Running the Numbers - The Performance Analysis Podcast

We speak to the English Institute of Sports' Performance Innovation Consultant about his role and how he got started.

In this episode we speak to former world number 1 Nick Matthew about how analysis changed his game and made him the player he was.

Dr Ciaran O'Grady is the Performance Coach and Aerodynamics/TT lead at Israel Premier Tech. We spoke with him way back at the start of 2021 about what his job entails.

Back in April 2021, Mike and Sam chatted with current IRFU Head of Analytics and Innovation to talk about the present and future of analysis. Please like, share, and subscribe if you enjoyed the podcast.

Mike and Sam are joined by ex-Lion and current Munster scrum coach Graham Rowntree. They discuss how analysis has changed and how Graham uses it in his coaching.

Mike and Sam return for the third season of these performance analysis podcast. Take a listen to find out what is different and what you can expect from the podcast moving forward.

In this episode Sam and Mike spoke to Simon Strachan (Co-Founder and GM of Sport for Gainline Analytics) about how cohesion improves a team's chances of winning. We talked about how adding talent isn't always the best thing to do and how coach stability is more important than most people think. To share your thoughts please email us on runningthenumberspod@gmail.com

In this episode we spoke with Tim Sevenhuysen of Shadow, an industry leading eSports analytics company. We spoke primarily about Tim's work in League of Legends and drew parallels between eSports and traditional sports analytics. If you have any questions, please email us at runningthenumberspod@gmail.com

Mike and Sam are joined by Jack Haig of the Mitchelton-Scott cycling team. Jack is fresh off the back of a 4th place in the Paris-Nice race and discusses wattage, how to replicate a race in training, why he's happy to share his data. Sam learns that he's less than half the cyclist Jack is and also reignites an old family feud. To email any questions or suggestions you can find us on runningthenumberspod@gmail.com

We recorded this pod during England's World Cup campaign with the FA Analysis & Insights Process Lead Austin fuller. Mike, Sam, and Austin discuss how data helps coaches work with goalkeepers and why expected goals might not be all we were hoping for. If you have any questions for Sam or Mike you can email runningthenumberspod@gmail.com

Mike and Sam are joined by Kate Burke, formerly of Bath Rugby and currently the RFU. They discuss Italy in the Six Nations, player development, and Mike's time playing winger opposite Danny Care.

Super Bowl fever has engulfed Running the Numbers and Mike and Sam build up to the cavalcade of beer and chicken wings by speaking to David Anderson of Gainsgroup.com. David is a modern day renaissance man having backed up a 6 year career in the NFL, mostly with the Texans, with a second in data science working at Second Spectrum and then founding Gainsgroup with Steve Gera. Any feedback or questions then please email us at runningthenumberspod@gmail.com

This week Mike and Sam speak with Steve Gera of Gainsgroup.com. Steve has built a varied career firstly in the Marines, then the NFL, the NBA and into Gainsgroup. Steve's career in the NFL started thanks to a chance encounter at dinner and was powered by a quote from Ghostbusters. If you have any thoughts or question you can email us at runningthenumberspod@gmail.com

For this episode Mike and Sam were invited to Bath's majestic training ground at Farleigh House to speak with Bath and England number eight Zach Mercer. We also caught up with our first ever guest, Bath's Head of Performance Analysis Dan Cooper. Have a listen if you want to hear how the pros do their analysis and what it's like to play at the highest level. If you have any feedback please email us on runningthenumberspod@gmail.com.

Rob Carroll is our first guest after the pod took a short break. Rob is the man behind The Video Analyst website, the go to resources for any level of analyst. He is indirectly behind an uncountable number of analysts getting their first break in the industry. In addition to the site Rob also works in Gaelic Football and in business, helping companies use the same tools as analysts do in sport. If you have any feedback about the podcast or any questions please send them to runningthenumberspod@gmail.com.

Mike and Sam are joined by Chris White of the LTA to discuss his move to tennis and performance analysis more broadly. We discuss how Chris is helping to support the growth of tennis in the UK, what happens when all your technology goes down, and what key skills can you acquire to separate yourself from the competition. This episode is supported by TheVideoAnalyst.com, the number one site for performance analysis information. This podcast was recorded in June of this year.

Mike and Sam spoke to Chris Connelly of the English Institute of Sport. Chris is an expert analyst in boxing and other combat sports and also works with World Heavyweight title holder Anthony Joshua. We spoke to Chris about how boxing analysis differs from other sports, and how boxers are prepared at the amateur level, where they fight multiple times a week, compared to fighting three times a year at the pro level.

Mike and Sam speak with Ben Knapper of Arsenal and Arron Ackerman of Swansea City to understand how they got into the industry, what new technology are they using to help improve their players and we also got some exclusive insight into how each team prepared to face the other last season. This was recorded during the World Cup in July.

Mike and Sam are joined by Duncan Locke from Insight-Analysis to do something similar to most other sports podcast, the hot take. They talk about how offense is exploding in both Rugby and NFL, the importance of motivational videos and why putting didn't win the Ryder Cup.

We spoke with rugby journalists Charlie Morgan of the Telegraph and Alex Shaw of Rugby Pass about how they use analysis to write their articles and what the future of performance analysis in the media is.

We spoke with Nathan Leamon of the ECB to understand how he got into his role and how cricket performance is measured. We originally wanted to know about fielding performance but ended up learning a lot more.

We spoke to Jake Nichols from 15th Club about the performance analysis that is currently happening in golf. Shots gained has emerged from nowhere to be the number one stat in golf, but, what is it? We take a look.

We speak with Luke Bowen of Wasps and Dan Cooper of Bath to understand how they got to where they have and what their current role entails. We also discuss how rugby would adapt if we changed the rules - 6 man scrums anyone?

An introduction to the performance analysis podcast Running the Numbers by Insight-Analysis. Presented by Mike Hughes and Sam Larner.