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SPORTS PERFORMANCE & TECH AUG 2016 | #22
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT VR IN SPORTS / 14
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The Bizarre World of eSports Often viewed as the realm of layabouts and the lazy, professional gaming has become increasingly popular and now commands huge audience. / 6
Brexit and Sports: Its Complicated
With the UK voting to leave the EU the impact the decision will have on sports people is going to be significant / 24
Wearable Tech in Sport Summit Speakers Include
San Francisco August 24 & 25 2016 Contact Details Alex Collis
+1 415 237 1472 acollis@theiegroup.com www.theinnovationenterprise.com
ISSUE 22
EDITOR’S LETTER Welcome to the 22nd Edition of the Sports Performance & Tech Magazine
2016 has been a huge year for sport. We have seen the minnows of Leicester beat some of the biggest soccer teams in the world to win the Premier League, Team Sky have proven the innovation works following their Tour de France (TdF) victory, and LeBron James brought NBA playoff victory to the Cavaliers. All this has happened despite us being only just over halfway through the year, with new sports seasons expected to start within the next two months across the world. However, despite these amazing sporting achievements we sit at what seems like a dark time for the world. We have had some of the best loved people in the world die, ISIS has continued to commit horrific attacks across the world, and racism has begun to rear its head in political conversations. It naturally creates an anger filled, frustrated, and scared atmosphere in which we must live.
This is why we need sport. We know deep down that sports are essentially just games, but they are also a necessary escape. When we see an athlete perform something awe-inspiring, the problems of everything else around the world or in your life melt away, even if only for a fleeting moment. Having edited this magazine for the past 4 years I have come to realize that new technologies are not just for ‘winning’, they are to create awe, success, and happiness amongst fans. Teams want success, success brings fans, and fans bring money to further this success, and the cycle continues. If a team were to act within isolation, not caring about fans, they would make no money and there would be no funding for them to achieve greatness. Through making fans happy in victory, they essentially increase their opportunities to innovate further and
create more success to make the fans even happier. We live in a difficult time, but sport brings a light to billions of people across the world and new technologies and approaches hopefully make that light burn a little brighter.
George Hill managing editor
As always, if you have any comment on the magazine or you want to submit an article, please contact me at ghill@sportsperformancetech.com
Wearable Tech in Sport Summit November 9 & 10 2016 | Amsterdam
Speakers Include
Contact Details Alex Collis
+44 203 868 0516 acollis@theiegroup.com www.theinnovationenterprise.com
contents 6 | THE BIZARRE WORLD OF ESPORTS
20 | REVIEWS
Often viewed as the realm of layabouts and the lazy, professional gaming has become increasingly popular and now commands huge audiences
Cosine 55mm Carbon Wheel set Tithings Activité Steel
11 | WIMBLEDON: DIGITAL INNOVATION AMONG THE TRADITION
In the modern business environment targeting marketing by gender is - on top of being morally problematic - a dated and simplistic method
24 | BREXIT AND SPORT: IT’S COMPLICATED
With the UK voting to leave the EU the impact the decision will have on sports people is going to be significant. 26 | THE NBA DRAFT IS AN ANALYTICAL MERITOCRACY
Professional basketball teams are now heavily reliant on data to pick the next big thing in the draft
14 | EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT VR IN SPORTS
Virtual reality has traditionally been seen as a gaming tool, but we are increasingly seeing the technology used in sports viewing and training
WRITE FOR US
Do you want to contribute to our next issue? Contact: ghill@sportsperformancetech for details
17 | US VS AUSTRALIA: WHO LEADS THE WAY IN SPORTS TECHNOLOGY?
