GIS Live Lab Providing “Unforgettable Experience” to Coaching and Analysis Students in Jamaica

Earlier this year, GIS launched a first-of-its-kind Live Lab in Jamaica, collaborating with Jamaican Premier League side Mount Pleasant Football Academy.

This partnership means GIS students worked remotely with Mount Pleasant over the academic year before travelling to Jamaica in March, where they supported various departments at Mount Pleasant’s world-class setup.

Five of the students selected worked with the club’s coaching and analysis staff, putting their studies in Performance Analysis and Coaching into practice to gain real industry experience.

One of the students is James Pugh, who studies Performance Analysis in Football and told us it was an “unforgettable experience.“

“It’s definitely given me more of a desire to work within the football industry,” he continued, adding, “I feel like we made an impact.”

The students assisted the club with opposition analysis, post-match analysis, and video scouting, gaining access to leading football industry software such as Hudl and Playermaker. 

This helped the Mount Pleasant staff improve in their approach to coaching at the club, with Director of Football, Davion Ferguson emphasising that “an important part of what we do is our coaching education program, so overall we were well supported.”

Dr Mike Walsh, Principal of GIS, finds that the students also made an impact with the live coding in games, which has made a significant difference at Mount Pleasant. “If there’s somewhere in the game that the opposition is getting the better of Mount Pleasant, the first-team staff can make those amendments straight away or at half-time, which the other teams don’t have.”

When asked why GIS chose Jamaica and this particular club to build a partnership with, Dr Walsh explained the potential he saw. “There are over 50 Jamaican players in the English football pyramid, and if you look at England’s squad last year for the Euros, over 50 percent had Caribbean origins. 

“The talent is there, so if we can replicate the training environment and coaching practices, we can really see more talents going overseas.”

In their GIS courses, the students study modules such as Applied Football Match Analysis, Football Statistics and Data Analysis, and Talent Identification and Recruitment, all of which develop analytical skills that can be implemented during the Live Lab.

The students also conducted individual player reports at Mount Pleasant, with Ferguson saying the players are “loving the experience”. One Mount Pleasant youth player recently earning himself a contract with Toronto FC II.

“On the training pitch, they interact a lot with GIS staff and their technology. Even off the pitch, we want them to understand the game is more than just on the pitch.

“We had 13 academy players train with the first team,” he continued, “so to get the academy on board brings them closer to where we want to get them. Overall, the partnership is wonderful and the players are loving it.”

Running yearly, our Live Lab internships provide students with the chance to put the theory they learn into practice. On the experience, James Pugh concluded by encouraging other students to sign up in the future.

“I was lucky enough to get the opportunity and feel as though everyone should experience a trip like the Live Lab to get experience in the industry, as well as meeting fellow students in a much better climate than the UK!”

To find out more, you can sign up to our Study & Coach Around The World webinar on the 23rd of July, where you can discover the global work and study opportunities available to GIS students.

Article by Zakaria Anani