Upcoming talks

We are currently running the SFU Sports Analytics Group Virtual Seminar Series via Zoom.

Unless otherwise indicated, seminars are held on Fridays at 10 am Pacific time and typically involve ~45 min of speaking, 20 min of questions, and a few more minutes of informal discussion.

Speakers are asked to give a talk that will appeal to a broad audience, which typically includes academic researchers (professors and students) and sport scientists and administrators who work for teams, companies, and high-performance sport.

If you have suggestions for speakers, please contact us!

Date Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation Tentative topic
Apr 26, 2024 David Radke, PhD
Senior Research Scientist, Hockey Strategy and Analytics, Chicago Blackhawks Presenting Multiagent Challenges in Team Sports Analytics

Past talks

March 8, 2024: NFL Ghosts - A framework for evaluating defender positioning using high-dimensional conditional density estimates  

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Ron Yurko, PhD Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of Statistics & Data Science, Carnegie Mellon University

Keywords: American football, NFL, player tracking data, defender positioning, spatiotemporal statistics, high-dimensional conditional density estimation

February 16, 2024: Single agent behavior prediction in soccer using linear temporal logic

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Sana Arastehfar, MSc CANSSI-supported graduate student, School of Computing & Department of Mathematics, Queen's University (co-supervisors: Dr. Christian Muise, Dr. Catherine Pfaff)

Keywords: soccer, player tracking, linear temporal logic, BayesLTL, performance analysis

January 19, 2024: Championing Analytics: Sports analytics supports historic SFU GNAC Soccer Championship wins

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation

Jonas Worth, MSc

Tyler Oh
Huy Nguyen

 

Assistant Coach and Performance Analyst, Simon Fraser University Soccer

Data Science undergraduate students, Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, Simon Fraser University

Keywords: performance analysis, sports analytics, soccer, education

October 27, 2023: Making the invisible, visible: The challenges of incorporating mental measures and why they should be part of data analytics

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Ryan Stolys
Kim Senecal
Co-founder and Technical Lead
Co-founder and Mental Performance Specialist

One Iota Performance, Inc.

Keywords: mental performance, golf, self-report data

July 21, 2023: Legal aspects of gender in sport

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Carlos Sayao
Carlos Lopez
Partner, Tyr LLP
Sports Counsel, Tyr LLP

Keywords: sex, gender, transgender, human rights, athletics, sport law

June 16, 2023: Credibility in Physical eSports

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation

Bjoern Ossenbrink, MSc

Normand Richard, MSc

Principal, MultiSport Science

Principal, Richard Physiological Services

Keywords: eSports, cycling, endurance performance, cheating, doping

May 12, 2023: Cliquey soccer - controlling ball progression

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Dr. Catherine Pfaff and students Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Queen's University

Keywords: soccer, passing, configurations, spatial models, clustering.

Feb 10, 2023: Modeling training load responses for performance optimization in sports

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Dr. Frank Imbach
Head of R&D, Seenovate
L’Unité Dynamique Du Muscle et Métabolisme, l’Institut national de recherche pour l’agriculture, l’alimentation et l’environnement, Université de Montpellier.

Keywords: training load quantification, resistance training, GPS data, machine learning, fitness-fatigue models

January 20, 2023: Critical power: modern applications of a classical concept

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Dr. Kevin Caen
Postdoctoral researcher, Exercise Physiology Research Group, Deparment of Movement and Sport Sciences, Ghent University, Belgium

Keywords: critical power model, W'balance model, endurance sports, physiological thresholds

December 16, 2022: Pass Evaluation in Women’s Olympic Ice Hockey

2022 Big Data Cup Winners!

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Robyn Ritchie
Phil Shreeves

Alon Harell
Graduate students, Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science


Graduate student, School of Engineering Science

Keywords: women's hockey, Olympics, passing, power plays

November 18, 2022: Informal discussion on upcoming FIFA World Cup

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Dr. Tim Swartz Professor, Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, Simon Fraser University

Keywords: soccer, World Cup

June 3, 2022: Can interval training models be improved?

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Jeremy Briand

Graduate student, École de kinésiologie et des sciences de l’activité physique, l’Université de Montréal

Research assistant, Institut National de Sport du Québec

Supervised by Dr. Guy Thibault and Dr. Jonathan Tremblay

Keywords: interval training, mathematical model, optimization, critical power, W'

May 5, 2022: Understanding training load as exposure and dose: lessons we can learn from epidemiology

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Prof. Franco Impellizzeri
Professor, School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney

Keywords: training load (external and internal), training effects (acute, chronic, positive, negative), research methodology, theory, constructs, validation

April 29, 2022: 1 - Wu: Evaluation of off-the-ball actions in soccer; 2 - Dona: Expected economy rate in cricket

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Lucas Wu, Nirodha Epasinghege Dona Graduate students, Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, Simon Fraser University (Supervisor: Dr. Tim Swartz)

