Copyright 2014 Academy League. www.academyleague.com.au - Page 21
spending thousands of dollars a year on their kids’ sport, and they want to know how they are progressing. So we said, "let’s give the kid, the coaches and the parents an accurate report on where he stands among his peers and help pave the road for his development. If he’s been working out like crazy, he should really find out if he’s getting any better.”
Trainers, coaches and general managers of a particular sport make requests for skills they want to test, and the Hollinses determine how best to execute the tests. They have measured everything from a basic vertical jump or bench press to more sophisticated tests that use their high precision sensors. They can get detailed information about an athletes agility and his reaction time as he or she weaves through rows of timing sensors or transitions between forward and backward motions – a basketball player showing his dribbling skills or a hockey player skating with a puck.
Every athlete wears an identification bracelet that he scans at every test. Results go instantaneously onto a live scoreboard, an online database and into a personal report card for every athlete.
“Jamie and Jonathon have found a niche in the market, and there is no other business in that marketplace that compares to the specific things they can do, because the tests they run are so specific and impressive,” said Joe Birch, Senior Director of hockey development and special events for the OHL. “Our GMs now have four years of data. They can measure what P.K. Subban did in his OHL draft year and compare data to today’s young players.
“Guys who tested the highest as young players in areas like speed and agility are the same ones about to go at the top of this year’s NHL draft, like Nathan MacKinnon,” Birch added. “Also, players are getting serious about taking their test results to a strength and conditioning coach or on-ice skill development coach to improve in a particular area.”
“I think it’s really important for sport development to turn the page and start using data, since every other business is using data,” Jamie Hollins said. “We have for a long time in sports looked at stats, like goals and assists, but now we need to use data to analyze and monitor our athletes.”