Complex Sport Analytics

This book is the first to combine principles from analytics, complex systems theory, multi-disciplinary diagnostics and sport performance analysis. It considers athletes, teams, and sport organizations in individual and team games as complex systems, and demonstrates how complexity studies can enrich analytics and give us a more sophisticated understanding of the causalities of winning and losing in sports. Part I introduces the basic categories of analytics and their uses in elite sport. Part II presents an original conception of sport analytics both as a complex of different kinds of processes and as a complexity-adapted view of human systems acting in sport performance and management. Part III considers the main principles of complex sport analytics, expanding the prism of complexity to include all levels of a sport organization from athletes, coaches and trainers to top decision makers, and suggests practical applications and simulations for cases of both individual and team sports. This is illuminating reading for any advanced student, researcher or practitioner working in sport analytics, performance analysis, coaching science or sport management.

"This book addresses the fundamental use of analytical metrics to inform sport managers, framing sport analytics for practical use within organizations. The book is organized to present the background of sport analytics, why it is useful, selected techniques and tools employed, and its applications in sport organizations. The text guides the reader in selecting and communicating information in a useable format, and the translation of metrics in informing managers, guiding decisions, and maximizing efficiency in achieving desired outcomes"--

As the analysis of big datasets in sports performance becomes a more entrenched part of the sporting landscape, so the value of sport scientists and analysts with formal training in data analytics grows. Sports Analytics: Analysis, Visualisation and Decision Making in Sports Performance provides the most authoritative and comprehensive guide to the use of analytics in sport and its application in sports performance, coaching, talent identification and sports medicine available. Employing an approach-based structure and integrating problem-based learning throughout the text, the book clearly defines the difference between analytics and analysis and goes on to explain and illustrate methods including: Interactive visualisation Simulation and modelling Geospatial data analysis Spatiotemporal analysis Machine learning Genomic data analysis Social network analysis Offering a mixed-methods case study chapter, no other book offers the same level of scientific grounding or practical application in sports data analytics. Sports Analytics is essential reading for all students of sports analytics, and useful supplementary reading for students and professionals in talent identification and development, sports performance analysis, sports medicine and applied computer science.

This is the eBook of the printed book and may not include any media, website access codes, or print supplements that may come packaged with the bound book. This up-to-the-minute reference will help you master all three facets of sports analytics — and use it to win! Sports Analytics and Data Science is the most accessible and practical guide to sports analytics for everyone who cares about winning and everyone who is interested in data science. You’ll discover how successful sports analytics blends business and sports savvy, modern information technology, and sophisticated modeling techniques. You’ll master the discipline through realistic sports vignettes and intuitive data visualizations–not complex math. Every chapter focuses on one key sports analytics application. Miller guides you through assessing players and teams, predicting scores and making game-day decisions, crafting brands and marketing messages, increasing revenue and profitability, and much more. Step by step, you’ll learn how analysts transform raw data and analytical models into wins: both on the field and in any sports business.

Sports Analytics From A to Z is written for non-mathematicians who love sports, are interested in sports analytics, but do not have the time, or desire to learn complex algorithms or processes within the various statistical methods. Sports Analytics Expert and Consultant Victor Holman provides a range of sports analytics methods in a manner that the average reader can understand their concepts and more importantly, how the concepts have been applied and leveraged in the sports world by some of today's leading innovators in sports analytics. While the reader won't walk away from this book understanding how to execute or program these sports analytics methods, they will walk away with countless new ideas for how analytics can be leveraged to gather new insight into data. This sports analytics book is unique in that it identifies numerous sports analytics methods, it's alphabetically arranged, it outlines primary and secondary sports analytics methods applied in various research papers. Reading each of the research articles, and the sports analytics methods applied when performing the research will help the reader understand which statistical tool to use to approach their analytic challenges.About Victor HolmanVictor Holman is a sports analytics and performance expert, management consultant and author. His thought leadership in business performance, sports performance and process improvement has been demonstrated in several books, frameworks and products he has published over the last 15 years. Victor has served as a performance expert, data and enterprise systems project manager and management consultant to over 100 organizations, including Fortune 500 companies and Federal Agencies. He's been featured in major television, radio and print media outlets for his ability to help small businesses outperform their competition by applying strategies, frameworks and management tools. And Victor is applying these same concepts to sports management and sports analytics. Victor believes that like small businesses, less talented sports programs can level the playing field by applying sports analytics methods that transcends their analytics programs beyond management decision making and into quantitative results delivered by the players. He also believes that to make a team function at optimal performance, it's critical that game data is gathered, analyzed and translated into value that can be easily measured and delivered by its players. Victor helps teams figure out how to apply their data and existing analytics systems to help players measure value, increase IQ and create synergy using his Agile Sports Analytics Framework. Victor authored the Agile Sports Analytics Book, which outlines the step by step process for getting players to execute the coach's strategy through an award system that measures player's ability to adapt their games to the team strategy and measures their contribution to wins.Victor developed the Agile Sports Analytics application, which provides the tools and drives the processes of the Sports Analytics Framework.Victor was recently recognized by Feedspot as the #2 sports analytics blog. His blog provides the latest strategies to help coaches, analysts and management improve the IQ, team dynamics & execution of their players. His blog also provides insight into all of the various statistical methods applied in sports analytics along with the key innovators and researchers who continue to push the sports analytics envelope. His blog posts are the foundation of this book. Victor developed the Sports Analytics Maturity Model, which outlines five phases, seven key success areas, 26 best practices and 130 key processes for sports programs looking to gain a competitive edge across all aspects of the program. To learn more about how Victor Holman can help your team leverage analytics to gain a competitive advantage, contact him at victor@agilesportsanalytics.com or (888) 861-8733.

