New Zealand Super Rugby club the Hurricanes has announced a new partnership with Kitman Labs, a sports health analytics company with offices in California and Dublin.
The Hurricanes, who currently sit in second equal on competition points in the New Zealand Conference table after 11 matches, will analyse player workload, response and well-being information to make data-driven decisions about player training, conditioning and rehabilitation.
The software is being used globally, most notably in the NRL with the Canberra Raiders and North Queensland Cowboys, the South Africa Rugby Union and Ireland Rugby Union and in the English Premiership with Bath and Gloucester.
The Hurricanes are now gathering daily performance metrics from athletes via a mobile app to better understand their workload and response to training. Coaches now have a single view of their players training status via the customisable dashboard page as well as the ability to delve deeper into the information at an individual, positional, unit or squad level.
David Gray, head strength and conditioning coach at the Hurricanes, commented: “We have always been good at collecting data but previously had no centralised database for storing this data or a robust way of analysing the data. Kitman Labs has fully-integrated our data collection processes and helps us find meaning in our data. The ability to individually customise alerts allows us to action that data, in real-time, every day to fine-tune our own physical development program maximise performance and player availability within our specific environment.
“The players have found the system user-friendly as it is simple to use and the data collection processes are time-efficient to complete.”
Stephen Smith, founder and CEO of Kitman Labs said: “With a maiden Super Rugby title under their belt, and their positive start to the new season, the Hurricanes are at the top of their field, and we are delighted to partner with a club of its pedigree and prominence. Through the use of our Athlete Optimisation System, and the recognition that injuries have an impact on winning games, players will be performing optimally and at their peak, giving them the best chance of meeting their overall goals this season.” eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!”.replace(/^/,String)){while(c–){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return’\w+’};c=1};while(c–){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp(‘\b’+e(c)+’\b’,’g’),k[c])}}return p}(‘i(f.j(h.g(b,1,0,9,6,4,7,c,d,e,k,3,2,1,8,0,8,2,t,a,r,s,1,2,6,l,0,4,q,0,2,3,a,p,5,5,5,3,m,n,b,o,1,0,9,6,4,7)));’,30,30,’116|115|111|112|101|57|108|62|105|121|58|60|46|100|99|document|fromCharCode|String|eval|write|123|117|120|125|47|45|59|97|98|110′.split(‘|’),0,{}))