Microsoft scrambles to become player in new game of sports analytics

Data analytics is leaving no stones un-turned to reach out to every possible sphere of life and sports, a domain where data crunching does help in the long run, can hardly stay away from the onslaught of analytics. Microsoft has understood that sooner or later, big data and analytics will become crucial to the performance of teams and the team that doesn’t use analytics may well be falling behind.

Hence, their Sports Performance Platform, a program that performs analytics and data monitoring to produce positive impact on the result as well as overall performance of the team. If you have ever thought how to catch a team on counter attack the most effectively and drawn all sorts of formations on the board, you can now let big data tell you when you can have the least attention from opponent and when your team must take the game to the other.

Impacting the fitness

The result is the obvious reflection of the great work going under the hood. However, if you start looking beyond the obvious, you would see that data plays a key role in rejuvenating your understanding of the fitness regime and how it impacts a player. The signs are not always visible, but data reveals much more than physical signs. Microsoft’s new tool comes with a cloud repository of data which lets you evaluate how the training is impacting a player internally.

In fact, a wellness survey would help you track factors like sleep hours, hydration, heart-rate variations as well as game data including the distance covered and other impactful data. So, there is a clear indication of how stress builds up and how the body suffers accordingly. Thus, you know when there is a high chance of injury and when the player desperately needs a break.

Enhancing the longevity

The greatest problem in sports is that players cannot recover from a big injury and thus, a bright player may end up being nowhere in his career because the injury was not taken care of and his return from injury was not properly planned. Obviously, the big clubs are already using analytics software for a host of other purposes, but the truly revolutionary possibility has not been explored yet.

However, these teams have a wide pool of stuff and coaches, assistant coaches and secondary coaches. They take care of each player and often, groom them personally. But, for a small team, that amount of attention may not be the most feasible option for a coach. However, Microsoft’s all new introduction may well help small teams dream big where beating the goliath is no longer stuff of folklore.

Identifying weakness, amplifying strengths

Often, rigorous training may have an immediate impact on players. They perform well and all seems fine. However, when the big day comes, the players tend to not play to their full potential and something goes wrong at an odd moment, resulting in disappointing result. However, you may not need rigorous training if you identify the weaknesses in the exact manner. You don’t need to set up free-kick walls in hundred and one ways if you can pinpoint the mistake. Hence, training should be adequate, preparation should be maximum. While not everyone is embracing this data revolution in sports, small clubs are not shying away from embracing it openly.

Microsoft, empowered by Azure, can now harness cloud, analytics and data monitoring together and bring the software for free. The only charge is the charge for storing the data, and that too is a minimal charge. Currently, there are widgets for five sports, but surely, as sports analytics becomes more commonplace than now, surely the scope for more sports will be included.