2019.02.28
Demonstration Test of Sports Data Management in Lacrosse
- Sports Data for Management of Athlete Performances -
Saitama City (Head office: Saitama-shi, Saitama Prefecture, Mayor: Hayato Shimizu, hereinafter, Saitama City), NTT COMWARE CORPORATION (Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo, President: Satoshi Kurishima, hereinafter NTT COMWARE), Mealthy (Head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, President: Katsuyuki Suzuki, hereinafter Mealthy) and NTT Data Institute of Management Consulting Incorporat4ed (Head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, President: Yuji Kawashima, hereinafter NTT Data Institute of Management Consulting) will conduct demonstration tests in cooperation with Saitama University Women's Lacrosse Club to use sports data in lacrosse to verify the effects of performance management of athletes through data analytics on sports.
1. Background and Purpose of the Demonstration Test
Recently, there is a trend to analyze and utilize sports performance as data with various sensor devices mainly for professional sports and top athletes. However, there are various restrictions in amateur sports, and there were many issues to use the initiatives to utilize such data. This demonstration test aims at creating an environment to utilize sports data widely in amateur sports since sports-related data was not well used and to improve the quality of training and the accuracy of condition management for athletes.
2. Overview of this Demonstration Test
(1) Schedule
March 3, 2019 (Sun) - March 5, 2019 (Tue)
(2) Target Sports
Sports type: Women's Lacrosse
Subject: Saitama University Women's Lacrosse Club (9 players)
(3) Scope
The demonstration test is to collect positioning and heart rate information during the games with players of Saitama University Women's Lacrosse team wearing a satellite positioning sensor and wearable heart rate meter. As part of the condition management scheme of the players, NTT COMWARE and NTT Data Institute of Management Consulting conduct analysis on the condition and the performance of the players by gathering nutrition data of meals taken by the players before and on the day of the games, which directly relates to their performance, using a meal planning app provided by Mealthy. The data analytics on players' performances and conditions is applied to demonstrate the test and study the feasibility in business to use sports data in students' lacrosse.
<1> Player's performance during lacrosse games (collection of athlete movement data)
NTT COMWARE, which has considerable experience in data collection and analysis in various sports, collects data on the movements of players during games using the satellite positioning sensor and the wearable heart rate monitor. The satellite positioning sensor tracks the speed, the distance that the players traveled and other information from the time lapse data of their positions. The wearable heart rate monitor shows from the time lapse data of their heart rates so as to monitor the load level of movements on an athlete's body.
<2> Dietary management of athletes (collection of nutrition data of meals)
The smartphone-based nutrition management app service "Mealthy Meal Advice" provided by Mealthy is used to collect dietary information of the players during the period in order to analyze the nutrition data. The "Mealthy Meal Advice" app combining NTT COMWARE's image recognition AI "Deeptector®*1" takes a photo of the meal, which is used by national registered dietitians to give advice and estimate the nutrition data of the meal.
<3> Analysis of collected data (athlete performance analysis by nutrition and activity data)
Players' performance and activity status are analyzed and visualized using the data of their nutrition and activities. Then, further analytics is conducted for various factors including player's speed in the games, actions and the relationship between dietary intake and performances. Analysis results are provided to the players as feedback. The players then learn about their performance in a game to consider what they were supposed to do and use the information to improve their future training pattern and condition management.
3. Roles of the Companies in the Demonstration Test
(1) Saitama City- Verification of feasibility for Saitama Sports Schule businesses
(2) NTT COMWARE
- Providing an analytic platform of sports data and verification of the effectiveness of sports data in business
(3) Mealthy
- Providing the meal management service "Mealthy Meal Advice" for analysis of the dietary and advisory nutrition information of players
(4) NTT Data Management Institute
- Feasibility study of data services in sports
4. Future Scenario
Based on the findings and issues in data services for amateur sports obtained through this demonstration test, the partner companies will study how to use sports-related data to develop an attractive environment for sports. The data is expected to contribute to improve players' skills and performances in the future.
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