Sports Data on Prepubescent Athletes: A Developmental Challenge

Sports data analytics is a helpful tool for making important strategic decisions regarding gameplay and for athletes to monitor and improve their performance. For instance, in the American NBA, several teams, such as the Philadelphia 76ers, are capitalizing and utilizing intricate data analysis techniques and complex data analysis tools, such as data visualization and hypothesis testing, to analyze NBA games, to affect in-game coaching strategy, and for post-match assessments. While analysis of specific data variables aims to accurately identify patterns and trends of success, performance, and achievement, little consideration is given to the demands, stressors, and anxieties such data-driven analysis has on prepubescent athletes, especially young females. Furthermore, the increasing demand for actuarial data and predictive analytics in sports on performance and timely deliverables creates new and difficult developmental challenges for prepubescent players and their coaches. In a data-rich sports environment, the following questions need to be asked: what data points are necessary? What are the developmental ethics around data collection (i.e., at what age should this begin) and usage? What is the cost of the data, what transactional data is being used, what is the shelf life of the data, and who interprets and analyzes the data? These questions are addressed by highlighting concerns within the context of elite female swimming. The current chapter explores the implications of data-driven analytics in prepubescent athletes and whether it is detrimental to their mental well-being.