BASES’ member’s attendance at the 2022 Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games

The upcoming year is a busy one for many sport and exercise scientists across Great Britain, with multi-sport major Games such as the Winter Olympics, Winter Paralympics and Commonwealth Games taking place. BASES is proudly sharing the work our members are undertaking as part of this.

One of BASES Members, Kenny More, is heading to Beijing, China, for the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics to support Team GB’s Curling Teams in Mixed Doubles, Men’s, Women’s and Wheelchair disciplines. Kenny leads on Performance Analysis as an employee of the sportscotland Institute of Sport, who provide sport science and medicine services to British Curling.

This will be Kenny’s sixth Winter Olympics (he has attended since 2002) and third Paralympics (2006, 2018, 2022). When talking to Kenny, he outlined his role and responsibilities for the upcoming events.

Kenny’s Games-time role is to provide scouting information on Team GB’s opponents and support the acquisition of live video and data on performances throughout the Curling event. Scouting materials are generated from a longitudinal database managed by sportscotland partners Elite Sports Analysis, and modelling insights taken from tools generated by the UK Sport Intelligence Team. The acquisition of live video and data is generated by using the bespoke eCurl analysis software. Together, they provide game intelligence on shot-making and tactical tendencies, providing insight on team and individual player strengths and weaknesses.

While Kenny works in multiple sports within sportscotland’s Institute of Sport, a significant part of his remit is to support Curling coaches in the technical and tactical development of athletes within the training environment at the National Curling Academy in Stirling. He has overseen the development of tools and processes that have enhanced a consistent evidence-based approach to player and team development. Data is generated or acquired on thousands of games each season which, with the help of data engineering, mining and visualisation techniques, provides British Curling with consistent content to inform coaching and sport science processes.

Just before departing for Beijing, Kenny said, “We have an excellent group of athletes attending these games, with real medal potential. My role is to make sure they and their coaches have content that provides clarity and confidence in their game plan and game play. With multiple matches each day, it will be a constant period of plan – play – review... but what a great stage to be so busy”

We wish Kenny and the athletes and teams he is supporting the best of luck in the upcoming Games!