Ever since sports like football and rugby started showing player statistics such as distance covered and time spent on opponent’s half, this data fascination has kept growing among fans. It has led them to spend hours scouring the internet for more data on their favourite players. Distance covered and time spent on opponent’s half are just a small portion of the data wearable devices can collect.
In a bid to get that extra advantage from analysing its players, teams are collecting all manner of data from their players using wearable devices. These devices worn on or close to the body can assess position, motion, impact, biomechanical forces, heart rate, muscle oxygen saturation, and sometimes sleep patterns: all of course with the aim of helping identify opportunities for marginal gains during a race or a match.
Analysing data to gain that extra advantage has become a fully-fledged sub-industry known as sports data analytics. Sports has taken data analytics to another level altogether: No industry collects as much data from its employees than sports. The data goes to inform coaches and managers on areas of improvement for the team and the players.
Despite the many good opportunities availed by sports data collection and analytics, the greatest challenge is the risks it portends on privacy.
Do many people know where the data they upload after an evening walk goes to? Just imagine your personal heart rate, oxygen saturation and general health information getting to a pharmaceutical company developing heart disease medication; it could be a treasure trove at no price.
Sports exercise data is not only the new battle ground of sports teams but also of wearable technology manufacturers. So next time as you install a new sports exercise app spare a thought to read the fine print of the data protection regulations agreement presented to you before you click “I accept”, lest you sign away your private data to be used for things you know little about.
It is comforting to note that in Kenya, the collection and processing of data on sportsmen and women is enabled by a variety of regulations. If at all the data collectors and the sportspersons are Kenyans, the Kenya Data Protection Act (2019) applies; while if at all either or both the data collector or the sportsperson are from the European Union, Global Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applies. This means that, whenever Kenyan athletes participate in sporting-related activities in Europe or in conjunction with European-based companies; they should be more vigilant in relation to how their sensitive data is collected and processed subject to the global best practices on data protection.
Arguably, Kenya’s Data Protection Act (2019) will have far reaching implications in the sports industry which is exceedingly dependent on the sound health of individuals to perform optimally. This reality when pitted against sport analytics underscores the importance of the collection of the health and fitness data of sportspersons – a compelling reason to import the implementation of the Data Protection Act (2019) into the sports world.
Data on health and fitness is categorized as sensitive information and is subject to strict rules on processing and retention such that pre-informed consents are needed and setting up of measures to duly secure this information. As such we would most likely see a spike in the introduction of contractual clauses on how sports enterprises would wish to continually collect and process sensitive personal data in this new era of data protection.