The two countries are the two leaders in the development of new sports technologies, but which comes out on top?
managing editor george hill
| assistant editor charlie sammonds | creative director charlotte weyer |
contributors shivanee pattni, aaron fraser, james ovenden, sean foreman
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The Bizarre World of eSports Charlie Sammonds Assistant Editor
/6
THE SALARIES OF professional soccer players, particularly those in Europe, have been the subject of long-running debate. Sixfigure salaries are common, bonuses are huge and the escalation seen since the maximum wage was abolished in 1961 has been a spectacular example of a financial arms race. The words ‘overpaid’ and ‘footballer’ are often coupled and the subject is met with tutting and a shake of the head when brought up amongst friends. How, then, will people react when the salaries of professional gamers surpass theirs - they have, for most people, by the way. According to the Guardian, ‘star players [earn] salaries
[Skillz] broadcasted 8.5 million minutes of professional gaming across the likes of YouTube and Twitch last year, and expects that figure to rise to 40 million this year
and prize pots of up to $12 million.’ Playing video games now technically counts as ‘training’, as competitive computer playing (eSports) takes gigantic strides toward being a mainstream pursuit. The notion of a sea of fans watching on - with even more, naturally, watching online - as players sit in front of computers might seem odd, but it’s gaining traction quickly. Like soccer players, pay is set to skyrocket and, like soccer, the industry is set to become incredibly lucrative. One startup placing all its chips on eSports is Skillz. The San Francisco startup broadcasted 8.5 million minutes of professional gaming across the likes of YouTube and Twitch last year, and expects that figure to rise to 40 million this year, according to TechCrunch. The company ‘paid out 21% of last year’s eSports prizes worldwide and is on target to pay out 38% of eSports prize money won in 2016 tournaments.’ The company generated $20 million in entry fees in 2015, a figure set to more than double this year - eSports is already huge business. Sky Sports, too, has jumped on the trend, and is set to broadcast what will be one of its stranger products: a 24hour dedicated eSports channel. Both Sky and ITV are set to take a minority stake in the new Ginx eSports TV, as part of an attempt to ride the industry’s journey into the mainstream. There’s no doubt the move is supported by numbers; of the 20 most subscribed YouTube
channels, five are dedicated to gaming, with the number one in the world being PewDiePie, a Swedish gamer with 45 million subscribers. If this enthusiasm could be translated into competitive gaming figures, the revenue potential could be huge. And Skillz’ claims are bold. The startup’s website cites a USA Today piece that claims ‘more people watch eSports than watch the MLB World Series or NBA Finals’, and a Juniper Research report that claims ‘eSports will have bigger audiences than the NFL by 2020.’ Incidentally, the institute also claims that subscription revenues will reach $1 billion in the same year, and that the industry is ‘on pace to surpass $9 billion in revenue by 2017.’ Such comparisons and figures are difficult to believe but, with younger audiences, the scale is vast. ITV’s managing director of online, pay and interactive, Simon Pitts, said: ‘eSports is experiencing phenomenal growth and Ginx’s vision is to bring together two incredibly popular forms of entertainment – gaming and television – to create a unique, global proposition.’ With an influx of cash comes a host of legal issues, though. Firstly, competitive gaming is currently suffering from immigration woes. The P-1 Visa, ‘applicable to aliens entering the United States to perform at a specific athletic competition as an athlete’, is notoriously difficult to get. It’s withholding has held many gamers back, as immigration officials will be largely inexperienced in awarding them for eSports events. The eSports /7
With the industry in its infancy, and its participants generally fairly young, the employment status of the players is itself a complicated matter
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community is currently ‘eagerly anticipating a White House response to a petition asking eSports to be formally recognized as athletics.’ Whatever your opinion is on eSports’ validity as sporting endeavour, it certainly has both the audience and the financial backing to overcome these kinds of problems. Also problematic are the legal issues surrounding competitors’ pay. With the industry in its infancy, and its participants generally fairly young, the employment status of the players is itself a complicated matter. Some are given full-time contracts, others are self-employed, others are contractors - issues of tax and employment status are becoming rife as the eSports industry balloons. ‘It’s really complicated,’ eSports lawyer Jas Purewal told Red Bull. ‘Tax, and employment issues, and immigration, are the three most complex issues in eSports and I jest not when I say at conferences that resolving those challenges in eSports is the life’s work of lawyers in the future.’
It’s difficult to imagine competitive gamers becoming global superstars, but in a sense they already have done. YouTube celebrities and Twitch fanatics have paved the way for a new breed of competition to take off, not just online but on TV. The nature of eSports make it destined to remain on the fringes, but this doesn’t mean it won’t be a lucrative industry - people pay to watch darts, after all - and with the backing of major broadcasters and some already notable sponsors, it seems the world of sports’ push to ‘go digital’ is being taken all too literally.
