The Sports Office Performance Management Systems enhance player welfare in elite rugby

Player Welfare & Safety Programme:

The Sports Office has enhanced its work with the RFU and Premier Rugby to support their world-renowned player welfare and safety programme in elite rugby.

Prior to the current season, the Sports Office Client Management team visited every Gallagher Premiership club. They met with medical staff to share best practice in injury surveillance and medical monitoring; when using the company’s rugby-specific performance management system, The Rugby Squad. They also offered additional advice about using the system for many other aspects of performance, preparation and athlete monitoring.

The team met with new members of staff at each club. A written Practitioner Guide and a series of guidance videos have also been produced. These show how best to use The Rugby Squad systems in this specific injury surveillance area.

They will also ensure new staff are able to support all processes within the Professional Rugby Injury Surveillance Project.

elite rugby governing body and league work with The Sports Office

RFU, Premier Rugby & TSO

Andy Gorski, Head of Client Services at The Sports Office, commented: “Our visits to clubs in the Gallagher Premiership provided a fantastic opportunity to contribute more to this important injury surveillance and player welfare programme.

“It was the first time the Sports Office client team met with club medical staff. Which proven to be a beneficial experience for everyone. We were able to offer additional support on the best use of our systems for additional performance management activity.”

Gorski added: ”The Professional Rugby Injury Surveillance Project provides the sport with important data that can help improve standards of player welfare and medical management. We continue to work with our clients at the RFU and Premier Rugby to offer them the support they require to maintain and enhance this crucial initiative.”

Rugby Injury Surveillance Project:

The long-term Professional Rugby Injury Surveillance Project has been possible due to the bespoke performance management system, developed by The Sports Office. The study is set to improve professional player welfare and is the most comprehensive of its type.

The Sports Office worked with senior medical staff at the RFU to develop a system which allows sports medicine and coaching personnel at clubs and national teams to easily input an extensive range of medical and performance data. The system then supports extensive analysis of this. This includes sharing management information, the creation of detailed medical reports and baseline data to identify patterns and trends in injuries, via comparison with previous seasons.

The RFU, Premier Rugby and the Rugby Players Association originally commissioned the Professional Rugby Injury Surveillance project in 2002 as joint creation. It monitors player injury risk in Premiership, European club and international competition, as well as in training.

The Sports Office provides online performance management systems for elite sport, which offer a range of functionality. The systems support key performance processes including athlete monitoring and training load management. Also, injury prevention, sports science, sports medicine, administration, coaching and sports analytics.

Many elite rugby organisations throughout the world are among the company’s varied client base. These include governing bodies, teams in the SANZAR Super Rugby competition, the Australian NRL and clubs in the UK’s Rugby League Super League.

18th September 2018 /

New video features are ‘game-changers’ for analysts and coaches

The Sports Office staff have been radically enhancing the systems use of video for performance analysis and coaching. A series of new features will maximise player/athlete engagement and personal development.

The enhancements mean videos, with added visuals and notes, can be quickly and effectively generated to create high-impact learning resources.

“We believe these enhancements will be game-changing for the use of video in high-performance sport”, commented Chris Tuson, from The Sports Office.

“These updates now offer coaches and analysts many new features which will significantly augment their work and mean their players and athletes experience is hugely enriched.”

More details of the updates are as follows:

Video tagging wizard

Users can now tag videos as they view footage in real time, for instant analysis. Easily create tags for highlights and crucial moments. Also, quickly generate metrics including total player involvement. The tagging wizard offers the option to upload multiple tagging files against videos. This allows both staff and players to use third-party data such as OPTA, STATSport, Sportscode. Tags can be seen while viewing footage in real time.

Video tagging report

As video tags are created they become metrics in the system’s analytics engine. This means reports can be generated to provide both holistic and more granular performance summaries.

Video drawing/annotation tool

It is now possible to add text and other visual annotations to pinpoint key moments in videos and gain the most from the analysis process. A toolkit of options makes it easy to add both text and symbols. It is also possible to overlay annotations on LIVE video content for rapid performance analysis.

