Premier Lacrosse League Teams Up with Catapult to Track and Optimize Athlete Performance
By PLL | Jul 27, 2021
LOS ANGELES, CA. (July 27, 2021) - The Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) powered by Ticketmaster announced today a new collaboration with Catapult, the global performance technology leader in elite sports, to capture player performance data and deliver optimizations throughout the 2021 season. The initiative integrates information collected on the field into decisions on player health, load management, and practice regimens, among other performance-based insights.
“We’ve seen Catapult’s impact on the world’s top performing athletes, and we’re excited to collaborate with them to enhance the way we strategize, play and train,” said Paul Rabil, Co-founder and CMO of the Premier Lacrosse League. “Their state of the art tech offers us the tools to better understand performance trends, strengths and weaknesses, all to help us perform at our highest level. We're thrilled to work with the Catapult team to elevate our players and product on-field.”
In a venture that began earlier this season and will continue through the duration of the 2021 PLL schedule, Catapult is equipping select players—including Archers attackman Grant Ament, Redwoods midfielder Sergio Perkovic, and Whipsnakes long stick midfielder Michael Ehrhardt—with GPS-based wearable technology and athlete management software. The SaaS technology enables users and coaches to better manage workloads, optimize performance, and mitigate injury risk.
“The PLL is a dynamic, fast-growing league that shares our commitment to driving the future of sports through innovation,” said Will Lopes, Catapult CEO. “Our goal is to improve the performance of the athletes and teams we work with, and we’re excited to collaborate with the PLL to provide actionable insights into player performance, health, and wellness.”
Founded in Melbourne in 2006, Catapult began as a partnership between the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and the Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) to maximize the performance of Australian athletes ahead of the Sydney Olympics. After 15 years, Catapult provides software solutions that enable over 3,200 elite teams worldwide, across major leagues such as the NFL, EPL, NBA, NCAA, and NHL, to use technology to optimize performance.
During the season, sports scientists from the PLL and Catapult are collaborating to analyze the trends fueling winning teams and the league’s top performers. Through the first six weeks of the season, the PLL and Catapult collected data and insights on player workload, sprinting distance, total distance, acceleration/deceleration, and change of direction, among others. Notable data highlights include:
- Players covered 20% more ground during games they won
- Similarly, players recorded a 20% increase in distance per high speed effort during wins
- Long stick midfielders logged 2.5 times more acceleration efforts and distance covered in wins
- Midfielders recorded a 36% increase in high intensity change of direction efforts during wins
The organizations are working together to translate findings into actionable optimizations to elevate league-wide play throughout the remainder of the season and in future seasons.
The 2021 PLL Season continues on Peacock this July 30th, 31st and August 1st at Weidner Field in Colorado Springs, CO. For more information on the 2021 schedule, visit www.premierlacrosseleague.com/schedule.
ABOUT PREMIER LACROSSE LEAGUE
The Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) powered by Ticketmaster is a men’s professional lacrosse league in North America, composed of 8 teams rostered with the best players in the world. Co-founded by lacrosse superstar, philanthropist, and investor Paul Rabil and his brother, serial entrepreneur and investor, Mike Rabil, the Premier Lacrosse League is backed by an investment group composed of Joe Tsai Sports, Brett Jefferson Holdings, The Raine Group, Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Chernin Group, Blum Capital, The Kraft Group, Arctos Sports Partners, and other top investors in sports and media. The PLL was named Sports Breakthrough of the Year in 2020 by the Sports Business Journal and is distributed through an exclusive media-rights agreement with NBC Universal. In December 2020, the PLL and Major League Lacrosse (MLL) announced a merger with subsequent season operations and activities to formally exist under the PLL. For more information, visit www.premierlacrosseleague.com and follow on social media: Instagram (@PLL), Twitter (@PremierLacrosse), Facebook (@PremierLacrosseLeague), YouTube (YouTube.com/PLL) and TikTok (@pll).
ABOUT CATAPULT
Catapult exists to improve the performance of athletes and teams. Operating at the intersection of sports science and analytics, Catapult products are designed to optimize performance, and quantify return to play. Catapult has over 340 staff based across 24 locations worldwide, working with over 3,200 elite teams in 137 countries globally. To learn more about Catapult and to inquire about accessing performance analytics for a team or athlete, visit us at catapultsports.com. Follow us at @CatapultSports on social media for daily updates.