PUSH THE BOUNDARIES WITH DATA
Sports Analytics Innovation Summit Speakers Include
Melbourne February 22 & 23, 2017 Contact Details Alex Collis
+1 415 237 1472
acollis@theiegroup.com www.theinnovationenterprise.com /9
The competition has long been forward thinking with regard to its use of new technology / 10
Wimbledon: Digital Innovation Among The Tradition Shivanee Pattni , Sports Analytics Evangelist
Despite its quirks, tennis’ most prestigious tournament is digitally astute WIMBLEDON IS A STRANGE COMPETITION. Tennis’ most coveted prize stands as something of a relic in international sport, a throwback in a world that has otherwise moved on. In a very English and somewhat curious way, the competition has retained quirks of tradition, from the suppliers of the ball boys and ball girls to the lack of signage around the arenas. Male players may no longer wear trousers, prize money has ballooned and the carbon fibre material used to make modern tennis rackets didn’t exist in 1877 when the ‘Wimbledon Championship’ was first held, but the heart of the competition is largely without change. A great deal about the worlds oldest tennis tournament hasn’t budged. Wimbledon is the only major competition today for which participants are required to wear white and play on grass, and the tournament is still technically hosted by the All England Club themselves - as opposed to a national governing body - one of the country’s most exclusive clubs. Only 375 full memberships exist, and short of being a winner of the competition or a member of the royal family entry is near on impossible. The club is quiet the majority of the year round, but for a two-week frenzy near the beginning of summer, a quiet area of south west London hosts nearly half a million spectators.
Perhaps conversely, though, the competition has long been forward thinking with regard to its use of new technology. Though behind cricket in the adoption curve, Wimbledon brought in Hawk-Eye refereeing technology to assist umpires in 2007, giving each player a maximum of three incorrect challenges per set. Tennis is the only sport currently using a challenge system (the umpires decide when the technology is used in a cricket match), but there have been murmurs that soccer is set to follow suit. Off the court advancements have been just as impressive, though, and Wimbledon is one of the better spectator sports both in the arena and out. In 1992, IBM devised a system allowing courtside specialists to collate match statistics almost instantly using data entry keypads. Fast forward
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Andy Murray emerged victorious from this month, the technology snatching the headlines is IBM’s Watson. two decades, and 2012 sees the introduction of Live @ Wimbledon, an online stream showing live tennis, highlights and other clips, with real-time stats available. This was then transposed onto a dedicated Wimbledon app just a year later, with both spectators and fans at home able to keep up with scores, statistics and video. The technology itself is by no means groundbreaking but where some sports and competitions have been incredibly slow to update their digital offerings, Wimbledon stands as a gleaming example. Firstly, it’s a matter of logistics Centre Court can accommodate just 15,000 spectators. With so few able to watch the main event live, the experience from elsewhere takes on a special significance. Sam Seddon, IBM Client Executive for Wimbledon, said: ’Wimbledon’s mission is to be the best tennis tournament in the world so brand quality is very important to them; you either come here and experience it in person or you experience it on digital. To put this into context, only 10 million people have visited the Championships since 1990 but last year alone there were 63 million visits to the website, so you could argue that the true expression of the Wimbledon brand if you can’t attend can only be found on Wimbledon.com.’ In the 130th edition of the competition, which Andy Murray emerged victorious from this month, the technology snatching the headlines is IBM’s Watson. The machine learning platform digested millions of
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conversations on the likes of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram over the course of the tournament to identify trends even before they properly explode. ‘During last year’s final we were analysing about 400 tweets a second,’ says IBM’s Sam Seddon. ‘Expand that out into Facebook, Instagram and more long-form content, and that’s a lot of data. We can come up with insights much faster than humans can and inform the media team so they can decide what kind of content they should be offering.’ Essentially, Watson allows Wimbledon’s team to lead trends rather than follow them, to offer relevant content to their users and to, in turn, get the edge over the competition in terms of fan engagement. The digital transition at Wimbledon isn’t entirely complete; wifi is still not offered in the grounds and the mobile coverage is patchy at best, but the competition is one of the most digitally astute in world sport. The website is updated over 100,000 times a day and, if the use of Watson can provide real insight and relevancy to the site’s users, Wimbledon can further establish itself as a digital innovator, however at odds with its traditional atmosphere this may seem.
