Date - 12/05/2023
Hi everyone, my name is Milan Klaasman and I am one of the co-founders of MyGamePlan. In this blogpost, I wanted to share my story and background, as well as how I came to be a part of this exciting and innovative startup that is revolutionizing the world of football analytics.
Background and experience
I have always been passionate about sports, and I was lucky enough to be able to pursue my passion by studying Human Movement Sciences in Amsterdam. This study taught me a variety of subjects such as math, physics, programming, anatomy, and physiology. However, I was particularly drawn to the field of data science and its ability to derive actionable insights from data.
Being an avid fan of football, I decided to pursue my interest in sports data analysis by joining Metrica Sports, a soccer video analysis software company. During this time, I attended various hackathons including the KNVB and DFB hackathon, which helped me to become more active in the football analytics community. I also took part in the 2nd German DFB Hackathon which was a great experience.
After completing my studies, I worked as a Data Scientist at Centric, a Dutch corporate Data Company, where I further developed my programming skills. During this time, I had numerous conversations with professionals within the football industry and was struck by the huge gap between how they were utilizing data. To my surprise, many football clubs were not as advanced in terms of data literacy and data adoption as I had anticipated. Additionally, players often neglected data altogether due to a lack of easy-to-understand tools they could use.
This realization motivated me to create a user-centric platform that would automate most of the manual processes and empower players to improve their performance using data, which could easily be accessed via their own mobile devices. I saw this as a tremendous opportunity to revolutionize the world of football analytics and create a new standard for data utilization in the industry.
Meanwhile, I also started contributing to Kloppy, an open-source library for standardizing soccer tracking and event data. This was an exciting opportunity to collaborate with like-minded professionals and contribute to the development of cutting-edge technology that could transform the way data is utilized in the football industry.
Founding MyGamePlan
It was during this period that I met Berten Knaepen, our CEO, and we immediately clicked. We both saw the enormous potential of creating a user-centric platform that would revolutionize the world of football analytics. We shared the vision of automating most of the manual processes
and empowering players to improve their performance using data, accessible through their own mobile device.
Together with our Co-Founder Dries Deprest, we set out to create MyGamePlan - a platform that would help football clubs and players to use data in a more effective and efficient way. With MyGamePlan, we aim to make football analysis smoother, more automated, and accessible to everyone. Our ultimate goal is to ensure that all team members, including coaches, assistants, and players, can easily access all the data and video needed to make decisions without any difficulty.
The Future of Football Analytics
In my opinion, automation of manual processes is the biggest game-changer for football clubs. At MyGamePlan, we strongly believe that automation can enhance communication, promote individual player development, and free up more time for detailed analysis. As a football enthusiast, I have always been passionate about using data to derive actionable insights that can help teams improve their performance.
While most football clubs have already integrated event data analysis into their workflow, the analysis of in-game tracking data is gaining momentum. In the next few years, more clubs will likely follow suit and start incorporating tracking data analysis into their workflow. To facilitate this, clubs will need reliable analysis platforms from their partners.
Our goal is to create a user-friendly platform that can seamlessly combine event and tracking data with video, enabling teams and players to track any possible metric they want. With the help of our users' feedback and the ever-expanding possibilities of tracking data, we are continuously evolving our platform to cater to the needs of football professionals.
Our ultimate goal is to streamline the process of football analysis, making it easier for football professionals to access and use data. I believe that the future of football analytics is bright, expecting that more and more clubs will start embracing the benefits of football analytics and automation. Therefore, we are committed to staying at the forefront of these developments. As a team, we are constantly exploring new ways to improve our platform, leveraging the latest technologies to deliver a seamless user experience.
In Conclusion
I am proud to be a part of the MyGamePlan team and to be working with a talented and dedicated group of people who are passionate about revolutionizing the world of football analytics. With MyGamePlan, we are changing the way football clubs and players use data and improving the performance of players everywhere. Thank you for taking the time to read this blog. You can reach-out to me personally here: milan@mygameplan.ai
Thank you for reading, and have a nice day!