In this series, we review how evidence-based decision-making and time-saving effi­cien­cies can elevate high performance workflows through Hudl’s ecosystem of products.

Transfer windows come and go quickly in modern football, so having efficient and effective workflows around scouting and recruitment is an area which teams can really exploit in order to steal a march on the competition. 

Whether your organization’s goal is to buy and develop players for team success or to look to turn a trading profit through smart recruitment and resale, it is vital to be able to identify the right player and then to act quickly - a process that can be enhanced through video and data.

As part of our High Performance Workflows Webinar series, Hudl's Senior Solutions Consultant for Data Science, Tom Goodall, discusses scouting and recruitment in more detail.

In this session, we take an in-depth look at how Hudl’s services and products including Data as a Service, Sportscode, Insight and Studio integrate to highlight how data-driven and evidence-based decision-making can provide an efficient scouting and recruitment model for clubs.

How Hudl products are used in Recruitment workflow

Hudl offers clubs the means to efficiently scout a wide player base and to reduce the risk in the decision-making process. One such tool is Data as a Service, which can help develop and implement bespoke processes and dashboards to link your recruitment strategy to your team’s game model.

Kick-starting the scouting and recruitment workflow with Data as a Service allows you to work out what area of the squad you most need to address. Customizable dashboards can track your performance across the season against the benchmarks you set, be that internal objectives relating to game model or by comparing against the rest of the league. 

Taking team style, succession planning and areas in need of potential improvement all into consideration can help determine the player profile you are looking for and streamline the rest of the process.

Once you are ready to begin the search, Data as a Service player indexing allows you to filter from a long list to a short list of candidates, cutting your search time significantly. Attacking and defensive indexes are defined by each club depending on their own game philosophy, ensuring a unique approach tailored to every team.

When your data analysis is completed, the next step in the High Performance Workflow is to supplement the information with video. Insight is the perfect tool, using the data to act as an engine to find key moments in the video quickly and efficiently.

Using the Player Search feature, you can select games with accompanying video and data without the need to download footage or use up precious storage space on your device. This ability to stream video from one part of the Hudl Pro Suite into another and use it immediately is a great way of making your workflow quicker and more efficient.

Next, build out a playlist from the clips you select and supplement the video with images and overlays - an important step in the scouting and recruitment process, as these will ultimately be shared with key decision makers and, on occasions, the player themselves.

Insight seamlessly integrates with Hudl Sportscode and playlists can be sent into an organizer for further analysis. Sportscode allows you to elevate your processes with customizable coding and scripting tools that enable you to analyze what matters most when recruiting a potential target.

The next step in the High Performance Workflow is to send this to Studio so that telestration can be added to bring the clips to life and make them easier to understand for key stakeholders in the scouting and recruitment decision-making process. 

With just one click you can send playlists from Insight or Sportscode to Studio, once again saving you time and removing hassle from the workflow.

To recap, the scouting and recruitment High Performance Workflow starts with Data as a Service to identify team goals, playing style and succession planning to narrow down the specific player profile, before moving into Insight to use data to make the video analysis stage much quicker. 

Once the specific clips have been compiled, Sportscode and Studio help organize, customize and bring the analysis to life, ready to share with key stakeholders in the organization.

Hudl Pro Services' Data as a Service consultancy helps clubs and federations maximize decision making across their sporting operations, learn more here.

The Hudl Pro Suite is an integrated solution that gives clubs all the technology they need to succeed in the modern game, learn more here.

Wyscout offers a complete set of scouting products designed to enhance every aspect of player recruitment, start your free trial here.