It’s All in the Numbers
The buzzword of the 2020s in sports is “analytics”. Everyone is talking about it. How the physical metrics are compiled and what they are telling us. I was more old school. I let my eyes be the judge of where my team was. I saw a funny picture the other day … well “funny” in that it was WRONG. It was a picture of a $50 million quarterback, with a history of knee and back issues, back squatting.
The issue was not him squatting. The “funny” part was the coach who was overseeing his lift was busy writing down, what I assumed were the weights the athlete was using. What’s wrong with this. Well, the athlete had a noticeable shift in his body towards one leg. This type of imbalance will eventually cause a new injury or will ‘light up’ an old injury.
I have no doubt the response would be that the picture caught the coach looking at the paper for just a millisecond, before he went back to coach. Well, if that’s true how would the coach see the shift when he was standing, not walking, to the side of the athlete?
Here is my point. Was it more important that the amount of weight being lifted (HOW MUCH) than the guy doing the job (COACH) they were supposed to be doing (HOW TO)?
Today’s NEED for numbers to feed the beast is crazy.
Before I wrote this article I called and spoke to, at length, four of the top strength coaches in college and professional football today. All four spoke proudly about their move towards “Sports Science” and how their analytics keep the athletes safe and on point in their training.
I then asked each how they collected the numbers. Three used computerized analysis of the amount of weight being lifted and the number of repetitions. One still had their interns manually writing the reps and weights being used. They were proud of the amount of data they were collecting.
I then asked two questions that were more difficult to answer. First, I asked if they met every day with their coaching staff to go over the numbers that they had accumulated and watch the video of the athletes doing their work. There was silence … then as if scripted each said, “We have a guy …”
My second question was the real stumper, I asked, “So, does this “guy” go over all of the information, that was derived from the workout, with each athlete so that there is direct feedback to the athlete?” Silence … Then, again as if scripted … “There’s not enough time in the day to do that.”
I finished up with a rhetorical question, “So, you have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to collect all this data that only one person looks at, and it never is related to the athlete?” Crickets.
Analytics is not only used in the weight room but also when they are moving outside. The athlete is given a “sports bra” type pullover that has a GPS type of transmitter inserted into it, that can measure the athlete’s speed, track the amount of distance that is covered, and through some mathematical voodoo can tell you the amount of force that is being applied, without the use of a force pad.
