 clubs from the Premier League and Category 1 academies. The 3 inter-linked projects include Growth and Maturation, Injury Surveillance and Physical Testing where data has been collected from over 5000 players within the clubs. The aim of the projects is to allow the club community to work with world leading researchers to help inform practices to allow the development of world class football players.

INTERVIEWS

1 How do you think sports

technology and data has changed football in the last 10 years?

The sports science and medical fraternity is growing massively in football. Therefore the technology being used by those people is growing as well. Since the time I was at Southampton FC, many years ago, to now, the use of technology has gone through the roof.

Some of it is good, some bad, but certainly it’s being practiced a lot more. Originally we were on things like heart rate monitors and now it’s things like GPS and motion systems

where you are tracking player movement. The technology is really growing in our industry and hopefully it is being found to be a benefit in the clubs as well.

2 What do you think is the

most important aspect of any sports analytics programme?

I think the most important aspect is that if you are collecting data, then you are using data. I’m sure that is going to be said hundreds of times at any analytics debate or anything like that.

If you are collecting a piece of data, it must be able to be used for something. That doesn’t

mean that you can’t innovate and try new things, but you must be understanding that that is what you are doing.

If you are just collecting data and it’s sat on your computer or an excel file, it’s pretty much pointless and you are wasting your energy and time on things that aren’t having a positive affect on the development of players.

My take home message on that is that if you are spending the time and money on the technology then make sure you are using the data that comes from it.

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IE INTERVIEWS

3 Do you think that data in sports should be introduced at a young age or wait until athletes have developed further?

In my current role at the Premier League and also at Southampton, it was very much focussed around youth development. So developing a young player, hopefully into an elite athlete.

I think there is a sliding scale of where you begin to look at the data and you want to put the higher end of the scale at the older age groups. However, I do believe that you should start looking at data at a young age.

Much of the work we are doing at the Premier League is about developing those young players and tracking what it takes, what traits and norms are players showing at a young age and then following through and transitioning through the system.

So I would say yes, it does need to be used at a younger age group, not to the same depth as a first team environment, but you should be tracking your players development.

You should be looking at what a player is looking like at each stage of their development.

4 How do you see the

collection and use of sports data changing in the next 10 years?

I can’t see it slowing down to be honest with you. I think there is going to be more innovation, things are going to get better, the performance of the technology as people start to use it will improve.

It will become cleaner, the understanding of how to use it is going to get better as well as more people start to research and develop around it, which is the most important thing. It’s not only using it, it’s insuring that the validity of that data that is coming back is useful and having a positive effect.

But I think it’s an industry that is going to continue to grow massively over the coming ten years and even very soon too.

As more companies begin to see that there are investment opportunities to design and develop projects and products that will be useful in certain sporting environments.

5 Do you think the public

truly appreciate the impact that sports science and data has had on sport in the last few years?

I think the public are aware of the development of sports

science in the industry, especially in football where you can see that the physicality has grown considerably since the early times of football. You can see it in the players’ movement and the way they are much more explosive and powerful in the way that they didn’t used to be.

The most important aspect of this is that good sports science is good and and bad sports science is bad. We need to ensure that what is being delivered is to a standard that will illicit development within players and to ensure they can get the best of both. I think the public are aware and it’s an industry that is going to continue to grow and the technology will grow as well and the sports science guys will be utilizing that on a day-to-day basis on the field.

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HOW IMPORTANT DO YOU THINK COLLABORATION BETWEEN CLUBS

How Important Do You Think Collaboration Between Clubs/ Organizations and technology companies is when developing new technology and products?

James Bunce, Head of Sports Science, Premier League

‘From the Premier League’s perspective, we have an amazing relationship with the clubs we work with as an umbrella organization.

I engage with 29 clubs regularly, so we’ve got twenty Premier League clubs and nine acadamies that sit outside the Premier League and we have many discussions, meetings and innovating meetings where we discuss development projects, the things we could look at doing in the future, how we could collaborate some of the things they are doing at the individual clubs and bring it back to the table in the development role.

