11 Questions with Ismael Gomez Schmidt

The pursuit of wisdom in any walk of life quickly reveals that what you think you know is not nearly enough to get you to where you want to go. As I'm starting out in my football scouting journey I challenged myself to reach out to those already working in various roles in football to answer a short list of questions. My goal wasn't to get answers but relevant perspectives on the game within the game.

Here is Ismael Gomez Schmidt, Frontman of Dato Futbol:

How did your first opportunity in football come about? 

I've not really got an opportunity in football yet. I just have received some invitations to conferences as speaker and to present a formal project to the board of director in a professional club, but nothing concrete. Independently the above, i'm currently working for a Swiss company focused on Ice Hockey. So, anyway i got a job in the sport analytics field. It happened after 3 years of blogging, twitting some analysis results and putting in practice new data science skills.

What attracted you to scouting/analytics? What’s more intriguing now names or numbers?

Mainly the match between my football fanaticism and my closeness to data science last years. I had the idea to improve my skills going deeper with a topic that i like pretty much.So, for the moment it's working!

If you could start over what skill would you build on first?

Definitively communication.  Always keep in mind the club/coaches requirements or policies and find the best way to translate data insights into a common or simpler language.

Do you see player development as more of an art or a science? Is development on the club or the player? Why?

I don't know really. I guess is a balance between both.

What is your favorite sports moment? Why?

When a weak player/team win something representing an overcoming of multiple difficulties in their lives and the fans celebrating forget their problems for a moment and feel identified. That kind of complicity is beautiful. 

What coach/player/team inspires you? Why?

Roger Federer. Talent, hard worker, professionalism, integrity, healthy lifestyle, keep competitive after his 30-35

What advice would you give to someone wanting to get into media/analytics?

Go ahead and do things in the topic that you are interested. Find a dataset and try to play with it and then publish the results in social media. This way you will receive feedback, suggestion to read/review additional resources or similar analyst by other people. So this way you will be improving each time. Don't wait to feel safe or comfortable with your knowledge and skills. Don't be afraid. All of us someday started as beginner.

What is your favorite app/tool to use (for fun!)?

R software with R shiny for interactive apps developing. And event data like Statsbomb public access dataset.

What other sport/hobby/discipline do you feel improves your work as an analyst? Why?

Well, of course to watch and to practice the sport that you are analyzing allow you get a more complete understanding. So I try to play and watch football often (and I hope to do the same with ice hockey!). Also I think it is very useful to talk with other people involved in the sports either fans, analysts, journalists, etc. In order to be conscience about different point of view and interest.