CASE
STUDY
Reimagining Sports participation
Case study
Data-scouting in elite sports
Researched by Toine van den Bos
This research is part of the Fieldlab Reimagine Sports research, a collaboration between the Johan Cruyff Arena, the Royal Dutch Football Association and the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. The aim of Fieldlab Reimagine Sports is to investigate what the future of sport looks like in three themes. This sub study is included within the theme ‘Better sport performance and more physical activity’. Reviewing existing literature, we notice that there is almost no literature on the usage of data in Dutch elite-level sport. However, there are studies and articles available on this topic related to international football, the NFL, the NBA and the MLB. Based on this gap in the literature, the following research question has been formulated:
”To what extent does (big) data contribute to scouting of top athletes in the Netherlands and how do organisations that apply this form of scouting view both the potential and the objections it may entail?”
Methodology
Qualitative research with semi-structured interviews
- 5 experts
- 10 professionals who hold positions for which they scout athletes or analyze athletes' performance.
Methodology
Qualitative research with semi-structured interviews
- 5 experts
- 10 professionals who hold positions for which they scout athletes or analyze athletes' performance.
Key Insights
- According to the respondents, data will always support the eye in the scouting process.
- An advantage of data is that scouts can assess a player more objectively, a disadvantage is that organisations can misinterpret the data and make poor choices as a result.
Key Insights
According to the respondents, data will always support the eye in the scouting process.
An advantage of data is that scouts can assess a player more objectively, a disadvantage is that organisations can misinterpret the data and make poor choices as a result.
Field studies
Final Results
There is little literature on the use of data during the scouting process within elite sports in the Netherlands.
The study shows that in different organisations, different ways are being used to scout players. In general, a distinction can be made between sports federations and sports clubs.
The research shows that respondents consider it important to remain objective in the scouting process. The use of data helps scouts to make a better risk analysis, view more players in a shorter period of time and scouting trips can now be used in a more targeted way to watch specific players.
Potential objections the respondents see to the use of data are the following: a. data can be misinterpreted and organisations may focus too much on the data b. not taking enough account of humanity and other factors in a player’s environment.
The elite sport organizations being questioned currently using mainly descriptive and diagnostic analysis on the data. This means that games and situations in training are being described, reported and investigated on why certain situations occur.
According to the respondents, there is potential in the development in artificial intelligence. They want to use this to gain more insight to the influence of other players on the performances of one specific player. Data will then have more predictive and prescriptive value.
Elite sports organisations are recommended to research the details of European data privacy legislation and create a structure for data flows so that only the right people can access athletes’ personal data.