Sports Analytics Innovation Summit Speakers Include
San Francisco August 23 & 24 2016 Contact Details Sean Foreman
+1 415 692 5514
sforeman@theiegroup.com www.theinnovationenterprise.com / 13
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT...
VR In Sports Aaron Fraser, Head of Sports
YOU’RE A QUARTERBACK in the Super Bowl. It’s the game’s climactic play, you’ve made the call, you look up, the receiver’s away. The pass leaves your hand cleanly, but it is intercepted before it reaches your teammate and the play dies. Instead of facing the din of the fans, the scorn from the coach or the disappointment of your teammates, though, the play simply resets before your eyes and you go again, ready to make a different decision and pick the right pass. OK, not exactly, but virtual reality training programs are infiltrating the NFL and are predicted to spread quickly, with coaching teams determined not to miss any new technology that could give them a competitive edge. Setting up specific scenarios with real opposition in regular training can be difficult, and is arguably a waste of time for those present to simply act as defenders. With VR, though, a coach can run a play over and over, take the time to explain the decision-making process to their player, without having to leave their office. / 14
The applications of the tech range from the game-like to the hyper-real. Dutch company Beyond Sports VR use real match data to replicate scenarios virtually. Their video game-like systems, or ‘virtual reality solutions’, are targeted at professional soccer teams. The software simulates a game situation and offers the player multiple choice options for passes to make, for example, with a correct answer awarded points. Players can relive specific moments from games and assess the outcomes, with the system measuring the speed of the decision making so a coach can aim to improve not just a player’s intuition but their sharpness too. Used by Louis van Gaal’s Dutch national team before the 2014 World Cup, as well as clubs like Ajax, PSV and AZ, coaches can use the tech to create custom scenarios to visualize something perhaps otherwise difficult to explain or replicate on the training ground. Spacial awareness and decision making are two of the most vital attributes across all team sports, and VR just gives players more time to hone them. the push to adopt VR will be seen not just in soccer, but football too. US company STRIVR go one further than their Dutch counterparts. Using 360 degree cameras, STRIVR presents actual scenarios through VR, realistic enough to trick an athlete’s brain into thinking they’re on the field something founder Derek Belch claims he has biometric data to support. The founder and CEO also says the company are aiming to get eight to 12 NFL franchises using their software by the start of the football season, with two already confirmed and the ‘ink drying’ on another two, with more in the pipeline. VR is generally viewed as a gaming tool, but the hyper-reality of STRIVR’s technology is exactly why it’s potentially so valuable to sports teams. As the company says on its website, players are now ‘able to study from
the same vantage point from which they [play].’ The Dallas Cowboys are using the technology to allow their coaches to see as their players see, with details like where they have their feet, where their hands are placed and what exactly they’re looking at now more available for scrutiny than ever before. But its not just coaching staff that will feel the benefits of VR’s invasion of sport. Sky Sports recently recorded an interview with David Beckham and Kirsty Gallacher in full VR, allowing fans to feel as though they’re alongside the two in the studio. From this faux-exclusivity to being able to experience being on the field themselves, fans lucky enough to own a VR headset will be able to get ever-closer to the sport they love, albeit virtually. Where the prime seat on the 50-yard line at the Super Bowl might sell for many thousands of dollars, streamed VR footage from that seat could be available to the masses. Exclusive behind the scenes access is something that is being considered, too, and the effect of VR could fundamentally change the way fans engage with their sports digitally. Having said that, while a VR representation of the view from the best seats may be persuasive - and doubtless a step up from traditional TV viewing - the palpable buzz of being in a professional sports stadium is something that’ll be near impossible to replicate. No matter how realistic VR becomes, being at the game is a truly unique thing. Just as being at a live music event is a visceral experience that defies replication, so too is live sport (and, indeed, support). A technology doesn’t need to replace the match day experience to be revolutionary, though, and the mark VR makes on sports streaming could be as significant as the one it makes on gaming.
