Back in May, Talent Pathway iD scooped the Best Athlete Coaching and Performance Technology trophy at The Sports Technology Awards and they are the latest organization to feature in our Post Podium Stories series.
Finding, recruiting, and retaining sporting talent is a global challenge; Talent Pathway iD’s platform allows clubs to do all three efficiently by collecting data across multiple disciplines, ranking those by importance to create a blueprint for talent development.
During the judging process for The 2022 Sport Technology Awards, the platform was considered to have distinguished itself from general athlete monitoring tools by underpinning the AI with deep experience in athlete pathway science.
Six months on from that success, Robin McCammon, Chairman, TPiD, spoke to The STA Group to give his view on the latest market dynamics and provide some advice for both companies and individuals in the sector.
What has changed for your business in the last six months?
6 months is a long time in the start-up world and what a whirlwind it still is! The success at the STA Awards is testament to the amazing work the team has done to develop and roll out a technology system that can be applied across a multitude of high-performance environments. We’ve engaged with a number of incredible organisations working on bespoke research to support wide ranging areas of interest including pathway, injury risk assessment, S&C and health & wellbeing; an incredibly exciting time for us. We have spent time further evolving our technology for application with existing partners and are advancing new projects in different spaces beyond traditional sports. In short, we are well into Phase 2 for TPiD regarding evolution and growth trajectory.
What are the biggest changes happening in your part of the sports sector?
I personally feel over the past few years the key change to the high-performance space is a wider acceptance of machine learning and Artificial Intelligence as acceptable to generating a clearer, more exact understanding of data. Whilst data has been collected and recorded for many years there is an understanding more must be done to assess and analyse the key elements of success or high performance to shape strategy and thinking across the spectrum. I see this as a generational shift whereby new technologies and methods to understand success must be (and are being) embraced to stay ahead of the game…it really isn’t about the quantity of data, rather the quality and understanding of the data that shall determine future success.
What the best piece of advice you’ve been given about working in sports / sports technology (personal or professional)?
On a personal level I live by the mantra of listening more than I speak…you never learn anything new by doing the talking…on a professional level it has always been important to me to remember that failure is the only true way to learn…everyone makes mistakes so don’t be afraid to fail fast and move on, as long as you are prepared to learn from the failure.
What the best piece of advice you’d pass on to a client or start-up in your world?
I would urge anyone, whether client or partner, start-up or multinational to ensure you’re able to trust one another, take a risk and learn together. The world is moving at such pace, particularly in the high-performance space, that the reliance on tried and tested methods of success represents only a small fraction of how you can affect positive success in the future. Whilst gut feel, experience and understanding of your respective space are important to formulate a strategy, embracing out of the box, technological advances, as well as innovative ideas and methods are key to shaping the future.
Don’t miss the chance to enter The 2023 Sports Technology Awards – the leading international celebration of tech-led innovation in sport – and be join Talent Pathway iD as a winner. With over 50 industry experts, 22 categories and an independent judging system, an entry can see your brand one step closer to recognition as one of the best in world sport. Entries close on December 15, find out more here: https://bit.ly/2jhH142