SAS technology enables CSIR to offer real-time and lapse-time computer analysis of modern sport.
"Sport is serious business, with players, coaches and administrators earning their livelihood through it. Secondary parties such as sponsors, viewers and the media are also seriously influenced," comments Chris Elphinstone, project manager at information and communication technology services at CSIR.
Elphinstone and his team of researchers started a project that analyses sporting data, whether it be a rugby game, cricket match or a swimming heat. They identify patterns in "play" and individual behaviour, as well as performance. "We aim to provide coaches and even players themselves with a tool to observe and consequently adapt their play."
Base SAS was the primary tool used to create the databases. "We have found that digital video analysis systems, coupled with advanced database technologies, produces quality performance analysis tools in a wide variety of sports. However, we mostly use SAS-STAT to analyse the captured data," adds Elphinstone.
Once the match data is captured the information can be evaluated in a number of ways, including the application of filtering criteria to database searches and outputting the results in either video or graphical format. The CSIR system is effective in analysing match-to-match behaviour or individual players' performance over a season. The concise oppositional analysis of historical games can also provide benchmark data for scrutiny by the coaching staff.
Elphinstone has been a SAS user for 20 years and he reckons SAS tools are ideal for the collection and reporting of data, as well as data warehousing. "In our scenario, SAS enables us to provide coaches with a critical element in building a team, clearly pointing out its strengths and weaknesses, among other things."
Elphinstone says that although there are a number of soccer sites that report numbers, there is no actual analysis to be found locally. Cricket, however, uses these methods, albeit to a limited extent. He adds that cricket is an easier sport than most to analyse, given the fact that episodes and events are well defined.
Adele Fick, business development manager at SAS Institute SA, says SAS tools have over the years been used in unique scenarios. "SAS offers a wide ranging spectrum of products that are used on a variety of fronts, especially in the e-intelligence sphere. We are appreciative of the work being done at CSIR and glad that SAS tools could make it possible." According to Elphinstone, CSIR is looking at acquiring SAS Enterprise Miner and some of its reporting tools for more in-depth projects.
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