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us vs australia Who leads the way in Sports Technology? Sean Foreman, Sports Tech Commentator ASK A HUNDRED different people what the future of technology in sports looks like and you’ll get a hundred different answers. With so many elements of so many different sports being impacted by new technology at a dizzying pace, no sooner have those in the industry gotten to grips with how to best use the existing tech than another potentially revolutionary piece of equipment hits the market. Broadcasting is facing a similar overhaul, with technology able to bring audiences closer to the game both inside the stadium and out. ESPN refers to Australia as the ‘epicenter of the [sports science movement],’ and even goes as far as to declare it the birthplace of the science. The assessment may seem hyperbolic, but Australia has made strides in both the production and application of wearable technology unparalleled the world over. At the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Australia finished the competition with no gold medals. Malcolm Fraser, Prime Minister at the time, declared this unacceptable and set up the
Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), a body that has since been central to the country’s sports science proficiency. Today, one of the key reasons Australia is excelling is the fact that wearable technology is permitted during games, where in most US sports and in European soccer, for example, the technology is confined to the training field. It’s no surprise that Catapult, one of sports wearables’ industry leaders, is based in Melbourne. The company was born when engineers Shaun / 17
Hothouse and Igor van der Griendt were working on a project with the AIS. Catapult is now used by all AFL, ARU and NRL teams - a penetration far higher than in Premier League soccer clubs or the NFL, for example. This penetration comes from the in-game usage; teams neglecting the technology risk missing out on valuable touchline insight. The US, comparably, is seemingly uncomfortable with the notion of a team gaining competitive advantage simply by being quickest to adapt to technology that provides realtime data in-game. In May, the NFL provided teams with data two-years in the making, taken from RFID chips worn by players on the field. The data is certainly useful, but will not provide real competitive advantage until it is made available in real-time, indeed if it ever is at all. If Australia is the king of wearable technology, though, the US is coming after its crown. Strides taken in recent years to research and produce the tech are promising, and the sheer size of the US sports market make it ripe for innovation. Far from being fledgling, the US sports technology revolution is only a few steps behind that of Australia, and projects are popping up across the country. Alabama, for example, recently opened its Integrative Center for Athletic and Sport Technology (I-CAST), ‘an interdisciplinary center drawing on expertise in engineering, kinesiology, health science, and athletic training.’ The center is primarily focused on the reduction of - and quicker recovery from - injury, and is just one example of a systemic push to see technology play a greater role in US sports.
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In April, too, MLB approved two wearable devices for use in-game, according to the Associated Press. One measures the stress on the players’ elbows and another monitors heart and breathing rates. Again, the technology is primarily concerned with the prevention of injury - it will identify the habits that lead to injury and allow coaches to intervene. It’s unclear how teams could use the information competitively, and its in this area that the US still falls behind its competition Down Under. It’s in broadcasting that the US leads the way. Small enhancements to TV viewing are quick to be adopted across most US sports and, crucially, a willingness to try new things is exemplified well by the many failed projects. FOX, in the late 90s, introduced a digital on-screen graphic called FoxTrax, commonly known as the Glowing Puck. By highlights the puck in-play, and super-imposing a red streak behind it when shot quickly, viewers found it far easier to see where the puck was at all times. The tech proved too distracting, though, and was pulled just two years after being introduced.
But for every Glowing Puck, there’s an ESPN K-Zone, a relatively simple tech used in baseball to display the strike zone during a pitch. Though disliked by some (for any new sports tech can guarantee some opposition) the tech has been a success. All sports broadcasts can be enhanced by technology - cricket’s Hawk-Eye is a particularly resounding example - and the US is way out ahead in terms of developing and trialling new technologies. It’s difficult to compare the use of broadcasting technology to the use of wearables but, in this former, the US excels. In the latter, too, state projects could very conceivably challenge the AIS in the coming years. At present, the US’ rules regarding wearables in-game are too stringent for the nation to become a leader, but if this were to change - and in Baseball it already is - the US could be set to take the lead across technology’s applications in sport.
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review Cosine 5 5 mm Carbon Wheelset
WE HAVE INCREASINGLY seen the use of high end materials and technologies both trickle down to lower tier products whilst also seeing products using them reducing in price as a result. One of the most visible has been in the use of carbon fibre in cycling.