Keywords: soccer, defence, off-the-ball actions, cricket, bowling, economy rate

March 18, 2022: Qualitative data and its usefulness in sport analytics

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Dr. William (Bill) Foster
Professor, Department of Social Sciences (Management Program), University of Alberta (Augustana Campus)

Keywords: qualitative research

March 4, 2022: The Evolution of Analytics – Mining for Gold

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Kevin Palmer


Gerry Geurts
Purveyor of analytics for curling at http://curlwithmath.ca & the ROCK LOGIC podcast

Entrepreneur and President of @CurlingZone

Keywords: curling

Feb 18, 2022: Punt Returns: Using the Math to Find the Path

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Robyn Ritchie, Brendan Kumagai, Elijah Cavan, Ryker Moreau Graduate students, Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, Simon Fraser University

Keywords: football, punt returns, special teams, 4th NFL Big Data Bowl

Jan 21, 2022: Bayesian Space-time models for Possession Added Value in Hockey

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Tyrel Stokes



Brendan Kumagai
PhD candidate, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, McGill University (supervisors: Dr. Russell Steele, Dr. Ian Shrier)

MSc student, Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, Simon Fraser University

Keywords: expected possession, expected goals, Bayesian, hockey

Dec 10, 2021: Hydraulic models of human performance during high-intensity intermittent exercise

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Fabian Weigend

 

PhD candidate

University of Western Sydney (Supervisor: Dr. Jason Seigler)

Keywords: modeling, evolutionary optimization, high-intensity intermittent exercise, exercise physiology.

Nov 12, 2021: Advances in computer vision for hockey analytics

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Dr. Mehrnaz Fani

Kanav Vats
Postdoctoral fellow


PhD student

Sports Analytics Research Group, Vision and Image Processing Research Group, Department of Systems Engineering, University of Waterloo (supervisor: Dr. David Clausi)

Keywords: computer vision, broadcast video, machine learning, pose estimation, hockey

Oct 29, 2021: Examining the Consumption of Sports Events across TV and Social Media

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Dr. Yupin Yang Associate Professor, Marketing, Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University

Keywords: business, marketing, car racing, social media, television, latent Dirichlet models.

July 23, 2021: Competitor strength in multicompetitor games with scored outcomes

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Jonathan Che PhD student, Department of Statistics, Harvard University (collaborative work with Dr. Mark Glickman, funded by US Olympic & Paralympic Committee)

Keywords: performance ability, rank, score, dynamic linear model, Bayesian inference.

July 9, 2021: Using Kinematic Measurements to Improve Athlete Monitoring in Wheelchair Court Sports

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Rob Rupf PhD candidate, Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto (supervisor: Dr. Scott Thomas)

Keywords: Paralympics, wheelchair sports, inertial measurement unit (IMU), training load, performance analysis, portable technologies, physics-based models

June 18, 2021: Sprinting for the win: insights from supply & demand modeling

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Dr. Jim Martin Associate Professor, Department of Nutrition & Integrative Physiology, University of Utah

The link to the sprint finish video compilation presented during the talk can be found here. This video was omitted from the recording to avoid copyright issues.

Keywords: physics-based performance models, cycling, power meters, portable technologies

June 4, 2021: Causal inference short course, session 2 - Causal discovery & causal research questions in sports analytics

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Dr. Oliver Schute Professor, School of Computing Science, Simon Fraser University

Keywords: causal inference, causal discovery, hockey, running, performance model

May 28, 2021: Causal inference short course, session 1 - Introduction to Causal DAGs

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Dr. Ian Shrier Sport Medicine Physician
Senior Investigator, Centre for Clinical Epidemiology, Lady Davis Institute
Associate Professor, Department of Family Medicine, McGill University

Keywords: causal inference, directed acyclic graphs

April 23, 2021: Sports analytics is a science and an art: A conversation with data journalist Alison Lukan

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Alison Lukan Analytics-focused hockey journalist

Keywords: communication, working in sport, hockey

April 9, 2021: The Athlete Biological Passport

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Dr. Reid Aikin Deputy Director of Science (which includes overseeing the Athlete Biological Passport), World Anti-Doping Association

This talk was not recorded.

Basic information about the Athlete Biological Passport can be found here. An excellent review of the Bayesian model underlying the ABP can be found here.  

Keywords: doping detection, Bayesian methods

Special post: Athlete Talent Identification

Talk by SFU SAG Faculty member Dr. Peter Tingling at the 2021 Sport Biometrics Conference

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Dr. Peter Tingling Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs & Associate Professor of Management, Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University

Keywords: player valuation, decision making, draft, NHL, hockey

March 26, 2021: Performance models for doping risk assessment

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation

Prof. James Hopker

 

Prof. Jim Griffin

Professor of Exercise Physiology, Deputy Director of the Division of Natural Sciences, Director of Postgraduate Research, School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Kent, UK.

Professor of Statistics, Department of Statistical Science, University College London, UK.

This talk was not recorded.

The basis of the talk was this paper.