Video analytics

This is a multi-faceted update. To enhance player/athlete engagement, performance data can be added and visualized alongside video content. Also, precisely measure and analyse video engagement. This allows staff to monitor player’s usage in great detail. This includes the number and duration of video views. Also, analyse trends in video content including total hits.

All these latest video enhancements utilise the power of cloud computing offered by The Sports Office systems. This ensures a smooth and streamlined user experience. The enhancements will also complement the new Player’s App.

This native app integrates with Sports Office performance management systems and third-party social media platforms. It provides a comprehensive range of personalised support and creates a powerful link between club and player.

Further updates to video functionality in Sports Office systems are planned to include the creation of playlists, clipping, dashboard searches and further tagging options. Other features including multiple viewing angles and commentary on uploads are also being developed.

For more information or additional training on these new features, please contact The Sports Office Client Management team.

13th August 2018 /

New release from The Sports Office – The Player’s App

The latest release from The Sports Office, The Player’s App, has been designed to keep players better informed and enhance progression at the club. The App integrates with Sports Office performance management software and social media platforms to provide a comprehensive range of personalised support.

The native Player’s App optimises all communication, sports science and sports medicine modules. Along with coaching and administrative processes between an organisation and its players/athletes.

Phil Clarke, Director from The Sports Office said: “Elite sports organisations will now be able to offer significantly enhanced support to their players with our new native app.

“The app will ensure maximum efficiency and effectiveness in critical areas including communication, coaching and administration. It will create a powerful, personalised link between clubs and their squads.”

Phil added: “Our new Player’s App will provide an additional tool for coaches and elite sports practitioners to reach the players they work with and support them to drive improved performance.”

Features:

The video enhancements provide a key area of functionality within the new Player’s App. Staff can assign specific videos to players to maximise engagement, learning and progression. Categorise video footage and create personalised playlists to enhance focused player reflection. Also, download video content to view offline.

The Newsfeed and Dashboard areas provide a real-time update of relevant information directly from the club. Support player output and ensure consistency with club policy and public statements by synching club social media accounts.

The Player’s App also enhances communication between staff and players with secure instant messaging and push notifications. It offers heightened functionality, instinctively detecting a user’s language via personal mobile settings.

The app is compatible with a wide range of 3^rd party sources. This allows the use of sports science and performance analysis data from providers including OPTA and STATSports. Download to all personal devices easily from major app stores and is compatible with iOS and Android devices.

Download the Player’s App PDF, and please contact a member of our Client Management team today to learn more and discuss how The Player’s App can be implemented in your organisation.

2nd August 2018 /

The Blues Case Study

Client: The Blues
System: The Rugby Squad

Tony Hanks, the Blues General Manager of High Performance, stated: “The Sports Office Client Managers are as far as you can get from us geographically. Yet, we find they are always the people to go, to provide support for the system and solve any problems.”

The Blues say The Rugby Squad has made a huge impact on everyday operations for all staff at the Super Rugby franchise. The Blues make extensive use of the Scheduling module of The Sports Office system. This provides access to all scheduling information and hence clarity and improved communication for management and players. The club say this has allowed players to access information and data that had previously not reached them. They feel better informed and aware of what they need to know.

image of high performance NRL rugby team The Blues

Source: The Blues

In addition to the Operation module, The Blues take full advantage of the Recruitment section to plan for future squads.

The Blues are now in the fourth year of using The Rugby Squad. New players introduced to the application have reported a rapid adjustment to it.

Benefits:

Improved access to all information and data.
Information provided to players now reaches them effectively and consistent
Depth Charts provide an easy view of future squad options

If you think your club could benefit from a system like The Rugby Squad, contact us now to find out more.

10th July 2018 /

St. Helens R.F.C. Case Study

Client: St. Helens R.F.C.