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It was initially one of the most expensive materials to use, out of reach for all but the professionals or those with more money than sense. However, recent years have seen the price of the material reduce significantly and now mid-range components can often be found being made of carbon fibre. One of the cheapest around comes from Cosine, Wiggle's in-house component manufacturer. We tested out the Cosine 55mm Full Carbon Clincher Wheelset, which retails at ÂŁ600.
Is it any good? In short, yes, they are very good for the price you pay. There are some elements where you can tell that they aren't the top of the line versions, but these are few and far between. The bearings for instance would be a bit faster, the freehub may be a little quieter and less paint used on it and they may also be a little lighter. Aside from this they match up nicely with more expensive options.
Lateral movement is a real bonus and is almost non-existence despite my best efforts to see how far I could push them. I set my brakes as close to the They are one of the cheapest sets of deep rimmed full carbon clincher wheel braking surface as I could and even then I had no brake rub when pushing sets that we have come across, aimed at offering aerodynamic advantage over really hard. This is helped by the wide traditional mid and low rimmed wheels. rim width, which also has a significant positive impact on the the stability However, they aren't cheap knockoffs, having been built by Gigantex in Taiwan, of them when cornering, which was excellent. experts in carbon rims. What is it?
Weight wise they are clearly heavier than others at 1752g, which when you compare them to Zipp 404's (1535g) or Reynolds 58 Aero (1580g) they have an additional 200g of weight. However, it is certainly worth noting that they aren't designed as climbing wheels, so keeping the weight down certainly wasn't the primary objective. Cosine have maintained the current fashion for wider rims with a 23.4mm external and 19mm width. This allows tyres to be fitted between 23mm-28mm (depending on your frame clearances). It is also meant to create more stability in the wheel when cornering at speed. The freehub is currently only available for Shimano and SRAM, but there is a plan to create a Campagnolo compatible version too. They come with a set of carbon specific brake pads, although it is worth noting that we didn't receive the same set with our review units. However, we know that Wiggle are rethinking the pads provided in the next model to help with heat dissipation and power.
It is also helped by the Sapim CX Delta spokes, with a 24 at the back dual crossed and 20 at front with a straight pull setup. Throughout the review period I didn't notice them going out of true at all. Braking works well, although I couldn't test with the actual pads supplied. However, those that I used worked fine, not as good as with aluminium or more machined braking surfaces, but more than adequate for what I needed. As with almost every carbon rim used, it is not surprising that they aren't the best for bad weather riding. Naturally, given their deep rims, they are a bit of a handful in crosswinds and braking is impacted in the wet. However, this is the same with even the most expensive carbon rims, so hardly a huge issue given the price of these. How does it compare? It compares well to others that cost more than three times what you would pay for these. You can understand the draw to pay thousands for deep rim wheels, but the truth is that these look the part, perform well and cost significantly less.
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review Withings Activite Steel
IN A MARKET of touch screen displays and wildly varied functionality, Withings’ Activité line sits some distance outside of the norm.
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Unrecognisable up against an Apple Watch or a Samsung Gear, any users expecting to be able to read emails, share their location and answer phone calls with their watch will be left sorely disappointed by a ‘smartwatch’ that decidedly earns its stripes elsewhere. Design The first thing to note about Withings’ watch is its style - I tried the Steel [http://www.withings.com/uk/en/ products/activite-steel], but the Pop and the Sapphire are all equally attractive albeit in different ways. Stylistically, the Steel is essentially an amalgamation of the Pop and the Sapphire, with the silicon strap holding in a place a sleek, minimalist face available in just black or white. The three variants differ only in style, with functionality consistent across the range, and the Steel sacrifices little in terms of aesthetic despite its relatively cheap price point. The stainless steel case is complimented by a double-domed glass face, which is responsive to the touch - the dome and eight-month battery give the watch a slightly more bulbous look than some others, but the difference is subtle enough to not spoil what is otherwise by far the best-looking smartwatch I’ve come across. The only suggestion that the Activité is a fitness tracker is the activity dial and, for some, that’s a bonus. The silicon strap can be traded out for a more premium feel but, for anyone wanting to use the watch to measure swimming, the waterproof silicon is enough. Features Where the Steel may fall down for some is in its relatively limited features. The watch is entirely focused on health, fitness and sleep, and refrains from turning itself into any kind of notification device - the link with the wearer’s smartphone is just a means of displaying the information collected through Withings’ dedicated app. Triple tap on the glass face and the hands will move to display the user’s alarm time - though I found the face unresponsive at times aside from that, Withings keep it simple.
