Sports science, analytics, data, statistics, these are all words that have enveloped the global sports landscape as leagues and teams continually invest significant amounts of resources to find additional competitive advantage. But few people truly understand how these vast swathes of numbers and technology are integrated into every level of decision-making related to professional athletes.
Atlanta Uniteddirector of sports science, Ryan Alexander – who literally wrote the book on football fitness – and Vice President/Technical Director Carlos Bocanegra, spoke with Dirty South Soccer to provide insight into how the club has developed and used technology and data to add immense value to every club conversation, from from individual player fatigue to training sessions to player contracts.
“The GPS technology we use allows us to track the physical work done by the players. At what intensities and speeds they can cover, especially players’ maximum speed per position, and we also track overall work: total distance, work done in specific speed zones. We are very lucky to have had this technology from the first team to the Academy,” praised Alexander.
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The technology used for the Atlanta Academy and the 2 is developed by Player Data while the first team uses Sports statistics, but ultimately the information collected is integrated in a similar way. This allows the club to map the process of growth and maturation from a U-12 Academy kid to a Five Stripe playing in front of a packed Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Some easy-to-spot examples include George Bello, George Campbell and Caleb Wiley, but other youngsters are now benefiting from the growing library of information the club has at its disposal.
When Caleb Wiley first signed his own contract, the growing library of data analytics was used to establish a baseline against which to compare him – and other potential future signings at this age. Caleb, two years his junior, was in the 90th statistical percentile compared to George Bello, whose own data helped establish and refine that benchmark.
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As a more recent example, Carlos Bocanegra confirmed that data was an important factor in the recent local deal for Adyn Torres to move from the Academy to the 2s. He noted that based on the information provided by the technology GPS, Adyn’s physical performance over a large sample size – such as high-intensity running, repeated sprinting ability and top speed – gave them the comfort and confidence to sign. Ryan and Carlos also noted that in some areas Torres was already on par with some MLS players.
“At 15, from a physical demands perspective,” Ryan said, “he achieved very similar marks (90th percentile) to our central midfielders.”
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Bocanegra and Alexander explained that the sample size they can create on players like Wiley or Torres can fill in the gaps when moving from a lower division to MLS. The physical demands of a week’s training and 2-a-side matches won’t be the same as those of the first team, but GPS tracking equipment can show whether or not a player has demonstrated they have the ability to grow in power. the necessary physical production.
However, the information is not just for player development. It is used daily to help prepare for training sessions and the actual matches.
“We get all the data from the league, which is another part of it,” Ryan noted. “By syncing our training data with our match data, we can actually see what games our players are performing at and what match percentage requires it, but by having the entire league we are also able to compare our performance matches and their regularity. with other teams and other players – specific to teams who play in a formation similar to ours, a style similar to our style of play in relation to the positions of players who play in a formation or a different style.
Ryan and his team have built what are called “session libraries,” which can probably be described as distinct plans based on a ton of varying factors relating to a game week. These session libraries are just one piece of the larger puzzle needed to prepare for an opponent and feature contingencies based on a busy game week, lighter load, player conditioning and much more.
“At first team level we will follow Gonzalo’s training cadence and we have built up session libraries. So these libraries are topic or theme specific, at the point in the game where we’re tackling specific things related to the opposition we’re preparing for,” Ryan explained. “You’ll see here the collaboration of how all departments feed into it: the (film/match) analysts are able to identify specific moments that are important for the next opposition, we (Sports Science) pull out our library of session exercises. that are related to that topic or theme, then we fill in the dimensions, the number of actors that Gonzalo is interested in working with for those specific topics. And that’s where we are able to predict or d “estimate the work done throughout the week. Then, as the players get closer to the match, we notify the medical staff. If they report pain in different areas of their body, we will tell them: “Yes , it’s similar to what they reported the last time we did this exercise.” , we know it goes away in a day or two” rather than “this is not a trend we’ve seen before , so we raise the flag and call on the coaching staff to fix it. »
And it’s fast. The technology downloads automatically and almost instantly after each training session, so in just a few minutes the team can immediately have the relevant information for the staff meeting ready to prepare for the next day’s training session.
