BreakAway Data Partners With Speedworks Training
Team-sport athletes can now access Speedworks’ elite, tech-powered sprint coaching and analysis on BreakAway’s performance platforms
For Immediate Release | June 22, 2022
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LOS ANGELES — BreakAway Data and Speedworks Training have partnered to bring world-class sprint coaching and analysis to elite team sports via BreakAway’s performance platforms.
Nearly all athletes sprint, but few beyond track and field have access to the expertise that can make them faster and more efficient (think a baseball player legging out an infield single or a European football player making a run).
Speedworks changes the coaching paradigm by using its AI-powered technology to analyze slow-motion video from mobile phones of athletes sprinting in a straight line (the analysis covers a clip of 10 to 20 meters) and providing biomechanics feedback that can optimize performance, reduce injury risk, and help athletes (and their teams) make return-to-play decisions from injuries.
“This is not just for people who only sprint as their vocation. This is for any athlete who needs this,” says Speedworks founder Jonas Dodoo, who has worked with athletes in the NFL, MLB, the EPL, the Olympics, and the highest levels of rugby. “The reports are digestible and manageable. We’re taking in information and turning it into coach-speak so it resonates with athletes.”
BreakAway is providing Speedworks with infrastructure solutions to collect, organize, analyze and act upon athlete performance data. Speedworks will use BreakAway’s coaching portal, Stacks, to store data and communicate with teams that use Speedworks’ services (those team clients will use a version of Stacks to streamline a process that had previously relied on back-and-forth emails and texts containing spreadsheets, media files, PDFs and messaging).
“BreakAway allows us to completely upgrade our client-facing engagement,” Dodoo says. “Everything is organized and the process couldn’t be easier now.”
Stacks has the ability to connect with the BreakAway mobile athlete app, which can ingest data from any source and make players stakeholders in their performance data. Putting data in the hands of athletes creates the opportunity for deeper engagement and communication between players and coaches. For Speedworks’ clients, those data-centric conversations begin with a shared understanding of sprinting strategies and archetypes.
“My philosophy on data is athlete-centered, coach-led,” says Dodoo, who is based in Loughborough, England, and has been operating Speedworks in various forms for 14 years. “Having athletes at the center is about empowerment. People learn better when they feel they are being integrated into the process. When you’re empowered, you learn faster and retain it. The best way to do that is to give them access to their information and data, but in a way that tells a story so they can intuitively make sense of it and turn it into action right away.”
Speedworks will tap into BreakAway’s partner networks across team sports to cultivate a shared client roster in the U.S. and Europe. The initial rollout of the BreakAway + Speedworks partnership will service athletes whose teams initiate doing business with Speedworks/BreakAway. Future plans targeted for early 2023 include the ability for individual athletes on the BreakAway app to engage with Speedworks’ services.
Speedworks’ sprinting analysis will complement BreakAway’s existing biomechanics offerings, Field Labs, which uses markerless motion-capture tech to capture RPMs—Real Player Movements—on the fields and courts of play as athletes execute game-like drills. “Biomechanics data is essential for modern athletes and modern coaches because the insights give us better eyes,” says BreakAway Data CEO Dave Anderson. “And better eyes create better understanding and better communication.”
Anderson, a former NFL wideout, says of Speedworks: “I always obsessed about getting faster during my career because I didn’t want to be viewed as just a possession receiver. This is the kind of coaching I wish I had as a player. Having Speedworks on our platforms gives athletes immense value and the ability to get better and stay healthy. Our two companies are perfectly aligned because we believe athlete data should be put in the hands of athletes.”
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About BreakAway Data
Based in Los Angeles with a global reach, BreakAway is a high-performance sports company that delivers actionable, cutting-edge data insights to athletes via the BreakAway app (which connects to Stacks, a coaching portal for teams to organize and act upon data). BreakAway puts all forms of athlete data—from any source—at the heart of holistic development, communication and engagement. BreakAway offers biomechanics evaluations through Field Labs, which tests on-field player movements, and Speedworks, which uses AI technology to coach sprinting. BreakAway is utilized by the XFL, Power 5 football programs, NFL MVPs, Super Bowl champions, NBA All-Stars, Olympic gold medalists, pro and D1 athletes, Elite 11, Under Armour Next, and those who desire to be elite.
Contact
Matt Gagne, Director of Content & Communications
mg@breakawaydata.com
Interviews can be arranged with Speedworks Training founder Jonas Dodoo and BreakAway Data CEO Dave Anderson.