The Steel counts calories burned, steps walked, distance traveled and quality of sleep, but its lack of a heart rate sensor or altimeter make other information difficult to determine. The only information available at a glance is the percentage of the user’s step count that’s been completed, too - for everything else you have to check the app. Tracking Given that step counting is the Activité range’s primary feature, it’s unsurprising that it excels at doing so. The accelerometer often mistakes activities like rowing at the gym for steps but, unless you’re specifically looking to hit a certain number of steps for the day, this isn’t really a problem. I viewed the activity dial as a more general summary of my day’s activity, and it’s nice to know you can hit 100% in a number of different ways. Speaking of which, the Steel is particularly good at identifying different activities. Going from a run to the pool requires no setting adjustment; the watch is good at picking up changes in movement and logging them accordingly. I found that the sleep tracker didn’t account for getting up and moving around in the night but, again, that’s not a massive problem. To buy or not to buy? Essentially, the Steel is a brilliant fitness tracker for anyone that doesn’t want to wear a fitness tracker. The classic design makes it indistinguishable from an ordinary watch but for the subtleenough activity dial. At just under £140 the watch is reasonably priced given its premium look and feel, and has all the functionality of the much more expensive Sapphire. If you value simplicity and style over variety in features, and want a fitness tracking watch that requires very little attention, the Steel is for you.
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Aaron Fraser, Head of Sports
Brexit And Sport: It’s Complicated
AFTER MONTHS of fierce political conflict, stark division among the electorate, and exaggerations on both sides of the argument, Britain has voted in favor of leaving the European Union. Contrary to expectations, 51.9% of the country voted for Leave, and the nation is currently reeling from the resultant economic instability following a instant plummet in the pound and a stripping of the FTSE 100 following years of recession recovery. Once article 50 is invoked, Britain will have two-years in which to renegotiate the terms of a treaty in place of EU membership. For all the Leave campaign’s bombast, though, it seems any new deal will negatively affect almost every British industry. Among the industries potentially affected - and there are few that aren’t - is sports. The international nature of the workforce brings to the fore questions of free movement, work permits and transfer fees. Every individual sport will be affected differently, but soccer is likely to feel reverberations all over the world given the sheer volume of foreign talent working in the Premier League and the English Football League.
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Speculation surrounding the potential effects of Brexit on soccer rages on; some argue it’ll heavily affect the flow of players in and out of Europe’s top leagues, whilst others expect the impact to be minimal. The outcome for soccer essentially hangs on whether or not the UK continue to subscribe to the EU’s freedom of movement principle which, given the rhetoric leading up to and following the referendum, seems unlikely. What this means, then, is much tighter laws regarding which players clubs can and cannot sign; if the current laws regarding non-EU players had been applied to EU players - and it stands to reason that they will be following withdrawal - there are some notable examples of players who would’ve been denied work permits.