This book is a collection of applications of analytic techniques to a number of popular sports including baseball, basketball, hockey, Jai Alai, NFL football and horseracing. We focus on both the statistics of the sporting events and betting strategies on the events. The subject is fascinating as there are many twists and subtle complicated decisions.Sports analytics applies mathematical and statistical methods to important questions in the structure and performance of sporting activities using the same basic methods and approaches as data analysts in other disciplines.Sports games and events are a fruitful area for study and to evaluate betting strategies as there is extensive data and mean reversion. With prices changing continuously, risk arbitrage bets can be made. Moreover, little errors, like a penalty to a player or an error in a call by a referee, can change the score of a game and corresponding betting prices. The collection and analysis of in-game data can inform players, coaches and staff on effective decision making during sporting events.Novel features of the book include: an analysis of who were the greatest baseball batters; analyses of the players most important to team success (and they are not necessarily the best players) in basketball, NFL football and hockey; a tutorial on risk arbitrage and its applications to NFL football and NBA basketball; a discussion of many ad hoc decision rules by coaches and players and what was really optimal; in the racing section we discuss breeding, the analysis of various bets like the Rainbow and ordinary Pick 6, a discussion and betting on the most important races and a visit to the Breeders' Cup with Ed Thorp to demonstrate the place and show system in action.

Data and analytics have the potential to provide sports organizations with a competitive advantage both on and off the field. Yet even as the use of analytics in sports has become commonplace, teams regularly find themselves making big investments without significant payoff. This book is a practical, nontechnical guide to incorporating sports data into decision making, giving leaders the knowledge they need to maximize their organization’s investment in analytics. Benjamin C. Alamar—a leading expert who has built high-performing analytics groups—surveys the current state of the use of data in sports, including both specifics around the tools and how to deploy them most effectively. Sports Analytics offers a clear, easily digestible overview of data management, statistical models, and information systems and a detailed understanding of their vast possibilities. It walks readers through the essentials of understanding the value of different types of data and strategies for building and managing an analytics team. Throughout, Alamar illustrates the value of analytics with real-world examples and case studies from both the sports and business sides. Sports Analytics has guided a range of sports professionals to success since its original publication in 2013. This second edition adds examples and strategies that focus on using data on the business side of a sports organization, provides concrete strategies for incorporating different types of data into decision making, and updates all discussions for the rapid technological developments of the last decade.

Using data from one season of NBA games, Basketball Data Science: With Applications in R is the perfect book for anyone interested in learning and applying data analytics in basketball. Whether assessing the spatial performance of an NBA player's shots or doing an analysis of the impact of high pressure game situations on the probability of scoring, this book discusses a variety of case studies and hands-on examples using a custom R package. The codes are supplied so readers can reproduce the analyses themselves or create their own. Assuming a basic statistical knowledge, Basketball Data Science with R is suitable for students, technicians, coaches, data analysts and applied researchers. Features: One of the first books to provide statistical and data mining methods for the growing field of analytics in basketball Presents tools for modelling graphs and figures to visualize the data Includes real world case studies and examples, such as estimations of scoring probability using the Golden State Warriors as a test case Provides the source code and data so readers can do their own analyses on NBA teams and players