At Lillestrøm Academy, a commitment to player development is paramount. Seeking to optimise training methodologies and player evaluations, the academy implemented Playermaker and with this decision, they have revolutionised their approach to talent identification, training optimisation, and strategic decision-making. The collaboration between Lillestrøm Academy and Playermaker has been all positive, according to Antoni Ordinas, Academy Director of Lillestrom Sporkslubb. During this webinar, Ordinas speaks on three main points:
- Importance of Playermaker in their academy’s strategy, and how Playermaker helps them with strategy.
- The advantages of their partnership in the Academy’s perspective.
- Their future steps with Playermaker.
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Lillestrøm Academy is a professional football club positioned as a top-division team in Norway, winning many championships throughout the years. The Academy hosts more than 900 boys and girls, and the professional first team league. Lillestrøm emphasises its focus and strategic target is on player productivity, aiming to develop players for their first team who can also succeed internationally and in European leagues. Ordinas stresses the importance of accurate decision-making in player selection, citing their high percentage of academy players’ playtime in the first team as evidence of their successful strategy. The critical, go-to question for the club is always, “Is this player good enough for us?” Ordinas discusses whether a player is good enough, which they aim to answer through factors such as efficient body (movement quality), effective executor (technical execution and touch), smart brain (decision-making), committed heart (teammate and loyalty), and brave mind (bravery).
The core of the qualities sought in players for Lillestrøm Academy’s first team is their functionality within the team. Before Playermaker, player evaluation relied on subjective assessments, but now, with the addition of data and analysis, decisions are more objective and convincing. The partnership with Playermaker provides valuable insights into international football, aiding in the assessment of players’ suitability for professional contracts. Additionally, the methodology for player training has become more structured and effective, focusing on motor skills and tactical aspects, leading to improved player development.
When the methodology is clear and consistent across all teams, tracking data becomes easy, providing previous references for session quality. Playermaker allows for concrete and objective assessment of training sessions, addressing questions regarding player improvement and ball interaction. Playermaker creates various perspectives, allowing coaches to analyse individual and squad performance, facilitating accurate decision-making and adjustments during training. Playermaker enables thorough analysis of competition performance, offering insights into player involvement and effectiveness.
The possibility to now compare and analyse the Academy players objectively through results compared to players all over the world is an extraordinary aspect for Lillestrøm. This expands the competitive advantage to a global perspective and allows clubs to understand the positioning of their players and how they stand worldwide.
Future goals that Lillestrøm has with Playermaker include incorporating the tactical dimension/analysis, defining and refining specific training catalogues of drills/tasks with complete holistic data reference, and predicting international profiles in earlier ages to find out which player has what it takes to advance into the international team.
Incorporating Playermaker has not only enhanced player development at Lillestrøm Academy but has also elevated the standard footballing approach in Norway to a new level. Leveraging data-driven insights, the Academy is able to produce and discover top-tier athletes, capable of competing on an international stage. The future contains endless possibilities when clubs and Playermaker unite.
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