Essentially, players from outside the EU have to have played in a certain percentage of their country’s international matches for the 12 months previous to signing. Under these rules, Leicester City and West Ham United would’ve been unable to sign the likes of N’Golo Kante and Dimitri Payet respectively, both of whom were hugely influential in the Premier League last season despite previously limited international careers. The former helped guide the Foxes to their initially unfathomable title triumph, and perhaps Brexit’s biggest prospective impact on soccer is the loss of future surprise packages like Kante. Clubs will also be restricted in signing European players under the age of 18; Cesc Fabregas’ incredibly successful move to Arsenal in 2003, for example, would potentially not have gone ahead under the likely laws. Established internationals will have no problem receiving permits; it’s not superstars the UK will miss out on, it’s potential. Indeed, other European leagues have stricter rules than the UK regarding non-EU players in their squads - in Spain, just three are allowed. This means the likes of Gareth Bale at Real Madrid would be filling a fourth non-EU slot - admittedly, though, there are very few British players plying their trade outside of the country, so this is unlikely to affect European football too greatly. For potential foreign investors, British sports clubs have never been a more appealing prospect. The sharp drop in value of the pound makes British soccer clubs far cheaper an investment, for example. Similarly, existing foreign owners will see the ‘value of their assets shrink until the pound recovers its pre-vote value,’ according to Forbes, and the buying of players in any currency other than the pound will also come at a greater cost to owners. Rugby will be less affected; given the overwhelming majority of British players in the sport’s top divisions, the freedom of movement issue will be largely void. The likes of boxing, cycling and racing are likely to see layers of bureaucracy
Clubs will also be restricted in signing European players under the age of 18
thrust upon them that were previously negated. For example, depending on how the Home Office legislate rules regarding boxing, the many European fighters that box in the UK - on professional cards but often in small hall fight venues - will need to be allocated visas. As Britain makes stuttering preparations for its withdrawal from the European Union, uncertainty is overwhelming. Uncertainty in the markets, uncertainty politically, even social uncertainty as the country reports a spike in racially motivated criminal incidents. Sports is just another industry facing worrisome uncertainty; the Premier League is unlikely to be too tightly shackled by the loss of freedom of movement laws. But, when we consider that Cristiano Ronaldo probably would have been denied his move to Manchester United in 2003 under the probable system, the future of the British leagues just seems filled with a little less potential.
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The NBA Draft Is An Analytical Meritocracy James Ovenden, Sports Technology Writer LIKE ALL MAJOR SPORTS in the digital era, the NBA has put its faith in data analytics. The sport’s draft system necessitates proper analysis of prospects’ data, given the relatively limited supply of additional information for coaches to go on. No sooner had the dust settled in the Oracle Arena following the Cavaliers’ clutch win over the Warriors that attention turned to the draft and the potential picks began being evaluated and scrutinized.
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Naturally, interest in the draft has always been huge, but the explosion of publicly available data gives fans extra material to discuss, objective information to ponder over and more substantiated reason to be excited about a prospect. Players will still be underrated and there’ll still be lessthan-worthy prospects in round one - what the draft has become, though, is something of a brutal meritocracy. Number crunching has replaced gut feeling and young players push to improve their numbers in incredibly and increasingly specific areas of their game. The thirst for reliable data in the decision making process is reflected by ESPN’s Draft Projection model which, as explained by FiveThirtyEight, ‘predicts how well a college player who is ranked among Chad Ford’s Top 100 prospects will perform - according to Statistical Plus/Minus (SPM) during season two through five of his NBA career.’ The model is standard in the sense that it uses college data, physical data like weight and height and the player’s ranking in the Top 100 to build a picture of the prospect. Where it differs, though, is that it ‘acknowledges that NBA data on draft prospects is strongly left-censored, because very few prospects actually get a chance to play in the NBA at all, much less stick around long enough to get a meaningful sample.’
Resultantly, clubs are taking decisions solely based on analytics, with increasingly positive results. The Denver Post use the example of Andre Roberson, drafted in the first round three years ago by Oklahoma City as a shooting guard, despite never really playing there for the Colorado Buffs. The gamble - based on Thunder general manager Sam Presti’s faith in analytics - has paid off, and Roberson is now a starter in a strong performing Thunder team. If a player’s offensive rebounding percentage makes him more likely become a bust, clubs will know about it. If a player’s assist percentage gives them a genuine chance at becoming a superstar, clubs will know about this, too. In a sense, the draft is an analytical meritocracy, with no stone left unturned in predicting just how successful a college player could become. Risk will never fully disappear and neither will Roberson-style reward, but the NBAs seemingly growing faith in the numbers is validated by, well, numbers.
This is where the ESPN model is more reliable than its counterparts the distinction is an important one. Each player is then put in one of four categories (though most players straddle two or three): Superstar, Starter, Role Player and Bust based partly but not entirely on the prospects projected SPM. The wealth of data available is frightening, and franchises can get a decent idea of how players will perform in future just by properly assessing the numbers. A player may have almost no chance of becoming a superstar, but it could be similarly unlikely that they become a bust - risk is both revealed and abated when data is properly analyzed.
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