{"id":1302,"date":"2018-12-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/reports\/finding-ways-to-integrate-technology\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:12:39","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:12:39","slug":"finding-ways-to-integrate-technology","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/finding-ways-to-integrate-technology\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding Ways to Integrate Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"<!-- blocks\/hero-editorial -->\n<!-- inc\/hero-editorial -->\n<div class=\"hero es-hero__editorial hero--var-1\" role=\"banner\">\n\t<div class=\"hero__image\" style=\"background-image: url(https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/Insight-Integrating-Technology-Featured-Image.jpg);\">\n\n\t\t<div class=\"hero__overlay grad-overlay content-bottom\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"container\">\n\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"hero__content\">\n                    \n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"hero__content__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t                            <p class=\"es-label es-label--md\">\n                                Dec 31, 2018                            <\/p>\n                        \t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\" class=\"theme-dark hero__back-link back-link es-label es-label--sm\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"icon icon--md icon--arrow-left\"><\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"hero__title\">Finding Ways to Integrate Technology<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n        \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n    <section class=\"es-section theme-light hero__sidebar-wrapper container\">\n        <div class=\"hero__sidebar\">\n                            <div class=\"category-list\">\n                  <div class=\"es-label es-label--sm\">Category<\/div>\n                  <a href=\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/category\/data-innovation\/\" rel=\"tag\">Data &amp; Innovation<\/a>                <\/div>\n                            <div class=\"share-list\">\n                  <div class=\"es-label es-label--sm\">Share<\/div>\n                  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/finding-ways-to-integrate-technology\/\">Facebook<\/a>\n                  <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/finding-ways-to-integrate-technology\/&#038;text=Finding Ways to Integrate Technology\">Twitter<\/a>\n                  <a href=\"mailto:?subject=Here's a Leaders In Sport article for you &amp;body=Check out this article: Finding Ways to Integrate Technology. https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/finding-ways-to-integrate-technology\/\">Email<\/a>\n                  <a href=\"#copyLink\" id=\"copyButton\" class=\"copy-link-clipboard\">Copy Link<\/a>\n                  <div id=\"textToCopy\" class=\"font-hidden\">https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/finding-ways-to-integrate-technology\/<\/div>\n                <\/div>\n                    <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<!-- blocks\/section -->\n<section\n  class=\"es-section flexible-section  text-only theme-light\"\n    >\n                <div class=\"container\">\n                                    <div class=\"bg-striped-pattern__inner section-padding-top section-padding-bottom\">\n                <div class=\"es-section__inner col-parent col-parent--stack-sm\">\n                                            <div class=\"es-section__sidebar es-section__sidebar--sticky col col--12 \">\n                                                            <p class=\"es-section__label es-label es-label--md\">Sports technology is an ever-evolving field but the fundamental tenet &#8211; getting the athlete onside &#8211; remains the same and that should shape your approach.<\/p>\n                            \n                            \n                            \n                                                            <div class=\"es-section__text content-area\">\n                                    <p><h4><strong>The Essentials:<\/strong><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h4><strong>Why if you want to integrate tech you should find ways to get the athlete onside<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h4><strong>The importance of starting to familiarise younger athletes with tech usage and data collection<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h4><strong>How you can take steps to ensure everyone is involved in the conversation around tech and the resultant numbers<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>As approaches to high performance and athlete wellbeing become more sophisticated and holistic so does the attendant technology and datasets. While there has been mistrust in some areas &#8211; both amongst coaches and athletes &#8211; in the use of data, there is also clear evidence that athletes, particularly younger athletes, are drawn towards tracking their numbers. The tech is here to stay, which is why it necessary for tech solutions to survive any coaching transitions of the kind that has seen programmes been thrown on the scrap heap in the past. Here are five methods you may wish to consider in 2019.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/info.leadersinsport.com\/l\/285402\/2018-11-15\/44dsjf\"><button>Download the full report<\/button><\/a><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong> Get the athlete onside<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Getting the performer onside is something that works for Cirque du Soleil when it comes to decisions surrounding tech. Bryan Burnstein, Head of Performance Science at Cirque, says: \u201cWe don\u2019t want to dehumanise a decision; data should lead to insights, it should lead to good intentional conversations about what\u2019s going on with the individual, but we we\u2019re dealing with human performance and we have to keep the human at the centre of that.\u201d The Cirque approach is common across sport but less so in leagues where tech usage is restricted by collective bargaining agreements. In Major League Baseball, the Seattle Mariners have taken steps to develop trust between the players and those collecting their data. General Manager Jerry Dipoto says: \u201cWe\u2019ve created tiers of accessibility. For every player, whatever information we\u2019re asking them to provide to us or to share, they have the ability to give the information and allow for only them to see it or they can allow the trainers, the coaches, the front office; each tier is a different level of accessibility. And even if the player is looking at it themselves there\u2019s a value in that to us because he\u2019s teaching himself that this measure of data is important.\u201d Which tier is most common? \u201cWe found out that most of them have level one or level two trust and some have given the front office more access. Over time I think that trust will continue to develop as long as we\u2019re moving the needle and the players realise it\u2019s important to track sleep patterns, their fuel, their nutrients, whatever it might be. Even if they\u2019re monitoring it that\u2019s better than nothing.