Keywords: doping detection, athlete career trajectory modeling, functional data analysis, splines, Bayesian statistics

March 12, 2021: Monitoring the Return to Sport Transition After ACL Injury

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Dr. Matt Jordan
Director of Sport Science, Canadian Sport Institute Calgary
Adjunct Professor, School of Kinesiology, University of Calgary
Adjunct Professor, School of Medical and Health Sciences at Edith Cowan University (Perth, Australia)

Keywords: data-informed rehabilitation, generalized additive mixed models

February 26, 2021: Causal Inference, mediation and interaction

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Dr. Ian Shrier
Sport Medicine Physician
Senior Investigator, Centre for Clinical Epidemiology, Lady Davis Institute
Associate Professor, Department of Family Medicine, McGill University

Note that two segments were not included in the recording due to copyrighted video being shown.

Keywords: causal inference, injury surveillance

February 12, 2021: Tracking players: What you see is what you get!

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Dr. Mike Jamieson
Director of Computer Vision Research, Sportlogiq

Note that two brief (~20-30 sec) segments were trimmed from the recording due to copyrighted video being shown during the presentation.

Keywords: computer vision, hockey, soccer

January 29, 2021: Injury prevention, workloads, and analytics - Research & applied practice

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Dr. Johann Windt
Head of Data Science – Performance, Vancouver Whitecaps FC

Note that the audio is somewhat distorted.

Dr. Windt's sport-related publications can be found here.

Keywords: data science, working in professional sport, soccer, injury surveillance

January 15, 2021: Injury surveillance in sport

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Dr. Doug Richards Sport Medicine Physician
Associate Professor, Teaching stream, Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto

Keywords: injury surveillance

December 11, 2020: Automated Swimming Analytics Using Deep Neural Networks

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation

Dr. Ivan Bajic
Tim Woinoski

Professor
Undergraduate Honours student

School of Engineering Science, Simon Fraser University

Associated paper.

Keywords: computer vision, competitive swimming, machine learning

November 27, 2021: A Mathematical optimization framework for expansion draft decision making and analysis

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation

Dr. Tim Chan

 

Yusuf Shalaby

Professor
Canada Research Chair in Novel Optimization and Analytics in Health

Research assistant

Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto

Associated paper

Keywords: player valuation, drafting, optimization, hockey

November 13, 2020: Scoring rate estimation in European Soccer

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation

Dr. Alexandre Leblanc
Robyn Ritchie

Professor
M.Sc. student

Department of Statistics, University of Manitoba

Keywords: independent Poisson model, nonparametric estimation, soccer

October 16, 2020: Data Solutions Process in High-Performance Sport

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Dr. Ming-Chang Tsai Performance data scientist, Lead of Biomechanics and Performance Analysis, Canadian Sport Institute Pacific

Keywords: data science, high-performance sport, snow sports, parasport

October 2, 2020: Canadian Tire Sports Analytics - Supporting Canadian National Sport Organizations with data and analytics

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Justin Detlor
Manager of sports analytics, Canadian Tire Financial Services

Keywords: data science, high-performance sport, Podium Pathway tracking, swimming, curling, track and field, basketball

September 18, 2020: Developing data workflows in high-performance sport 

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation
Phil Jevtovic
Lead Performance Analyst and Database Manager, Senior Men's National basketball team, Canada Basketball

Keywords: data science, high-performance sport, basketball, performance analysis

August 20, 2020: Performance analytics in ice hockey

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation

Dr. Jonathan Tremblay
Kevin Aizen

Associate Professor

MSc student

School of Kinesiology and Exercise Science, Université de Montréal

Associated paper

Keywords: sport physiology, inertial measurement unit, load monitoring, strength testing, skating speed, machine learning, hockey

August 7, 2020: Working in Professional Sport - from SFU to the Big Leagues

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation

Sarah Bailey

Dani Chu

 

Manager Analytics & Data, Los Angeles Rams, NFL

Quantitative Analyst, Seattle Kraken, NHL

Keywords: data science, professional sport, football, hockey

July 24, 2020: Skater evaluation in hockey using regression-adjusted plus-minus

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation

Dr. Michael Schuckers

Charles A. Dana Professor of Statistics, Director, Peterson Quantitative Resource Cente, St. Lawrence University (NY, USA)

Keywords: player valuation, regression, hockey

June 26, 2020: In-game win probabilities for National Rugby League

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation

Dr. Tim Swartz

Professor, Statistics and Actuarial Science, Simon Fraser University

Keywords: win probabilities, functional data analysis, Bayesian statistics, rugby

June 12, 2020: Machine learning in sports analytics

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation

Dr. Oliver Schulte

Professor, School of Computing Science, Simon Fraser University

Keywords: machine learning, decision trees, causal inference, reinforcement learning, hockey, soccer

May 29, 2020: Is crossing the ball in soccer a good strategy?

Presenter(s) Role & Affiliation

Aaron Danielson
Lucas Wu

Postdoctoral researcher

PhD student

Statistics and Actuarial Science, Simon Fraser University

Keywords: causal inference, propensity score matching, spatiotemporal player tracking data, soccer