Innovation for Success

High-tech analytics may have been a key factor contributing to the Canadian Women's National Team best ever bronze-medal result at the recent London 2012 Olympics. Canada's "Innovation For Gold" program (formerly called "Own The Podium" and originally developed to power Canadian athletes on to the podium at their home Olympics in Vancouver 2010) distributed funds for technology initiatives as a way to boost performance. With about $1 million a year in innovation funding to share across 49 summer and winter sports, the funds are strategically targeted to those programs certain to produce a competitive advantage.

Although common among professional men's teams, the use of GPS and heart-rate monitors is not widely used in women's soccer where investment tends to be much lower, and a little bit could go a long way to make a difference. Performance metrics that measure things like speed, field sense, efficiency and fitness levels arm head coach John Herdman with additional data for decision-making. According to Ken MacQueen's Maclean's feature, Canadian midfielder Desiree Scott ranges about 11 km (almost 7 miles) a game and is quoted as saying that the fitness gaps within her team have closed thanks to the use of technology.


Source: Ken MacQueen (Maclean's, 2012) via Yahoo.