by Angela Guess
Gareth Morgan of Search Data Management recently discussed the application of Big Data analytics to sports. He writes, “Here’s a safe sporting bet: take any roomful of fans of, say, cricket or baseball, and you can guarantee that there will be at least one person there with an encyclopedic knowledge of the sport’s history, including players’ highest scores, batting averages and strike rates. There’s something about sport that attracts the anoraks. But here’s another sure-fire bet: knowing about past performance is about to become old hat. The smart money now is on using data to predict future sporting outcomes. Sports analytics promises to be the bookmaker’s worst nightmare.”
He continues, “One high-profile sport to catch the data analysis bug is football. Leading European clubs such as Real Madrid and Arsenal have pioneered the use of player-tracking systems, such as the IP camera network and analytics software developed by Prozone, to understand how individual players move through every passage of play, looking to find ways to improve their performance. In addition, the Sunday sports pages are now chock-full of statistics and graphical analysis generated by data services provider Opta, detailing players’ every move, pass or misplaced tackle. But such approaches are merely the tip of the sports analytics iceberg.”
Yet another issue is video games are typically serious in nature with the most important focus on understanding rather than fun. Although, there’s an entertainment part to keep your children engaged, just about every game is generally designed to develop a specific expertise or curriculum, such as instructional math or technology. Thanks for your publication.