so in the previous training sessions she practices how to turn an unfavorable move into a favorable one. “If Carolina usually fails when the shuttlecock hits her in such a way and becomes strong when she hits in such a way, and we know it from the statistics, it is not always easy to correct the first thing, but we can practice so that, when that situation occurs, she knows how to reverse it and create a favorable environment where she can exploit her strengths”, explains Rivas.
In the new era of data, Movistar supports its sponsored elite athletes
with advanced analytics and machine learning projects adapted to the needs of each one. In addition to Marin in badminton, they work with Estudiantes in basketball, the Movistar Team in cycling and the Raga Nodal Academy in tennis. And they are not the only ones. The Spanish Athletics Federation has just invested this 2021, with the support of a European aid, one million euros for big data digitization. Lilia has invested more than 200 million euros in the last six years in a huge digitization, artificial intelligence and analytics project led by José Carlos Franco.
Among all the initiatives, one focuses on the sports part:
They have created a platform, in which the clubs have access to an exhaustive statistical study of their players and results prepared by Media coach, the own department in which mathematicians, physicists and 해외축구중계 analysts work. “The teams can see their statistics and those of their opponents,” explains Roberto López del Campo, coordinator of Media coach. “We democratize the data so that there are equal conditions.”The possibilities offered by these statistics and variables are almost limitless. It is no longer about the average number of goals scored by a soccer player or the average number of three-pointers made by a basketball player.
Not even to detect errors that a cyclist or an athlete tends to commit in order to correct them.
Marin is even monitored for sleep cycles and phases. “My physical trainer, Guillermo, uses this information to see how I’ve slept, if I’ve recovered or not, and he transmits that information to Fernando,” says the four-time European champion. “Based on that, he can plan my exercises for the day.” Many mornings she trains connected to an accelerometer that is placed on her waist. The small device receives and sends via bluetoothinformation on the spot. “We measure how much fatigue is accumulating. We can even program it so that when there is 20%, or whatever percentage, of displacement loss, we get a warning”, explains Rivas. “That makes daily work more efficient and helps us prevent possible injuries.”
In team sports they also use the data to predict injuries or to adapt certain parts of the training,
But not so much when it comes to defining the tactics of a match: being sports with several players who interact with each other, the variables are endless. Pedro de Alarcon, the Telephonic analyst, explains that with Movistar Estudiantes de basketball he usually uses the data for issues such as scouting players. Miguel Ortega, director of operations of the team, talks about the application where they accumulate the statistics of the players from various European leagues for when they need to sign a “specialist”. “We put the characteristics that we need to fill that position (certain statistics, qualities…) according to the price that we can assume and that allows us to reduce the list to about 20. And with them we already do the field work, inquiring about the personality, style and attitude. Factors that the data cannot measure and that are just as or more important, according to experts and coaches.