System: The Rugby Squad

Matt Daniels, Head of Strength & Conditioning at St Helens Rugby League Club, commented: “Our Sports Office journey has been excellent. Their knowledge of the system, alongside their understanding of our sport, has enabled Sports Office client managers to have a real and meaningful impact on our practices and the successful operation of The Rugby Squad in our organisation. Their system is multi-faceted and caters for every area of my work. It also enables a smooth processing of our analytics.”

Source: St Helens RFC

St Helens R.F.C. have been using The Sports Office performance management system, The Rugby Squad, for 8 seasons. The system provides a central point for the club’s performance and medical data to be effectively collected and analysed.

The club report that player interaction has also improved due to the nature of The Rugby Squad. Player engagement across the platform includes the input of wellbeing data, game reports and RPE during training.

St Helens also say that access to medical and performance data has improved the effectiveness of their coaching. As a result, they are now able to make better informed decisions relating to training loads and team selection.

“The Rugby Squad has proved to be an invaluable tool for us. To have one centralised system that has information on all players from scholarship to first team allows me to see what has happened and what is going to happen.” – added St Helens CEO, Mike Rush.

6th July 2018 /

The Sports Office continues to support major professional rugby injury study

The Professional Rugby Injury Surveillance Project’s (PRISP) report for 2015-16 has recently been published. The long-term study is made possible by a bespoke performance management and monitoring system, developed for rugby authorities by The Sports Office.

The study is intended to improve professional player welfare and is the most comprehensive of its type. The project was first commissioned in 2002 and was jointly created by the RFU, Premier Rugby and the Rugby Players Association. It monitors player injury risk in Premiership, European club and representative competition, as well as in training.

The Sports Office worked with senior medical staff at the RFU to design and develop a powerful system which allows sports medicine and performance personnel at participating clubs and national teams to easily input an extensive range of medical and performance data. The system allows for this information to be shared immediately with coaches, directors of rugby and other key staff. The system also compiles the collected data to generate baselines, create comprehensive reports and identify patterns and trends of injuries via comparison with previous seasons.

The Professional Rugby Injury Surveillance Project’s annual report is made possible by a bespoke performance management and monitoring system developed by The Sports Office

Sports Office Client Manager Neil Holland commented: “It’s pleasing to see that the Professional Rugby Injury Surveillance Project continues to provide the sport with important data that can help improve standards of player welfare and medical management. Our system is a powerful tool and resource to support this long-term study and hence the ongoing work of rugby’s sports medicine and performance practitioners.”

Holland added: “We continue to work with our clients at the RFU, Premier Rugby and other governing bodies to offer them the levels of support they require. We look forward to playing our part in further improving this crucial aspect of the sport.”

Speaking in a press release about the report, jointly issued by the RFU and Premier Rugby, RFU Chief Medical Officer Simon Kemp said: “This is an important study that helps us understand injury trends in the professional game in England. Since this surveillance project began in 2002 the injury rate has remained relatively stable however last season has shown a decline in match injuries; lower than any other season.

“We need to be cautious about interpreting the data in a Rugby World Cup year that led to a change in the domestic season structure. We certainly can’t now say that the professional game is safer from these single-season results and we need to continue to monitor injury risk to clarify if this is a trend or not.”

Previously Simon Kemp has also praised The Sports Office’ work in the development of the performance management and monitoring system for the project. He said: “The Sports Office system provides a comprehensive electronic medical record with an integrated injury surveillance function.

“It’s fundamental to the delivery of sports medicine care to our Premiership and England representative team players. Our players, medical staff and performance teams all derive significant benefits.”

In the same joint press release about the recent PRISP report, Corin Palmer, Head of Rugby Operations at Premiership Rugby, also said: “Player welfare is Premiership Rugby’s number one priority and the Professional Rugby Injury Surveillance Project continues to provide important information which allows us alongside our 12 clubs to establish and maintain world-class standards when treating any player who has been injured in any way.”

