How Data Science is Taking Over the Sports World

Data science is all the craze

The ominous term “big data” is relatively new — but it’s rapidly taking over many sectors of our lives. Big data takes a variety of high-volume data sets with rapid growth or output velocity. These are considered the three V’s of big data. But, to help the ever-growing concept, two more V’s have even been added to the definition: variability and veracity. Sound overwhelming yet? Anything that takes a bulk set of data and analyzes it to provide an answer for the business — that is big data in action. Big data has become capital for many companies for information on:

  • Customer patterns and predictions

  • Medical imaging

  • Improved operations

  • Marketing campaigns

But now, big data has entered the sports world like a fastball coming in full speed.

Sports science is making waves in sports

Why does “big data” matter to athletes? Most sports are a game of inches. We’ve seen it too many times — the golfer missed the winning par by a few inches, the basketball player missed the final shot by a bad bounce on the rim, or the swimmer lost their race by the stretch of a fingertip. Remember the 2008 Beijing Olympics? Michael Phelps won the 100m butterfly by 0.01 seconds, literally the difference of a fingertip. These moments haunt the careers of many athletes and their fan base. So they train for those too-close-to-call moments — and that’s where sports science entered the game.

What is data science in sports?

With the emergence of data science in sports, athletes have just about any tool at their disposal. New and innovative tools tell athletes how close they are to their optimal form or even the likelihood of an injury. Especially movements that the human eye itself can’t entirely witness. Data science tools capture thousands, wait, millions of data points for the desired action. Analysis softwares analyze these endless rows of data and show the results in a much prettier form than the millions of singular data points. Data collection methods can take many forms, so let’s break them down:

Electromyography: Commonly called EMGs, they measure the level of excitation your muscles experience during an activity. For data science purposes, these sensors could tell an athlete if they have any muscular imbalances or tell coaches how much muscle exertion the athletes experience during a specific drill. More often than not, these sensors will are used to analyze particular non-contact drills.

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and Local Positioning Systems (LPS): These systems use satellite and local signaling beacons to track an athlete’s — or an entire team’s — positioning on a court of field. Distance traveled, acceleration patterns, and position effects are all commonly analyzed data sets with these tools. These spatiotemporal tracking results visualize high-frequency movements during a practice or game to coaches. Take, for example, a right-handed point guard. A GNSS or LPS device could show a coach how often their point guard runs the play to the right or left side of the court. Some of these companies have developed their tools to be so customer friendly that coaches can see these immediate results on their cell phones.

Video motion capture technologies: These high-tech infrared cameras can track minuscule movements of the human body. There’s actually a good chance you’ve seen these in use before. Most commonly, you’ve probably seen the behind-the-scenes of the making of the Avatar movie or any virtual video game that mimics actual human movements. In sports, they are primarily used to optimize repetitive activities such as a golf swing or a baseball pitch. Actions like these require the most precise muscle memory to be successful.

Honestly, the list goes on and on, with newer technologies entering the market like a frenzy. Collegiate and professional sports have the accessibility to optimize their athlete’s performance in whichever form they wish. It’s not in flashy lights for all the fans to see but in the background where the nitty gritty work happens. Athletes can physically see how much exertion they give in practice or how one small joint was off by a few degrees. With these analytics, the world of sports is no longer a jock-only club. Almost every team has hired sports scientists, biomechanists, software engineers, or kinesiologists to elevate their athletes’ performances. The world of sports is changing, and it’s taking the technology world along for the ride.

Remember Sports Science on ESPN?

This viewer-loved show was most fans’ first exposure to sports science, and they saw sports in a way they had never witnessed before. The show took extreme scenarios and tested the physics behind the superhuman capabilities of athletes. The technologies have improved, but many of the same questions remain. Humans have the innate desire to push boundaries and pursue their best performance.

How to find a sports science degree?

With sports science thriving as it is, what is the best educational route to step into the industry? If you’re primarily interested in understanding the what about human movement, then a sports science or exercise science is a popular degree to pursue. This degree path focuses on human anatomy and physiology and touches on basic physics concepts of movement. An engineering-related degree, such as Mechanical Engineering or bio/biomedical engineering, will utilize a higher level of physics to assess movement sciences.

If you’re interested in the why then a graduate-level degree in those topics would be beneficial. Most graduate programs require a thesis-based project that investigates the why to a sports science-based question.

Finally, the industry is booming with a need for software engineers if you’re interested in how the data is collected. Each of these tools has programs that are constantly evolving to become more user-friendly — and even available to amateur athletes. Software engineers are the masterminds behind how these data analysis softwares work. They write code to process and analyze the big data collected with the instruments.

Move over, jocks. The scientists are here to stay

With the emergence of sports science facilities and employment opportunities — it’s safe to say this industry isn’t going away anytime soon. Athletes have goals of national titles, world championships, and even the Olympics, and these tools can vastly improve their capabilities. Teams are pouring money into sports science facilities to assist with athlete performance and recovery, and it pays off. Remember, all it takes is a fingertip to put one athlete above the rest.

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