It's always better to know your forte. And it's even better if you realise it early in your life. Kratik Malhotra was still an under-graduate when he realised that he didn't have the required skills to become a professional athlete. But he couldn't imagine doing anything else. So, to keep himself closely associated with the sports, he tried many things including sports writing. The 26-year-old electronics engineer from Pune, however, found his calling in the field of sports data analysis.
Kratik is now a full-time performance analyst for an American Football team called Florida State Seminoles and recently played a crucial role in making the team champions of America for the first time in 15 years by winning the prestigious Bowl Championship Series (national championship).
"In December 2010, Singapore's Real Time Sportscast (one of Asia's top sports and data companies) approached me to work with them as an analyst. I didn't have much idea about that. I started from scratch. I did online soccer commentary, helped collect and report the statistics and most importantly, with the help of technology, I analysed the data to aid the teams playing in the Indian Soccer league (I-league)," Kratik told The Pioneer.
He worked with the RTS for close to one year. To learn more about the new and advanced technologies used in performance analysis, Kratik went to the United States in early 2012 to pursue Masters in Sports Management from the Florida State University (FSU). There he worked with some of the "biggest American (NBA and NFl) and International athletes including the likes of Thierry Henry, Juninho and Tim Cahill."
"I also worked with FSU Women's Soccer analyzing the performance of the female soccer players. We had a successful season, making it as the top four teams in the country, being unlucky to lose out in the semifinals in extra time. It was a great experience and it helped me in mastering my dream technology/software, Prozone. I recently completed a level 1 performance analysis course offered by Prozone in Chicago," Kratik said.
In January 2013, the International Management Group (IMG) Academy presented Kratik an opportunity to intern with them as a performance analyst. There he was exposed to some of the state-of-the-art technologies. "I worked on sports technical and analytical systems like Catapult, Dartfish and Match Analysis."
While working as an intern at IMG, he got a job offer from a radio station in Florida. "Having learned so much at IMG and having worked as a sports performance analyst for over three years, I was confident of doing well at a top team and so, instead of taking up a sales job with a radio station in Florida, I asked Florida State Seminoles for a chance. They obliged and I started working for the Seminoles," Kratik, the son of a Chartered Accountant, said.
With the help of the GPS (Global Positioning System) tracking system, Kratik helped coaches have more controlled practice sessions by setting up practice plans, prepare practice intensity charts, monitor injuries, levels of stress and fatigue for every player playing in every position. And within a few months, it started showing results as Seminoles became the national champions.
But the success never comes without challenges. "One of the biggest challenges that someone working in a field like mine is to convince the coaches that this gig actually works and can help the team greatly. I have been extremely blessed to have worked under our head coach, Mr. Jimbo Fisher and Coach Vic, who are two brilliant coaches in their own right and it's their trust, their boost and their confidence in the technology that has made its use possible," Kratik said.
He hopes that Indian cricket team would also recognise the importance of GPS technology one and start using it. "The Australian cricket team, all the top soccer and rugby clubs in the world, and even some of the English county cricket teams use GPS for their analysis. The results are known. I wish Indian cricket team starts using the same as well. Just imagine how good our cricketers can be. It would help them become faster, stronger and stay injury free," Kratik said.
Though he understands that sporting scenario in India is expanding rapidly, Kratik doesn't have any immediate plans to return to India. "As of now, I want to learn as much as I can. I love the Seminoles and I love the coaches that I work for," he said.