Claim – Billings Skyview’s women’s soccer players line up one by one in a small equipment shed at High Sierra Park’s practice field, and attach tiny sensors to docking stations slightly larger than laptops.
Data from these sensors immediately begins downloading to the cloud, and by the time Falcons coach Cameron Icenogle gets to his office, it’s usually a short drive from the practice field to school. He calls up all that information on his computer and starts digesting it.
One day he and his coaching staff may even realize what that means.
“We’re still beginners,” Icenoggle said with a smile. “We are getting better.”
Ice Noggle is a little understated. He and his staff can decrypt the data. How they implement it and how much they use it is largely a decision they work on. With so much data, the Excel spreadsheet used to store each player’s information from a single practice session extends to column FS. For those unfamiliar with Excel, this equates to 175 columns.
After each practice, the players of the Billings Skyview women’s soccer team place sensors on the machine that track the practice and download the information to the cloud.
That’s a lot more information than Ice Noggle wants to convey to the player. So for the last two years he gave his two basic data points after each practice. It’s load and strength. The data basically tells you how hard each player worked and how long they worked.
When Ice Noggle brought the technology to the team before last season, there were mixed reactions. Some players were indifferent. Some hesitated. And some, like Charlize Davis, were thrilled.
Davis, Sr., described himself as a “statistics-minded person.” So if we could break down her performance more finely than just goals and assists, we would do better.
“Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to use this in the game until this year, but when you look at practice and look at the work rate, etc., it was still pretty cool,” said the recently signed to play at Rocky Mountain College. Davis said, “I think it’s very beneficial, especially for the lower grades, to be able to use them in the game and immerse themselves in the game.”
Whatever a player wants to know about their game, it’s in the data. How hard was her pass, what percentage did she use her left foot compared to her right foot, how long was the ball on her foot? What is her top speed? how many miles did she run
Any number of times it can go.
The results of each practice session are posted on the wall of the equipment shed. If a player wants to know more than simple load and strength data his points, they can ask.
Cameron Icenogle, women’s soccer coach at Billings Skyview, prints a color-coded data sheet of each day’s practice and displays it in the equipment storage area of her team’s practice range.
Sophomore Ray Smart is the Falcons’ playmaker and attacking midfielder whose job it is to create chances for his teammates. In football parlance, she’s number 10. So she wants to know how many touches she has and how long she has the ball during the game.
The longer one touch, the more meaning it has. Among them, Smart may not be making quick enough decisions, or her teammates may not be allowing her to distribute the ball quickly and effectively.
“I base my game on ‘Am I on the ball enough?'” Smart said. “Because as a 10, you have to move the ball. If[the data]says I don’t have the ball, it’s not really a good game for me. I obviously did something wrong. And either the team didn’t find me in the game, or we could be stuck in the back (line).”
Wearable technology for gaming was recently approved by the National Federation of High School Associations, followed by the Montana High School Association just before the fall season began.
That’s why the Falcons have worn the device in live matches in the past few games.
The sensor is positioned towards the heel and fits snugly just below the ankle bone. According to Icenoggle, they aren’t the key factor.
Icenoglu has leased equipment from playmaker.com for the past two years at a cost of about $100 per player, but that contract has expired. He said he expects to renew the lease, which will be paid for by additional funding from Ice Noggle’s program.
Billings Skyview’s women’s soccer program has leased the wearable technology for two years, and coach Cameron Icenogle expects it to be available again after the lease expires after this season.
Wearable technology has been in use at the professional, college and even club level in many sports for some time. However, until a recent decision by the National High School Organization, devices were treated like jewelry and could not be worn on the field during games.
But MHSA executive director Brian Michelotti says it’s time to adapt to change. MHSA will consider future technical requests on a case-by-case basis.
Michelotti noted that several football teams in western Montana have been approved to use Trace technology in their programs, adding, “We will continue to work together at the national level to align with the way they do things. I will confirm that,” he said. “As we move forward, we need to ensure that (the system) cannot be used in-game to provide a certain level of advantage and that there are no safety hazards for participants.”
The ice-noggle Falcons are off to a good start (5-1-0), but the coach doesn’t see technology as just a means to improve tactics. For example, staff can look at utilization data and use it to guide practice.
Or if a player’s work rate or speed rate drops over a period of time, does he need more rest or is he hiding an injury? All the data is great. Again, it’s figuring out how to use it.
“The vision test is something we coaches run,” Icenogle said. “And we could be wrong. It was light.
According to Isenoglu, the bottom line is finding the best roles and roles to put each player in the situation for success. He points to the wall of his room at the school home. There’s Billings College in Montana, Briarcliffe College, Colorado’s Mesa College, and Wisconsin’s River Falls College football where his scarf hangs. Thanks to Davis, one of his from Rocky is on the way and Icenoggle wants to see more.
To that end, players can quickly sync their tracking data to HUDL video highlights. This is another technology that multiple sports programs have been using for several years. This way, college recruiters can not only see players play, but understand the context behind them.
“We take pride in taking our players to the next level,” Icenogle said. “We can justify the cost[of data tracking]because it helps our girls go to the next level. We really think it will be true.”