Scottish rugby performance to be enhanced with drones

The Scottish national rugby union team has begun introducing drones into its player performance analysis, facilitated by a tailored training course designed and delivered by Consortiq.

Ten performance analysts from the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) are in the middle of their drone training course at present, and are expected to graduate with the completion of their flight assessments once the Autumn International tournament concludes in November.

Drones will eventually be used to analyse the performance of the players, such as their formations and tactics, providing an overhead, manoeuvrable bird’s eye view of the team as they train.

A team of Consortiq instructors have been active at Scotland’s home ground Murrayfield, providing ground-based training to the SRU team and readying them for their upcoming flight assessments.

“They knew they wanted the course, and within a very short of period of time, we arrived there and delivered that training in line with the timescale that they required,” Séamus Kearns, Customer Success Manager at Consortiq, says.

“We can tailor our services to meet whatever needs. They have tight demands, and we were ready and willing to deliver to these requirements,” Kearns added.

When this initial batch of operators are fully trained and certified to carry out performance analytic assessment using their drones, it is expected that there will be another batch of SRU personnel that will then carry out the training.

The different training courses offered by Consortiq are based around the same principles of ensuring that operations are effective yet safe, but they can be tailored accordingly to meet emerging requirements such as sports analytics, as is the case with the SRU.

Following on from this success, Consortiq has also in recent weeks been contracted by Celtic Football Club to provide drone training for use in player scouting. In both cases, Consortiq’s drone operations software, CQNet, has been integrated into the solution to plan missions, log flight data and mitigate risk.

Sports performance analytics joins a whole host of other industries that are utilising drone technology, such as media, oil and gas inspection, law enforcement agencies, and search and rescue units.