From the English Premier League to the NFL, sports is a multi-billion dollar industry, and top teams are increasingly turning to technology to achieve the best possible result.
Until recently, collecting athlete performance data was a laborious process. Coaches and sports scientists would spend countless hours gathering information from games and practices related to their athletes. But technology seems to have changed all that.
These days, athletes can wear devices or vests with GPS tracking capabilities that record the speed and distance they run, as well as the effects on their bodies. The information helps coaches develop training plans to avoid athlete fatigue and maximize performance on race day.
STATSports, a Northern Ireland-based company, is a leader in the performance analytics industry. Most teams in the English Premier League (EPL) use its technology, as do top rugby and American football teams
In 2018, the company secured a five-year deal with the United States Soccer Federation, reportedly worth $1 billion. STATSports said that millions of American players at all levels will use its devices.
The company's Sonra 3.0 software, released in 2020, allows teams to view data almost instantly from an iPad or Apple (AAPL) Watch, so even during the game, players and coaches can get feedback and adjust their tactics.
Tom Allen has been Arsenal Football Club's chief sports scientist since 2017. He says players, as well as coaches, are now showing a keen interest in performance data .
Over the past year, the technology has been used to track performance away from the training ground. As the UK went into lockdown in March 2020 and the English Premier League was temporarily suspended, clubs used STATSports devices to monitor their players as they trained remotely.
Source of information: edition.cnn.com
