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OUTCOME STORY

Pro Soccer Club

Injury Analytics

How an MLS Team Leverages iP: Intelligence Platform to Reduce Player Injury and Save Millions of Dollars Each Season

Across global sport, many professional teams frustratingly face high player injury rates season-over-season and are forced to manage the resulting financial impact tied to player loss. One MLS club has taken this challenge head on by utilizing iP: Intelligence Platform alongside Kitman Labs’ team of performance experts the last few years to better understand the underlying factors of injury and identify methods to eliminate future player loss as much as possible. 

An injury risk analysis study conducted by Kitman Labs and this partner over 3 seasons involved statistical analysis to link testing, screening, and load data to injuries. 

Periodization strategies were enhanced, and training philosophies were developed for injury prevention, and alarms were set to alert staff to players who were entering ‘At Risk’ zones discovered by analysis.

This optimized approach by the club training staff led to: 

  • A 28% decrease overall in injuries, with a  31% decrease in In-Game Non-Contact Injuries over a 4 year period since 2019.

     

  • A 33% decrease in Hamstring Injuries and 67% decrease in Knee Injuries over 4 year period.
    • Knee Injury Counts Over 4 Year Period – All: 15, 17, 13, 5 => 67% reduction Non-Contact: 8, 10, 6, 3 => 63% reduction
    • Knee Injury Rates (per 1000 hours) – All: 6.1, 4.6, 2.7, 0.9 Non-Contact: 3.7, 2.6, 1.2, 0.7 => steady year-on-year decrease from ~1 injury every 2 weeks to ~1 every 5 weeks

       

  • A 50% decrease overall in severe injuries over 3 seasons.

Injury Analysis Result: Year-Over-Year Roster Savings 

The Use of iP: Intelligence Platform found that by identifying key injury factors, understanding how to mitigate them, and upgrading overall processes based on the new information, the club’s salary paid out to players unavailable due to injury fell from $2,640,000 in 2020 to $1,830,000 (30% REDUCTION) in a single season.

 

The above graphs represent each player’s percentage of games missed due to injury multiplied by their salary figure from season 1 (left) to season 3 (right).

" We work with partners to not only harness the data and information they’re collecting into a centralized operating system but to be able to do something with it. It’s about understanding the questions they are trying to answer and providing solutions to help them understand if the things that they’re doing are making the organization better."
Stephen Smith
CEO & Founder of Kitman Labs

Outcome Stories

Oakland Roots

From Siloed to a Single View

Data was never a problem for Oakland Roots SC. But stuck with outdated spreadsheet tools and inundated with data, they weren’t able to efficiently share or learn from anything they collected. Kitman Labs gave them a consolidated view that joined together everything from practice planning to player development, giving them objective scores and ratings, and bringing together medical, technical and performance data under one roof.

Burnley F.C.

Driving Organizational Efficiency

Burnley F.C. has always seen data and tech as especially critical in the world of football, so they understand that the organizational structure around data is as important as the data itself. With Kitman Labs, Burnley has been able to create efficiency in all their departments, from sports science to recruitment and coaching, and to bring those departments together with a single view of data across the organization.

Malmö FF

Future Proofing the Organization

Malmo FF has been around for over 100 years, but their focus remains steadily on the future. Their player management tools had limited scope and capabilities, meaning they couldn’t be as forward-thinking as they needed to drive success. Switching to Kitman Labs gave them a platform that allowed information to be shared openly and the customization to plan and change as they need to, truly future-proofing their organization.

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