There’s been discussions held recently with GPS companies about how we can start to collaborate data from matches to start to build a physical benchmarking of matches. So what under 16’s, 18’s and 21’s

physicality of game effort looks like. That’s a discussion that we are having at the moment with the clubs and with the technology companies.

But I think it’s really key. The technology companies need that feedback as well, because these are the guys that are using it on the field, these are the guys that may be having problems and want to have it developed further. It’s really important that the link is there and hopefully as the Premier League is involved, we can have the responsibility of linking different people to improve that kind of aspect.’

James Molyneux, Academy Performance Analyst, London Irish Rugby

‘It is important to have the companies involved when you are developing them [new products]. At the end of the day they are bespoke products.

How you use them and how they integrate into your coaching process affects the way you are going to use them as an analyst. By having them there we are going to be able to really narrow down the tools that you need to be able to use analytics.

If you have a lot of organizations involved, in terms of the national governing bodies, you are going to have a good benchmark of what is happening in sport and you are going to be able to compare and know the norms to compare against. So it is certainly beneficial’

Jamie Capel-Davies, Manager, Science & Technical, International Tennis Federation

‘I think it’s vital that all of their stakeholders are involved in the decision making process and collaborative process. Everyone has some sort of role and contribution in terms of that wider programme.

In developing our new rule in tennis, we consulted with various stakeholders as much as possible to get their input and feedback in terms of how we were thinking of introducing the rule and whether it was fit for purpose.

That dialogue is really important’

HOW IMPORTANT DO YOU THINK COLLABORATION BETWEEN CLUBS

Jon Roberts, Director, Performance, Rugby Football League

‘Absolutely critical. I think the challenge is very much to get the system to meet the needs of the customer. Rather than here’s the system and you fit the customer into the system.

Therefore there has to be strong collaboration or the products will always fall short somehow.

So again I would say we need to identify what the problem is and build the system to solve that and I think increasingly there are those sports that have got millions of pounds to be able to invest in this type of technology and sports analytics, and there are those that don’t. It is about trying to scale it so they aren’t being priced out of the market for other sports.’

Sam Timmermans, Head of Sports Intelligence Unit, UK Sport

‘It could be a critical factor because sports organizations in general don’t have the know-how and the resources to

accelerate the development in technology and data. Teaming up with a technology partner who’s core function is to have that resource and technology, having those innovations and sharing the insight from the sports knowledge about what is important to the sport, and the best practice from technology.

I think that is a critical factor in driving innovation in the area.’

Simon Jones, Head of Performance & Innovation, Team Sky

‘I think it’s important they do collaborate because ultimately sports people know their sports technically. It’s that engagement that you need to know.

Rather than producing the solution that’s looking for a problem, trying to understand what the problems being faced by organizations are, then work back from that.

You need to start at the end and find out what problem people face rather than try to give them a solution to something that they haven’t really got a problem for. So

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engagement is really important, simply to provide what they want.’

Daniel Tobin, Head of Fitness, Leinster Rugby

‘I think it’s crucial. Sometimes we may get a product that may look good and flashy, may not be fit for purpose for what we would actually like to do with it. The feedback that we can give once we have used the product for 6 or 12 months, to the company, allows them to improve their product and allows them to improve the service to us as well. It’s a win-win and really I don’t see an alternative going forward to having that really tight collaboration between technology partners and the sporting club.’

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Digital Innovation for a Wearable Future

Wearable Tech

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H C E T S T SPOR

REVIEW

MISSION ENDURACOOL TOWEL LAZER Z1 HELMET

Lazer Z1 Helmet P 25

Mission EnduraCool Towel P 24

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As it is a simple looking towel it is hard to give comment on whether it looks good or not. With the choice of colours though, it would be easy to find one that you liked.

Functionality

It is a thin piece of material around 30cm x 84cm. The colour I tested was black, but comes in a range of options.

I would say that it closely resembles a travel towel.

The towel works very well, I used it throughout several indoor turbo training sessions and it allowed me to cool down quickly, without needing to soak myself in water.

It was genuinely refreshing to put this around my neck or over my head, it was also a breeze to simply ‘snap’ the towel when it had heated up and bring it back to a cooling temperature before using it again.