Among the key findings from the PRISP report for 2015-16 season were that the incidence of match injuries in the Premiership was lower than reported in any previous season. Data collection during the 2016-17 season will help clarify whether this is the start of a trend towards a lower overall injury incidence or an atypical year. A copy of the PRISP report for 2015-16 season and further details can be read on the Aviva Premiership Rugby website, here.

The Sports Office provides online performance management systems for elite sport, which offer a range of functionality. The systems support key performance processes including athlete monitoring and training load management, injury prevention, sports science, sports medicine, administration, coaching and sports analytics.

Among the company’s varied client base, are many elite rugby organisations. These include national governing bodies, teams in SANZAR’s Super Rugby competition, the Australian NRL and many clubs in the UK’s Rugby League Super League.

26th January 2017 /

Sports Office systems are the “perfect fit” for World Rugby load management recommendations

A new study by one of the world’s largest sports federations has underlined that effective load management is critical to injury prevention for elite performers. The extensive monitoring and measurement recommended in the study can be readily implemented, via the dedicated module within Sports Office performance management systems.

World Rugby, which works with 120 member Unions and oversees 6.7 million players worldwide, commissioned the study. It examined the management of game and training load for elite players and was recently published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

The study examined “loads (activity levels) encountered by professional rugby players” in order to “better understand the impact on physical and mental health, with the objective of determining potential recommendations for injury prevention.” Findings from the study have been released to increase awareness of injury-prevention throughout the game.

The Sports Office load management module is capable of generating a range of detailed reports.

Among these are that “loads should be individually managed” as some players “may be at higher risk of injury such as those returning from injury, inexperienced players or those who have taken a step-up in competition level.“ The study also recommended that “coaches/team personnel look closely at managing load via planning and adapting training sessions” with “clear communication regarding short and long term load monitoring and management goals.”

“Having reviewed the World Rugby study, we believe the load management module within our performance management systems is the perfect fit for any elite rugby organisation seeking to implement these recommendations or any elite sports organisation seeking to use a similar approach to injury prevention and performance optimisation.”, commented The Sports Office Managing Director Phil Clarke.

“The module offers users a powerful and accurate means of quickly and effectively evaluating the impact of ALL training and preparation activities. It also offers the efficient communication opportunities described in the research. ”

Clarke added: “We believe this World Rugby study is a highly important and beneficial development for the global game. The power and capacity of our Sports Office load management functionality will support those who seek to adopt its findings.”

Using data for load management

The Sports Office “load management” module dynamically brings together data held in the Preparation and Sports Science areas of the system. A player/athlete tracker is also at the heart of the load management functionality. This provides an array of user defined options for personalised monitoring, including the ability to see individual and team information. Also included is the capability to monitor both acute and chronic loads and to manage training stress balance.

The module – which also offers a more visually engaging overview of information – will create further improvements in the performance workflow via dedicated areas which display data for staff with specific roles. The ability of The Sports Office online performance management systems to offer instant access to accurate reports, based on load management readings, are also central to the module as is the capability to send “alerts” to staff opting to receive them.

You can read more about the development of The Sports Office “load management” module here.
Full details of the World Rugby study ‘Managing player load in professional rugby union: a review of current knowledge and practices’,can be found here.

4th November 2016 /

Leading club praise The Sports Office system for elite rugby

Super League club Warrington Wolves has praised The Sports Office’ rugby platform, The Rugby Squad.

The Wolves use the system across their entire rugby operations, including first team and scholarship players. The club consistently competes for major honours. and recently appeared in the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley, with a squad featuring 14 home-grown players. And now a senior member of Warrington’s team management and coaching staff – who is a former Super League player and Ireland international – has underlined the Rugby Squad’s benefits.

“The Rugby Squad is a powerful tool which delivers great benefits to our organisation, across many key areas”, said Head of Rugby Operations, Karl Fitzpatrick.

“The system enhances our ability to monitor training load, manage our performance data and communicate effectively. It has increased the effectiveness and efficiency of our coaching and preparation activities across all grades.”

