Yahya Ali uses sport analytics to help Canadian athletes become world champions

Yahya Ali was a counsellor in U of T's KPE Outdoor Project in 2018. Here he is working as an MC for the first night activities. (all photos courtesy of Yahya Ali)

Of all the careers one may think of pursuing after a degree in kinesiology, working in a bank is probably not the first thing that springs to mind. Yet, that’s exactly where Yahya Ali (BKin 2019) landed after graduating from the University of Toronto Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education - working in the Canadian Tire bank (CTB) as a sport analyst. 

The opportunity sprung out of a collaboration between CBT and Own the Podium (OTP), a non-profit organization that prioritizes and determines investment strategies for national sport organizations in an effort to deliver more Olympic and Paralympic medals for Canada. . 

“I work on a team that provides advanced sports analytics to Canadian athletes to support them at their competitions,” says Ali. “The support primarily focuses on collecting, cleaning and analyzing performance data such as speed, times and scores, among other things.”

Through analysis of the data, coaches and athletes can identify where they can improve or how far ahead they are of their competition. 

“For example, for bobsleigh we not only analyze the final times but the individual intermediate times, which are like checkpoints as the athlete goes down the track,” says Ali. “This information is then presented in a simple visualization to the coaches and athletes, so they can see where they did better than their competition or where on the track they need to improve to surpass the competition.” 

Ali first fell in love with sport analytics after taking a course with KPE Associate Professor Tim Taha (PhD 2004), with whom he did a supervised research project on how soccer teams’ style of play influences their success in World Cups. He enjoyed it so much, he decided he wanted to study the subject further. After graduating from KPE in 2019, he went on to do his master’s degree in sport analytics at Loughborough University in the UK.

During his master’s, he completed an internship with a start-up company called Iterpro, which developed a software that helps sports organization make quicker and more accurate decisions with data on both athlete performance and business viability. He also worked as an opposition scout/analyst for Division II US college soccer teams, providing scouting reports to various universities about their competition, including their key players’ weaknesses and style of play. 

He started with CTB in November, 2021.  

“I really enjoy the process of developing and implementing new metrics that the coaches and athletes can use to gain a competitive advantage,” says Ali. “I love being part of a team that helps Canadian athletes become world champions.”
 

Ali says his kinesiology degree helped him prepare for the role in a variety of ways – most obviously by imparting knowledge about the human body and what allows athletes to perform at their optimal level.

“For example, we analyze athletes’ VO2max - a measure for aerobic fitness – for various sports. My peers who did not study kinesiology only view this metric as a number, but I know what VO2max shows and doesn’t show, its limitations and how it should be interpreted. I can provide a rationale or a scientific explanation as to why a particular athlete may have had a change in their VO2max,” says Ali.
 
Besides subject matter expertise, Ali says his kinesiology degree has also allowed him to develop a lot of transferable skills that are key to the work environment such as the ability to work on multiple projects at the same time, strong problem-solving skills and the ability to work in a team setting. 

Ali recently shared his career trajectory with kinesiology students at the BIPOC career café organized by KINections, an initiative of the KPE Registrar’s Office designed to help students connect with each other and get involved beyond the classroom. The program is sponsored by U of T affinity partners Manulife, TD Insurance and MBNA.

”Being in kinesiology meant there were many potential avenues to pursue,” says Ali. “I found myself constantly changing what I wanted to do. What made the process easier was talking to alumni, especially BIPOC alumni, whose advice helped me think outside the box and use my KIN background in a creative way, as a foundation for a career that is not in the health industry. I wanted to pass on my experience and share some of the advice that I got to future graduates of kinesiology.”

Among the advice:

It’s alright if you don’t know yet what you want to do after you graduate. That means you’ll have more doors to open. 

Volunteer or, if you can, do a placement with professionals or organizations in careers that you are considering. This will give you some insight into what an average day in that job looks like.

Have informal coffee chats with people whose jobs sounds interesting to you. Ask them about how they got to do what they do? What their job entails? What they like or dislike about it?
 
“Reaching out to professionals may seem intimidating,” says Ali, “but many are willing to have conversations and former KIN students generally love to connect with current KIN students.”

Sound advice - and you can be sure he’s got data to back it up.

The KINections program is proudly sponsored by U of T affinity partners, Manulife, MBNA and TD Insurance. 

Originally published by the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education