A new initiative is taking off at Samford University, combining local entities to assist athletes while giving students valuable experience.
Dubbed Project SAMson, the initiative launched by the university aims to create a new approach to sports performance with a focus on performance, prevention and well-being for student-athletes, bringing the latest technology, data analysis and sports medicine together to enhance the training regimen of all Samford student-athletes. It also prepares students for careers in sports analytics, medicine, training, physical therapy and more.
The initiative ultimately aims to foster collaboration between Samford’s Center for Sports Analytics, the Brock School of Business and the College of Health Sciences with partners including Andrews Sports Medicine and the American Sports Medicine Institute (ASMI). Darin White, director of the Center for Sports Analytics, said many other entities at the university may be part of the program in the future.
“The collaboration we’ve created with Project SAMson is a game-changer for our campus community,” said Martin Newton, director of athletics at Samford. “Project SAMson offers hands-on learning opportunities for our students interested in a career in athletics or data analytics as we develop a world-class training environment for our student-athletes.”
White said the project was initially funded by a generous donor, which got the ball rolling. But he said the future potential within the projects is wide as additional groups continue to come together.
“We really have a unique set of groups, and when you think about all those groups that are coming together, that’s what really makes it unique and really what also makes it potentially very productive in terms of outcomes in the future,” he said.
The goal of the project is to create a one-of-a-kind training environment by combining the latest technology and data analytics so that all Samford student-athletes will benefit from enhanced strength and conditioning training, reduced injury risk, advanced injury prediction and treatment and data-driven return-to-play protocols. By analyzing the data from the athletes, trainers and coaches will also be able to see when an athlete is on the verge of an injury or when an injured athlete is ready to return to play without risking future injuries. The project will also allow Samford Sports Medicine to capture real-time data on all student-athletes to create player profiles used in the evaluation and treatment of injuries.
This could lead to options for students learning across both health care academic programs and lead to interviews with sports medicine clinics and preparations for careers in sports analytics.
White said in the future many sports organizations will be on the lookout for people with strength and performance experience, but going forward organizations want people who are trained in data and sports sciences.
“So that’s where we have the opportunity to develop the next generation of professionals that could walk into working for a pro team and look at all of the different data streams that pro teams collect and really help them be able to do what we’re going to be doing at Samford,” White said.
