‘Sky is the limit’ when it comes to the impact of data in high performance sport
Performance Data has formed a crucial part of the UK Sports Institute (UKSI)’s strategy for the Paris Cycle, with the aim of seeking timely, accurate and credible data to inform decision making in sports. For the first time, Data Leads have been embedded into the support teams of number of sports, including British Rowing. We caught up with their Head of Performance Support Jodi Cossor and Performance Data Lead Jess Eichel.
Jodi, can you describe the impact the Data Lead has had on your sport?
Data science is relatively new within British Rowing, so we are still learning of its potential within the sport. Initially time was spent to develop a specific data strategy and since then we have had multiple dashboards created that enable information to be shared more efficiently. These are used within the daily training environment, when preparing for competitions, to generate race reports, as well as the review process across multiple disciplines. What is also very exciting is that Jess can present insight from the data that may not have been considered previously.
What unique qualities or approaches does the Data Lead bring to the team?
[Jodi] The ability to explore large datasets and present information to different groups has been extremely valuable. Jess spends the time listening to the coaches and support staff to understand their challenges before developing dashboards and reports that meet our needs. She has amazing technical skills that enables questions to be answered and is fully integrated within our team.
Can you share a specific example where the Data Lead’s work has influenced a positive outcome for your sport?
[Jodi] The latest instance is as a result of a sprint project that was a true collaboration between the data science team, practitioners, physiologist, and coach to explore data that has been collected for more than a decade now. Whilst I can’t go into the specifics of the project, the report has confirmed some instincts that coaches had but also provided quantitative data comparing athletes that had represented GB at the Olympics and those that did not progress to that level.
Jess, can you describe your role?
The data scientist role involves providing the GB Rowing team coaches and practitioners with bespoke reports and insights from data collected across training, performance and health in real time. To deliver these effectively, the role also involves streamlining the data collection and storage activities in a secure cloud-based database.
What does a typical day or week look like for you?
[Jess] My week is structured around the competition and training schedule of the squads I spend time collaborating with and getting user feedback from sports science practitioners and coaches and implementing these in my work. Since it’s the Olympic year, work with potential performance impact for Paris takes priority.
What does success look like in your role?
[Jess] Success is ensuring easy access to accurate data and insights for coaches and practitioners to better understand, analyse and help athletes improve across the key areas of the What it Takes to Win Model. Success also means helping practitioners develop appropriate technical skills and demonstrating the importance of good data collection and storage practices on the value data science can deliver.
Can you tell us some of your highlights in the role so far?
[Jess] The biggest highlight of the role is the feeling of contribution to team performance through witnessing the use of data analysis tools and reports in real time during training and competition. Examples include the automation of reporting on athlete health through injury and illness monitoring dashboards, or training and performance through the modelling the trajectories of physiological performance markers.
Jodi, finally, how big a role do you think Performance Data could play in high-performance sport in the future?
The sky is the limit when it comes to the impact of data in high-performance sport. We would like to ensure that this information is included within all of our projects moving forward to some extent as well as part of the preparation and review strategies.
Find out more about the UKSI Performance Data Team.
Find out more about the GB British Rowing Team.