Analytics and Sports
Humans have been fascinated by sport throughout the ages. Ancient Greeks would organize the Olympic Games, Ancient Romans gladiator games in the Colosseum and chariot races in the Hippodrome, and in our modern era we have football, basketball, race competitions and many other sports.
Sports have become the defining feature of our society. We celebrate our sports team’s successes with vast celebrations, we crown the winners with trophies, and we adore sportsmen and sportswomen. Sports are also worth billions of dollars, where everyone is trying to do their best, design the optimum strategy, view things from a different perspective to get an advantage over the opposing side.
However, given that the margin between place number 1 and 2 are so miniscule teams and competitors in individual events want to have the upper hand. And where this edge come from?
Importance of Data in Sports
The most important area is the amounts of data that are being generated during a given match or competition, and it can be vast. Everything from how many points were scored, to how individual players performed is meticulously recorded, analyzed, and disseminated to create a viable strategy for the next match. Sports commentators would also use this information to try to predict the performance of a given team for the season. Previously all of this was done manually or with only very rudimental machines and tools but now we have huge amounts of computer power that can help us analyze sports from many different angles and design a winning strategy.
Real-Life Implementation in Football and Basketball
One of the most famous examples that have recently seen the benefits of analytics within their field is the realm of football. Football is the number one watched game in the world, and it has fascinated people from all walks of life. Nothing can beat the exhilaration, when your team scores in their opponents’ net and given the high stakes of the game it can get very intense. Sometimes games can be decided by a single goal or penalty, but that is what makes it so exciting to millions of fans across the globe.
Not so long ago most coaches and even teams used video cassettes and DVDs to analyze the opposing teams’ games to take notes. Only some information was able to be extracted and disseminated before meeting their opponents in the next match. In recent years that has changed dramatically. Analytics has enabled teams to take advantage of the vast amounts of data that is being generated and transform the way they select prospective players, teaming different players to create a new strategy or even analyzing, who is the best person for a penalty shootout. The above is being done using massive amounts of data, that is being analyzed and various permutations allow the models to create the optimum strategy in any scenario. It also requires a great deal of imagination as the most obvious solution is not quite apparent given the dynamics of the game.
Major sports team in the English Premier League have been busy acquiring and developing their own analytical teams that have helped them develop new and innovative ways of creating team strategies and tactics.
Prime examples are the teams of Manchester City and Liverpool have become notorious for utilizing the latest technology on offer by creating new combination of teammates, finding prospective players, and even changing the pace and style of their game. These effects have not gone unnoticed and have spread like wildfire to the other top Premier League teams’ who in recent years have started developing their own analytical capabilities.
It is no coincidence that basketball is another famous example from the world of sports, where technology is helping teams develop ground-breaking work that has huge impacts on the whole sport. The Golden State Warriors were one of the first teams to utilize the usage of state-of-the-art cameras, that would provide them with more data. Also, they started experimenting with new ways to play the game, where the emphasis was put on scoring 3-pointers instead of the established 2-pointers. Such a strategy was so successful that it took the NBA by storm and assisted in the Golden State Warriors strong performance in the NBA championships, where since 2015 they won 3 championships and went to 5 finals, which is a phenomenal performance in any scenario.
So, what is the conclusion?
No strategy is foolproof and requires the execution of cohesive and well-drilled team. This is especially important in team sports, where individuals must contribute, anticipate, create positions, and upstage the other team to win. Perhaps this is one of the greatest factors, which we would like to call the team spirit and determination that are extremely hard to quantify and still play a vital part in the overall performance of a given team. And this is where any statistics would fail as you cannot capture the human spirit with numbers.
Having these fundamentals in place makes for a remarkably interesting and insightful development, where it allows coaches and teams to experiment and develop their own rhythm/strategy that would enable them to outperform and outscore competing teams.
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