Ursinus is welcoming a new club to campus: the Sports Analytics Club. The club was founded by Ben Cuccolo ‘25, who will serve as the club’s president. The club’s vice president is Cory Burns ‘25. Cuccolo and Burns started the club to help get students more real life experience with sports data. Cuccolo and Burns had sports-related internships over the past summer and saw first-hand the importance of sports experience to build resumes and connections. They saw that many students, especially student-athletes, are interested in working in sports-related professions and want to explore their passions. The club gives them the opportunity to dive into sports on a deeper level. Students from different majors are able to come together and work towards a common goal connected by a shared interest.
The club will give students insight into how front offices and athletic departments operate. Students will be able to examine data from various professional sports teams to Ursinus sports teams. Students will be able to work in groups or individually on project collecting, processing, analyzing, and presenting data from their choice of sports teams. Students will be given the chance to look at data to see how teams can improve players, social media presence, conditioning, as well as other opportunities to act like front office staff. At the end of the year, there will be a celebration that will highlight all of the projects students worked on over the summer.
The club will consist of bi-weekly meetings starting at the end of September where students are able to get feedback from other members and present their findings. While analyzing data, students will take on the role of a general manager and take into consideration budget, popularity, trades, and off-season training to make a plan for a team rooted in statistical findings. Cuccolo hopes that students will be able to apply what they learn in the classroom to a sports setting no matter the background they have. The club is in the process of planning trips to Phillies games as well as movie nights with sports movies to help students experience and gain knowledge of the sports world.
Cuccolo and Burns are partnering with Ursinus Baseball to examine statistics collected from their performance. There will be a specific group in charge of working with the data collected from baseball to help analyze and comprehend the data into information that can help improve performance. They hope to partner with the Ursinus athletic department to compile data from various sports to help enhance athletic performance through data science.
Catapult, an international leader in sports analytics and performance technology, describes data analytics as a way to improve training and performance based on statistics and facts. This field has increased in popularity in recent years as technology has advanced. Sports analytics helps to increase physical fitness, recovery, and injury prevention. It allows coaches to make decisions based on data. Catapult has found that teams’ and individuals’ performance greatly increase as they are able to outperform their competition. Sports analytics is a key part of injury prevention. Data can highlight stress and risk factors in training and competition that may cause injuries.
Catapult suggests that sport analytics can be used from one player’s or a whole team’s performance. Teams can use wearable technology, performance tracking systems, or film to collect data, such as acceleration or deceleration. Then, a team analyzes the data using statistical models and formulas to find trends to boost performance. The team put their findings into an extensive presentation that coaches, players, and the front office can use. The club would be doing the same process through the collection of data, analysis, and presenting it to other students or Ursinus athletic staff.
When asked about why students should join, Cuccolo stated, “I think it will be a lot of fun. I think that anybody that joins will be gaining valuable experience both working in a team [on]… projects that they’re passionate on.” He also mentioned that “it’s a lot of people with similar interests and at the end of the day, the main goal for us is to just help people pursue their passions and get careers in sports, and do whatever we can to support them in that journey.” For more information about joining the club, emails have been sent out with meeting and communication details.