Carlos Bocanegra also clarified that session libraries are built very specifically based on positions, players, weather, time of year and many of the other aforementioned factors.
“The outcome of what (a player) is going to do in that specific drill comes through the GPS that he’s monitoring.” Therefore, if a particular player is recovering from an injury or had a different load that week due to perhaps playing for the 2 or any other factor, the team can inform Pineda of the sessions training or exercises that this player may need. .
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The whole process may seem complicated – and it is – which is why Atlanta United and Arthur Blank spread resources and brought in the talent capable of leading this initiative – long before the first team hit a ball. Ryan mentioned that Arthur Blank gave the club the freedom to explore options and be at the forefront of sports science and analytics efforts. Every day, every training session generates more data that they can use to prevent injuries, help teams in training and matches, and make contract decisions.
“This information is so specific and so detailed about how we like to play,” Bocanegra explained. “Let’s say we want to be a high-pressure, transition team. It goes back to the players we recruit. And when we’re recruiting, I talk to Ryan and I say, “Hey, this guy, give me a summary of his numbers, what does he look like?” Is that consistent with how we like our outside backs, based on all the benchmarks that we’ve built and that these guys have done a great job with over the years, so it all comes back.
At this point in the recruiting process, Ryan and his team would be able to compare the information available on particular players against what Atlanta United needs at that position in order to give Carlos and his team a clearer idea of know if this player would be a good player. able to attempt to sign. Obviously, another club’s player information isn’t as easy to obtain as it would be for Atlanta to simply verify their own information with an Academy player or 2, but this data is slowly becoming easier to collect. In the club’s early days, the sports science team established baselines based on guys with accessible histories, like Michael Parkhurst and Jeff Larentowicz, and they’ve refined it ever since.
“From the beginning, the type of team we wanted to be, a run and gun type team, absolutely affects the type of players we have to recruit to play our style of play. It’s an important part of our recruiting, knowing physically what a player is capable of doing,” Carlos noted.
But one theme was consistent among everyone Atlanta United interviewed about this technology: None of it can replace the knowledge, experience and tactics of soccer. Instead, it greatly complements all aspects of the club.
“I don’t want anyone to think that GPS runs the club or dictates everything,” Carlos said, “but it’s such an important factor in our learning, our decision-making, our planning and our preparation. It affects so much of club parties, so it’s really cool to be able to have that.
“We are the creative problem solvers of the club. Data doesn’t run the club, it informs the club,” Ryan explained.
So, how does Gonzalo Pineda feel about having this massive and valuable tool at his disposal?
“For us, it’s very valuable, for many reasons. Evaluating performance, performance within the league…how we are doing, who is not performing to the standard that we have for each position and preventing injuries,” Pineda said. “Of course, the number one rule is football, it’s a complex game. You really have to understand the game to really understand what areas of the data you’re going to use to make decisions. For example, if a central midfielder ran 8 kilometers in a match, and normally our central midfielders run 10 kilometers per match on average, you need to look at the match and what type of match it was. Maybe it was a game where the opponent had one player less in the fifth minute, and then you dominate possession and probably the central midfielder didn’t need to go through a lot of transition moments. He was just in the offensive half passing by.
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Pineda emphasized that collective data helps the coaching staff make informed decisions for practices and games, and that GPS is one of many data points they receive and use.
Maybe now more fans can truly appreciate and understand the unicorn that is sports science and analytics. Technology is only advancing and any club or team that does not dig deeper will be left behind. But Ryan and his team clearly take pride in keeping the Five Stripes at the forefront of this booming industry as MLS – and soccer in Atlanta – grow exponentially.
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