At £15 ($19.99) it is more expensive than simply putting a wet flannel around you neck, but with the simplicity of the product combined with how effective it is, this price isn’t too steep.

The towel has clearly been well thought out, being small enough to easily store if you are on the go.

It could be stuffed into a pocket or even tied around an arm.

Then all you do is soak it, wring it out and then ‘snap’ it (grab either end and firmly pull away from each other) then the towel almost instantly cools and becomes useable.

I managed to do this whilst on a turbo trainer, although it would only take a couple of seconds so could easily be done on a bike, whilst running or similar.

Overall

Price Performance

Appearance

Mission EnduraCool Towel

I was impressed with the Mission EnduraCool Towel, its simplicity is what makes this a great product.

The ability to not get soaked or have some kind of refrigeration in order to cool you down is brilliant, especially when in the middle of a field where both easily available water sources or electricity may not be readily accessible.

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Lazer Z1 Helmet

that allows tightening to happen around the entire head rather than just at the back, like many other helmets, it achieves strong fix with little movement.

Ahead of the 2016 Olympics, the kit being used by many of the teams has been announced.

For Team GB the clothing is being made by Adidas, their long term collaborator.

The first thing that you notice about the helmet is that it is incredibly well ventilated, with 30 vents throughout the helmet, meaning that the airflow is about as good as you will find. It also combines added protection around the temple, a feature that Lazer call ’T-Pro’.

This means that the sides of the helmet are lower around your forehead than most. Although unconventional, I quite like the look. It also comes in a selection of colours, from the testing colour (black and fluorescent yellow) to the Madison racing team orange and two shades of blue. Each colour looks good, although in Rio I expect it will have a custom Union Jack design.

Fit

It also has Lazer’s new signature rear ‘spoiler’ which is a small fin that crosses the centre of the helmet towards the rear, whilst around an inch above the central band.

Lazer’s Rollsys system has always been a hit with the Sports Performance & Tech team, and as the Z1 features this, it is guaranteed to fit well. Through a system

Performance

Appearance

We will be testing out some of the gear being used by the athletes from Adidas in the coming issues, but we were given the chance to test out the Lazer Z1, the same cycling helmet that the British athletes will be using during the Olympic road race around the roads of Rio.

It means that there is universal pressure around the head, so the fit is always as tight as you want, but without particular pressure on any one point of the head.

In terms of testing the helmet to destruction, fortunately we did not try this out in a real life crash.

However, from some minor tests the helmet certainly seems sturdy and the T-Pro covers much of the most vulnerable areas of your head. It also has significant crumple zones that will keep the wearer well protected if the worst were to happen.

Aside from protection, the helmet has some of the best ventilation that I have found on a helmet, with a fresh breeze being pushed through the ample number of vents. This kept me cool even on long climbs or extended periods of intense effort.

It also comes with an aeroshell, which has two functions. One is to keep the wind and rain off in poor conditions, the other is to improve your aerodynamics. We do not currently possess a wind tunnel, so have no real way to judge whether this is true, but it is certainly a nice element to have, especially whilst testing in the British winter.

Functionality

The helmet is easy to put on and fit, with the aeroshell simple to add and remove.

Price

The helmet comes in at ÂŁ200 ($269.95) rrp, which for a helmet of this quality is about right. It compares favourably with other helmets from Poc and Kask, which will undoubtedly also be in the Olympic peloton.

Overall

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The helmet performs very well when riding, with fantastic airflow and a great fit. I used it on sprints, climbs and just regular riding and had no real issues with it. Some may not like the look of the helmet from the front (I had somebody say it looks like a bowl cut) but the additional protection that this design gives you more than makes up for it.

In terms of fitting the helmet, it is effortless as it just has a wheel on the top of the helmet that you twist to either tighten or loosen.

This meant that rather than needing to fiddle around behind your head, like with most other helmets, you simply place the helmet and twist from the top.

The colour that I tested also had a high visibility band across the centre of the helmet, running from front to back. This was certainly an added bonus as it meant that I managed to stay well lit and visible in low light conditions.

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