Karl Fitzpatrick added: “The support we received from The Sports Office Client Management team meant the implementation of the system into our coaching and performance processes was very smooth. The ongoing support they provide also enables us to maximise our use of the platform.”

The Rugby Squad supports many members of the Wolves backroom staff. This includes coaches as well as staff involved in strength and conditioning, sports science, sports medicine, performance analysis and youth development. The system is also used by operations and administration teams and club commercial staff.

The Sports Office provides Performance Management Software for many elite sporting organisations.

The system allows staff to quickly and efficiently arrange all team activities, collate all data, monitor and analyse that data and thus allow evidence based decision making on vital performance issues. Reports and information generated within the system are also provided directly to the club’s Board on a regular basis.

The Sports Office provides online performance management systems for elite sport, which offer a range of functionality. The systems support key performance processes including athlete monitoring and training load management, injury prevention, sports science, sports medicine, administration, coaching and sports analytics.

Among the company’s varied client base, are many elite rugby organisations. These include teams in SANZAR’s Super Rugby competition, the Australian NRL and many other Rugby League Super League clubs.

21st September 2016 /

The Sports Office to attend IRB World Rugby Conference and Exhibition

The Sports Office is to attend the International Rugby Board’s (IRB) second World Rugby Conference and Exhibition (IRB World Rugby ConfEx) – which takes place on November 17th and 18th in London.

The company will be represented by members of its Client Management team, within the Exhibition area. The event will also feature the IRB Medical Commission Conference, alongside various group discussions and workshops.

“We are delighted to be participating in the IRB World Rugby Conference and Exhibition”, commented Phil Clarke, Director of The Sports Office.

“With the start of the Rugby World Cup less than a year away, this prestigious event will provide a great opportunity for us to meet with many key figures and decision-makers in world rugby, and understand the important, emerging trends within the industry.”

Clarke added:”We look forward to discussing the key issues relating to optimising performance in elite rugby and outlining how our powerful performance management systems can support this.

“We are also relishing the opportunity to gain further insight from the Medical Commission Conference which will no doubt be an important element of the wider event. We currently work in partnership with the RFU to support their cutting-edge sports medicine and injury monitoring programmes and thus we have a significant interest in this area.”

RFU Chief Medical Officer Simon Kemp also commented: “The Sports Office provides a whole-league comprehensive electronic player medical record with an integrated injury surveillance function. It’s fundamental to the delivery of sports medicine care to our Premiership and England rep team players.

“Our players, medical staff and performance teams all derive significant benefits”.

The World Rugby ConfEx was launched by the IRB in 2013 with the aim of bringing together the global Rugby family and maximise opportunities for all involved in the sport. The inaugural event saw representatives from over 100 National Unions among the 600 delegates, and over 30 international exhibitors.

Speakers including Patrick Hickey (President of the European Olympic Committees), George Gregan (former Australia captain), Agustin Pichot (IRB Council Member for Argentina) and British Olympic Association Chairman, Lord Coe have previously appeared at the event.

8th October 2014 /

The Sports Office attends rugby research event

A team from The Sports Office was among the delegates at a recent University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) event which brought together leading professionals from both codes of rugby.

The UCLAN Rugby Research symposium was attended by coaches ,sport scientists, strength and conditioning professionals, medical staff, coach educators and elite players.

Sports Office MD Phil Clarke and Client Manager Carl Pomfret attended the one-day event which aimed to explore and discuss current research, relating to both Union and League and to identify future directions and trends.

“The Rugby Research symposium at UCLAN was a thought provoking and stimulating event”, commented Phil Clarke.

“As provider of performance management systems for professional rugby clubs and federations, the conference proved to be a tremendous opportunity for The Sports Office to keep up to date with some of the latest thinking and research in these areas”.

Clarke added: ”The symposium also provided a great chance to meet with a number of people who are directly involved in delivering high performance in elite rugby”.

6th September 2013 /