Data tells stories.
For example, a total of 23 goals were scored in regular time in six games during the Safaricom Chapa Dimba Western region finals at the Bukhungu stadium in Kakamega. That translates to 3.8 goals per game, implying that the tournament was a high scoring one.
Now imagine being able to know how fast a player ran during the tournament, how far they ran, how quickly they were able to slow down and among other players’ performance metrics.
Safaricom has debuted the use of GPS (The Global Positioning System) wearable AI-powered vests in the ongoing Safaricom Chapa Dimba football tournament.
“As a purpose-led technology company, one of the things we wanted to do was to switch things up in this season through the use of football technology through the GPS wearable vests,” explains Angeline Ngunjiri, Chapter Lead, Brand Assets and Sponsorship at Safaricom.
The vest looks like a sports bra and is worn under the jersey. It is designed to hold a pod between the shoulder blades that contains a 10Hz GPS, an accelerometer, and a magnetometer.
The GPS devices can capture over 1,250 data points per second and compute both volume and intensity metrics to capture in real time, total distance, top speed, number of sprints, sprint distance, power, load, and intensity of the player.
The pod uses the same GPS technology that is used in smart watches to communicate with satellites. The device takes an hour to charge and after a game, the data is downloaded onto the AI-backend engines.
At Chapa Dimba, the players individual performance metrics will be collected at the eight regional finals as well as at the national finals and eventually placed on a database accessible to the players but also, with consent, to the coaches and scouts globally.
“Now with this data we will start to reveal our talent,” says Charles Gacheru, CEO of IMG Kenya.
To provide the technological overlay in this year’s edition of Chapa Dimba, Safaricom engaged IMG Kenya who in turn roped in Catapult, a sports performance analytics company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and which over the last 12 years has grown to be a world leader in sports performance technology.
“At the moment, we have about 3,500 teams. We work in all major leagues across the world. In football some of our big teams are Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and some of the English Premier League teams use our technology,” states Ashley de Beer, a Sports Scientist at Catapult.
Data collection means nothing without data analysis which is why for a week before the Western region finals that ended on August 27, Ashley trained a group of sports data analysts who were involved in the data collection and to explain the workings of the GPS vest to the players, coaches, and media.
“From the training I have learnt the importance of having tangible data. So, I can’t just stand here and say ‘that guy ran really fast or a super long distance’. I can say ‘that left back ran say 10km, his speed was these meters per minute, he did this intensity, this volume.’ As a coach it will not be guesswork. As a player I also get to know, I am here, I need to get here, or these are the things I need to work on,” says Sylvia Kariuki, one of the data analysts trained.
As the dust settles from the Western region finals tournament, the analysts are mining and analysing as much information as possible from the data amassed to create coherent, digital performance profiles that can be used as a kind of football CV for the individual players.
“A big advantage of having this information available in Kenya is that a striker, a goalie, a defender, a midfielder, can all start to realise where they are in terms of their ability and then they can be able to benchmark in Africa, in this league in South Africa, in this league in Sweden,” says Gacheru who is a veteran sports marketer and administrator.
