13. Why Should Sport Embrace Complexity?

The annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics conference in Boston, USA is one of the biggest conferences on the sports calendar. Bringing together thousands of analysts, executives and leading researchers to discuss the increasing role of analytics in the sports industry, the conference covers everything from social media to high performance, to athlete evaluation to ticketing.

Join co-hosts David Joyce and Sam Robertson on this episode of One Track Mind where they unpack some of the hot topics and key takeaways from the 2024 event.

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Episode 57 marks two major changes for One Track Mind. David Joyce joins the show as host for the coming season. It also signals the start of a variety of new formats for the show.

This episode sets the scene for the 2024 season, providing a snapshot of the ten big opportunities and challenges for sports in 2024. 

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Its often been said that sport is a mirror to society. And never has that adage been more true than when talking about data. But just how valuable is data really, particularly without context or a specific end goal in mind?

On this episode, Sam sits down with Sportradar's Senior Vice President of Automated Content, Luka Pataky, where he discusses finding that value for fans, governing bodies, media and teams.  The episode also discusses the current state of play in computer vision and automated content generation, where start ups fit in the data ecosystem, and identifies some of the sports leading the way in innovation.

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How hard should training be? How much variety should athletes experience? How does one balance quantity vs quality of practice? Many of these types of questions which have fascinated coaches for years are presently being reinvigorated, fuelled by new data sources and a growing access to the expertise of applied practitioners from motor learning, psychology, biomechanics and data science. 

On this episode host Sam Robertson is joined by Harjiv Singh from the Orlando Magic to discuss how these opportunities have led to a re-imagination of the coach’s role to that of a designer of learning environments.  

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Whether it’s nailing the perfect routine, taking a winning penalty or making that championship winning putt - we all have our favourite example of an athlete performing under pressure. 

On this episode host Sam Robertson is joined by Davie Gray from Flow State and Hurricanes. They take a closer look at the characteristics of high-performing pressure athletes as well as some of the strategies and tools they utilise to remain at the top of their game.  Davie had a distinguished rugby career as a player and high-performance leader, before recently turning his attention specifically to this area. 

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Creative athletes have always captured the imagination of the sports fan. We each have our own ideas about what creativity means us in the sporting context, whether it is dancing with grace and flow, a new skateboarding trick or that almost inconceivable incisive pass to break open a defensive line. 

Globally in many sports there is a growing recognition of the importance of creativity to understanding and developing sporting performance. But is there actually consensus on how creativity is objectively defined? How exactly does it lead to performance improvements? And what are some of the tools and processes that coaches can leverage, to best develop this quality in athletes? 

On this episode, host Sam Robertson is joined by Carlota Torrents from INEFC and the University of Lleida.  Carlota is one of the leading global experts on the application of creativity to sports performance

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The characteristics of high performing athletes are relatively constant. Skill, endurance, power, resilience, dedication are all traits that will never go out of fashion. 

But the environment around high performance sport has arguably never been more fluid than it is right now.  With more touch points to the athlete and more ways in which to measure them, what does this dynamic environment mean for the sports performance practitioner? Are these changes merely a distraction or do they provide a means to improve their impact on the athlete?

On the first episode for Season 6, host Sam Robertson is joined by Jo Clubb from Global Performance Insights.  Jo provides sports science support to professional teams, practitioners, and sports tech companies all around the world and has worked at the Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Sabres, Chelsea Football Club and Brighton and Hove Albion.  Find out more about Jo at her blog, YouTube channel, or website at https://www.globalperformanceinsights.com/ 

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The sports coach of 2023 sure has a lot on their plate. They’re required to be an expert leader, tactician, communicator, relationship builder, media personality, as well as in many cases a spouse and parent.

At the same time, they’re also expected to manage the ever-expanding needs of athletes, staff, media, owners and boards along with the changing environment brought about by new frontiers in professionalism, technology and AI.

So what does all of this change mean for the future of sports coaching? Will the core principles of what it means to be a good coach remain the same, or is it time for a rethink on how coaches are trained and developed to elicit the best out of the athletes they work with?

On this episode, host Sam Robertson is joined by coaching legend Wayne Goldsmith to discuss all of this and much more!

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Over the past three years, One Track Mind has been fortunate enough to host some of sport’s leading practitioners, academics, executives and entrepreneurs.

To celebrate the 50th episode, this show was recorded live on the 29th June 2023 onsite at the Queensland University of Technology, as part of the Queensland Academy of Sport IGNITE 2032 Deep Dive Event in Brisbane. It features a summary conversation of the day with two of the world's leading computer vision experts in sport: Patrick Lucey from Stats Perform and Stuart Morgan from the Australian Institute of Sport. 

We delve into potential applications of computer vision in sports, exploring topics such as athlete tracking, pose recognition, and injury prevention. We also discuss the potential risks and pitfalls along with future directions for this fast moving area. 

I would like to extend my special thanks to CEO Chelsea Warr, Executive Directors Mark Young and Shaun Stephens along with the entire research team at the Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) for making this special episode happen, along with David Martin for his vision and direction for the event and for hosting throughout the day.  

As we celebrate One Track Mind's 50th episode milestone, I want to express my sincere appreciation to all our listeners who have been with us on this journey so far. Your support and enthusiasm have been the driving force behind the success of One Track Mind and we hope to continue to bring you interesting, useful and thought provoking content in the years to come. 

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In 2022, a global network of like-minded individuals came together to develop a standardized, evidence-based framework which could be adopted by any sports stakeholder to assess the value, usability, and quality of technology.

The Framework consists of 25 measurable features grouped under five quality “pillars”: Quality Assurance & Measurement, Established Benefit, Ethics & Security, User Experience, and Data Management. It can be used to help design and refine existing sports technology, thus helping to optimize quality as well as maintain industry standards. It could also form a common language for organizations, manufacturers, investors, and consumers to improve the efficiency of their own decision making on sports technology.

On this episode, host Sam Robertson sits down with two of the driving forces behind the framework, Dr Kristof De Mey and Dr Jessica Zendler. To download the whitepaper which details the Sports Technology Quality Framework, visit https://strn.co/special-interest-group 

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