Sports and Information Technology

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Sports and Information Technology

• By Christine DiBuono
• CIS 101- 9 am
• Bruce White

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Sports and Information Technology

• There are many aspects of professional sports
  teams that most people are not aware of.
  Everyone sees the players on the field, the
  announcers, and the coaches. Ever wonder what
  goes on behind the scenes? Ever wonder how those
  players are picked to be on the field?

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Sports and IT continued

• Information technology plays a huge roll in
  professional sports. Without Information
  technology how would you know the batting
  averages of your favorite Yankee or Red Sox?
  Information Technology plays huge rolls in the
  picking of players, the pay roll, the overall
  financial state of a team, injury rehabilitation,
  motion detection, just to name a few.

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IT and the Boston Red Sox

• The goal of the Boston Red Sox for the 2004 year
  was Identify the best talent available, get it
  before their rivals do, and then figure out just
  how long to keep it, before it stops producing.
• Today, every season of every players career, is
  minutely chronicled. The Red Sox even require
  players in their farm system to keep a log of
  their every at-bat. Imagine if your employees
  were required to log every significant phone
  call, presentation, report or other measurable
  output of their days. Theres clearly a payoff
  for companies that can adapt their own
  information systems to keep increasing amounts of
  performance information- think time spent with
  customers per day or trouble tickets resolved-
  that can be delivered to managers and executive.

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IT used in Baseball (Red Sox)

• Sabermetrics - the mathematical analysis of payer
  batting and pitching performance
  
• ScoutAdvisor from E Solutions - keeps track of
  players talent from the minors to the pros
  
• IBM has a similar package called PROS
• E Solutions pulls in its information from a
  range of data sources, including the Major League
  Baseball Scouting Bureau, SportsTicker
  Enterprises and STATS inc.
• Athletic Success Profile test to test the
  players psychological abilities

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Ticketmaster as Information Technology

• Ticketmaster is a very important part of
  professional and college level sports.
  Established in 1978, this then small company has
  become a huge part of sports and entertainment.
  With the establishment of Ticketmaster.com, a
  person no longer has to leave their house to wait
  on long lines to buy tickets for their favorite
  sporting events. This company helps sports teams
  gain competitive advantage over other events by
  making it easier for fans to get tickets. With
  this site, you dont even need to know what seats
  you want. They help you find the best available
  and best priced seats, in any stadium you wish to
  venture to. If a team were not to use
  Ticketmaster as their main sales of tickets,
  their revenue would surely decrease. Anything
  that makes it easier a customer to have what they
  want at their hands is very important in sports
  and in any business.

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Motion Analysis in Sports

• Sports performance is directly linked to human
  motion and performance. Today in many sports,
  sports scientists use movement analysis as a tool
  to enhance techniques, correct movement errors,
  assess metabolic costs related to a variety of
  movements, and aid in rehabilitation. Modern
  computerized systems of movement analysis
  generally consist of placing special markers on
  the subject that will transmit informative data
  from their position in space to receiver devices
  or force platforms that then asses those forces
  and moments related to gravity. Computer
  software programs are used to evaluate the
  collected data and process it.

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Motion Analysis Cont.

• The use of movement analysis for athletic
  performance focuses on errors made by the athlete
  while performing a specific movement during the
  course of a game. In basketball for example, the
  comparison of an athletes movement stored in a
  computer with a database consisting of this
  particular athletic activity makes it possible to
  determine and correct errors made by the athlete.
  With movement technology you can also compare a
  players made free throws with the missed
  attempts. Simple suggestions, such as telling
  the player to shoot with the elbow extended more,
  or with the wrist flexed may be enough to
  significantly increase free throw percentage.
  Some coaches argue that experienced coaches
  already make this movement analysis during
  practice sessions and games and therefore they
  really dont need the movement technology.
  However, while the coach can play a role in
  fine-tuning shooting techniques, keeping track of
  subtle changes in movement over a period of years
  needs more than the eyes and memory of a coach.
• Athletes recovering from surgery or a serious
  chronic injury often require intensive correction
  of the motor abilities that were lost over time.
  Incorrect movement habits developed because of
  the injury need to be pointed out to the athlete
  and strategies have to be developed to help the
  athlete recover proper movement patterns.

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Goals of the School of Business at Quinnipiac 

• The Lenders School of Business at Quinnipiac
  University has clear goals for itself. Colleges
  and Universities are like businesses and the goal
  of any business is to succeed and to have great
  recognition and stability. That is clearly one
  of the biggest goals of this school. This school
  uses a great deal of innovative technology that
  gives if a great competitive advantage over many
  schools. These technologies are more appealing
  to the student because it makes our lives easier
  and puts everything right at our fingertips.
  Another goal of the School of Business is to
  teach students as much as they can. With
  assignments almost always being done by computer,
  it makes it much faster for a teacher to grade
  and return assignments and move on. They are
  also trying to prepare us for the real world,
  where information technology is utilized greatly
  and where companies look for graduates who can
  recognize with technological advances that may be
  in place in that company.

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IT at Quinnipiac University

• Quinnipiac University utilizes many forms of
  information technology throughout the campus. A
  few examples of these technologies are
  
• -Our campus is networked
• -All our laptops are wireless and wireless
  internet can be accessed throughout the campus
  
• -Use of Blackboard
• -Use of WebAdvisor
• -Everyone is required to have the same model
  laptop
  
• -We all have email addresses that end with
  quinnipiac.edu
  
• -Many of classes are taught using Microsoft
  Powerpoint presentations
  

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Sources

• Baseline Magazine May 14, 2004
• www.fiba.com/asp_includes/downloard.asp?file_id24
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• www.ticketmaster.com
• Information Systems Today Leonard Jessop
  Joseph Valarich