Boreham Wood FC x OPN: Bringing performance operations into one place

At Boreham Wood FC, data plays an important role in how the club supports its players and manages its day-to-day performance environment.

But as the amount of information being collected increased, so did the number of places that information lived.

For Ciaran Pack, Lead Therapist at Boreham Wood FC, bringing more of those processes together has been one of the biggest benefits of introducing OPN.

“OPN allows us to have everything in one place. We used to have GPS data on its own separate system and monitoring through Google Forms, so bringing everything together has helped massively.”

Ciaran Pack, Lead Therapist, Boreham Wood FC

Creating one place for the performance team

Rather than relying on separate systems and forms for different parts of the performance programme, Boreham Wood is using OPN as a central environment for its day-to-day workflows.

Player monitoring, wellness, recovery, injury reporting and rehabilitation can all be managed through the platform, helping staff build a more connected picture of each player.

For the performance team, that means less fragmentation between different areas of their work. For coaches, it provides greater visibility of important player information. And for the players themselves, it creates a simpler experience with one place to access and complete what is required of them.

Making monitoring easier for players

A performance system only provides value if players actually engage with it.

At Boreham Wood, player response to OPN has been positive, with the squad finding the app straightforward to use as part of their normal routine.

Players can complete wellness and recovery monitoring through OPN, while reminders help them stay on top of what needs to be completed.

Instead of moving between different forms and systems, the aim is to make those regular interactions as simple as possible.

That ease of use has helped Boreham Wood bring monitoring into the same environment as the other information the performance team uses every day.

Connecting injury reporting and rehabilitation

The benefits of a connected system become particularly important when a player’s availability changes.

Boreham Wood uses OPN for injury updates and reporting, helping the performance team communicate relevant information to coaches and maintain oversight of player availability.

Rehabilitation also sits within the platform.

That means an injured player doesn’t disappear from the club’s normal performance processes simply because they are no longer taking part in full training.

Their rehab can continue through OPN alongside the other areas of their performance support, giving both the player and staff greater continuity throughout the recovery process.

Supporting players beyond the pitch

Nutrition as a fairly new feature has recently become another part of Boreham Wood’s use of OPN.

Players can use the platform to track their meals alongside their weight, extending the information available to the performance team beyond training and recovery alone.

Importantly, that process can continue when a player is injured.

An injured player can still track their meals and weight while following their rehabilitation programme within OPN. Rather than different elements of their support becoming disconnected during an injury, they can continue to sit alongside one another throughout the recovery process.

It is another example of how Boreham Wood is expanding its use of the platform around the needs of the player.

Improving oversight across the club

OPN isn’t only being used to collect player information.

“The calendar has been great for the manager and for general oversight. We can organise our daily operations alongside the current schedule, and that’s been great.”

Ciaran Pack, Lead Therapist, Boreham Wood FC

Having the schedule within the same environment as the club’s performance processes helps create a clearer picture of what is happening across the day.

For Ciaran and the wider team, that ability to organise activity alongside the existing football schedule has become another valuable part of how OPN fits into the club’s operation.

Building around a data-driven approach

Boreham Wood describes itself as an extremely data-driven club.

For Ciaran, the value of OPN is therefore not simply having another place to collect information. It is having a platform that can support and expand the way the club already wants to operate.

As more workflows are brought into OPN, information that previously existed across separate systems can become part of a more connected performance environment.

“We are extremely data-driven as a club, and this resource is perfect for expanding the way we operate.”

Ciaran Pack, Lead Therapist, Boreham Wood FC

One platform, total control

Boreham Wood’s use of OPN continues to develop.

What began as an opportunity to bring previously separate processes into one place now spans multiple areas of the club’s performance operation:

• Wellness and recovery monitoring
• Injury reporting
• Rehabilitation
• Nutrition and weight tracking
• GPS data
• Scheduling and daily operations

For players, that means a simpler way to engage with their performance support.

For coaches, it provides greater visibility of relevant player information.

And for the performance team, it creates a central environment from which they can continue developing the club’s data-driven approach.

For Boreham Wood, the value is in the connection between those areas: bringing more of the performance operation together and creating a platform the club can continue to build around.