Welcome to Industry Insider by Behind Sport. Our latest guest is Founder & Sports Director, Andy Etches!
Tell us about yourself, what is your current role and what roles have you done previously?
My name is Andy Etches and I am a Founder and Sports Director for Rezzil. Rezzil is a unique contextual cognitive performance platform that measures player capabilities and helps develop the traits seen in the world’s best players. Using a series of drills and tests designed to simulate extreme game pressure and decision making players can calculate a Rezzil Index score. Scores can be compared against players in your squad, club or across the world. Rezzil also offers a suite of analysis and rehabilitation tools to help gain better insight into performance on the pitch and throughout recovery.
In the past I have worked as an employee and consultant for Manchester City, the EFL, Serie A, and in numerous other high performance environments – this is always with a focus on technology considering how it can be used to improve performance and to better display data.
What do you do in your current role?
In my role I work directly with teams, coaches and players helping to improve and maintain cognitive performance using the Rezzil platform. Day to day I spend time at training grounds around the world helping teams and players improve factors such as decision making, dealing with pressure, improving perception and coping with the stresses of matches.
What does a normal week look like for you?
Varied and unpredictable in a couple of words! I am often in our office in Manchester working with my fantastic co-founders Adam and Gareth looking at ways we can improve the platform. However, I could be anywhere three days out of five, this could be tucked away in a dedicated VR room at one of our club’s training grounds or running a demo in Italy, Russia or wherever we’re needed.
How did you end up where you are right now? When did you know you wanted to work in sport?
I’ve always loved sport and even spent time as a (not the greatest) player in the past. Alongside that passion I’ve always been interested in and spent much of my career in technology. I’ve been lucky enough to utilise the zeal I have for both of these worlds and bring them together over the past ten years.
What are you excited about in your industry at the moment?
Emerging technology such as VR naturally, along with the great strides in other areas of performance technology. There’s something new every day that excites me in sports technology and it’s only going to become more competent, fruitful and widely adopted. I’ve also always been a big fan of collaboration; so it’s great to see the football industry and its suppliers become more open to discover new ways to work and improve thanks to becoming more open to being open about working together.
What is the one piece of advice you would give to someone wanting to work in the sports industry?
Be persistent: sport is obviously an industry that’s attractive to work in which naturally brings a lot of applicants to every role. Keep trying if you’re not successful at first. It’s worth the effort.
How to follow Andy Etches and Rezzil on social media…
Andy Etches: @Mancunian
Rezzil on Twitter and Instagram
Thanks for reading our Industry Insider feature with Founder & Sports Director, Andy Etches.