\u201d Getting the athlete onside is to win half the battle.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><strong> Make sure the resultant data is performance relevant<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>When the athlete has been placed at the centre the trick is then to make sure that the tech you use is performance-relevant. Jamie Tout, Strength &amp; Conditioning Coach with the World Cup-winning New Zealand women\u2019s rugby team, explains that the Black Ferns\u2019 performance staff have tapped into the players\u2019 natural curiosity to understand why their gym sessions or sleep are being tracked. He says: \u201cThey always want to know how they compare to the world\u2019s best; [they will ask] \u2018if I\u2019ve ran 7km in a game where I\u2019ve made 120 sprints what does that look like in terms of elite performance or world\u2019s best?\u2019\u201d The Black Ferns have found a way to connect it to the game at the weekend.<\/p>\n<p>At the Manchester City Academy, which houses team\u2019s from under-9 through to under-23, Nick Chadd, Head of Sport Sciences at the Academy, explains that players are familiar with tech and from a very young age, whether through one to one feedback or a sense of competitiveness generated by their numbers. \u201cWe\u2019ve very much integrated them into the data collection process\u201d he observes, adding: \u201cwe\u2019ll explain what it tells them but also, if they have the capacity to understand, we let them know the pitfalls of data as well, that it isn\u2019t the be-all and end-all, that there is error the measurement too. I think once you get the player onboard and integrated into that, they certainly have the capacity to understand that and it can become a very powerful tool.\u201d<\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><strong> Start now<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>At Seattle, Dipoto explains that it is at minor league level where the Mariners\u2019 High Performance Model is aiming to raise players steeped in tech usage. \u201cYou\u2019re probably not going to make as much headway in initiating change in those senior major league guys who have achieved what these guys have achieved, so our best avenue towards make a difference at the highest level is by starting at grassroots level and allowing it to permeate as the players develop with us. This will become their norm, the norm of working with specialists within the organisation, consultants outside, who are all dialled toward this high performance model, where they are better fed, better prepared, they\u2019re just better for a variety of reasons. We can show them why and, most importantly, they can see why, and that trust continues to develop. We\u2019re in an industry where at grassroots level, when the kids sign in Latin America, they\u2019re at a high school and they\u2019re 16, 17 or 18 years old; they may not matriculate in the major leagues until they\u2019re 23, 24 or 25 years old. So we\u2019re looking at a gestation period of three years or it could be seven or eight. As they go through that chain we want them to develop that trust.\u201d Better to start now.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li><strong> Talk as an entire performance team<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>If tech is to play a valuable role in your performance programmes then it is important to have wider conversations about the numbers with coaches and performance staff. Bryan Burnstein of Cirque du Soleil recommends complete transparency. He says: \u201cThe data that we use to manage the performers or their performance, we make sure that we share that with them and it\u2019s transparent between our coaches, our performance medicine team, and the performer themselves so that we\u2019re all talking about the same information when we use that. Jamie Tout of the Black Ferns lauds his coaches\u2019 receptiveness to new ways of looking at the numbers. \u201cTo a point it reinforces his gut instinct,\u201d says Tout of Head Coach Glenn Moore, \u201cbut it\u2019s also allowed me to have some robust conversations with Glenn because we can go back to the evidence and say we\u2019ve done these things in the past; we\u2019ve played our best when our week looks like this.\u201d At the Seattle Mariners, Jerry Dipoto explains that it has helped to employ specialists with the requisite skills on his staff. \u201cAt major league level we have a seven-man coaching staff and hired a new Bullpen Coach, Brian DeLunas. He\u2019d never worked in professional baseball prior to this year but we believe his expertise in the biomechanics of pitching delivery gives us a decided advantage. We hired another bench coach in our staff, Jim Brower, a former major league player, who has an expertise in managing data.\u201d<\/p>\n<ol start=\"5\">\n<li><strong> Make it sustainable<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>It\u2019s a common scenario: a coach leaves and the expensive tech solution they sanctioned never gets used again. Nick Chadd explains that Manchester City Academy is insulated against any such upheaval. \u201cThe data we collect is the same regardless of the coach coming in,\u201d he explains. \u201cThey may want to put their own slant on it, which is absolutely fine, but we have a spine of alignment and continuity around what we do. Maybe people want to look at something in more depth and detail and they\u2019re allowed to do that and put their own individual flair on that. That\u2019s encouraged but we need the spine going through us so that we can ultimately compare year to year as they progress because some players will be in the system for eight to ten years and what we want to be able to do is look back at any time point and be certain we have robust data collection, data storage and data interpretation where we can analyse them through their journey.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>3 things to know:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>If everyone buys into the idea behind a tech solution there is more chance that it will prove sustainable.<\/li>\n<li>If you can introduce tech with younger age groups it normalises its usage as they progress through the ranks.<\/li>\n<li>Make sure anything you introduce is performance-relevant.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/p>\n                                <\/div>\n                            \n                            \n                            \n                                                    <\/div>\n                                        <div class=\"col visibly-hidden col--flex-align-right\">\n                                            <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n        <\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getting the athlete onside remains the tried and trusted approach to tech usage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1303,"menu_order":0,"template":"","categories":[23],"pathway":[],"topic":[],"sport":[],"class_list":["post-1302","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-data-innovation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - 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