Voorhees’ Namita Nandakumar went from ‘insane Philly sports fan’ to Women in Sports Data Symposium panelist

With the Phillies off to St. Louis on Saturday, the private lounge behind home plate at Citizens Bank Park was full of more than 200 sports data enthusiasts.

Attendees were there for the Women in Sports Data Symposium, an annual one-day event that aims to promote diversity and equity in the field of sports analytics. They were there to hear from big names across major professional sports, to present their own research, and to build their network.

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The second panel of the day brought together four women serving in leadership roles in pro sports: Atlanta Hawks assistant coach Brittni Donaldson, Seattle Kraken assistant general manager Alexandra Mandrycky, Amber Nichols, general manager of the Capital City Go-Go of the NBA G League, and Phillies director of baseball operations Corinne Landrey. It was a panel of firsts talking to a room of up-nexts.

“I can’t wait for the question, ‘What’s it like to be the only one, the first one?’ to stop,” said Tegan Bunsu Ashby, who was moderating the talk. “And I think that this room is going to be leading the charge on that.”

Voorhees native Namita Nandakumar returned to her roots for the symposium. Nandakumar currently works as the manager of hockey analytics for the Seattle Kraken, and was on hand as a panelist to discuss her journey, her advice for breaking into the field, and the ever-changing landscape of the sports data industry.

“My path started by just being an insane Philly sports fan,” she said. “So [it’s] very fun to be here specifically. Growing up around here, I just got so invested in all of the teams.”

Nandakumar started researching in sports analytics and attending conferences while in undergrad at Penn. After graduation, she was hired by the Eagles, where she spent two seasons as a qualitative analyst.

“When I got to the Eagles, I’ll be honest, they did not need me to tell them, ‘Oh, sometimes you should go for it on fourth down.’ They figured it out,” Nandakumar said jokingly. “One of the really helpful traits to have in this field, or any field, is being flexible. ... Having the flexibility to be like, ‘OK, this is how I can carve out a niche and become an expert in this thing that we need someone to be an expert on.’”

Nandakumar moved to Seattle’s expansion NHL franchise in 2020 to, in her words, “build a team from scratch.” She works closely with Mandrycky, who she first met at a sports analytics conference while Nandakumar was still in college and Mandrycky was a data analyst for the Minnesota Wild.

“[Mandrycky] was basically the only other woman in the room at the time,” Nandakumar said.

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Ashby is one of the co-founders of the symposium and also is the Phillies’ assistant director of software engineering. In addition to hosting it at their park, the Phillies were a main sponsor of the event, and several members of their front office helped organize or served as guest speakers. Landrey, lead software engineer Rebekah Callari-Kaczmarczyk, and software engineer Sophie Keith were featured.

Though geared toward amplifying women and underrepresented gender identities, the event was open to all. Women in Sports Data encourages people of all identities to attend and learn from its speakers and workshops. And while hosted at a ballpark, all major sports were represented among panelists and participants.

“Events like this have really helped me form those networks,” Donaldson said.

The Phillies and the Milwaukee Brewers also sponsored travel and lodging for a limited number of fellows, selected through an application process, to attend the conference.

In addition to panels, “technical talks” that offered in-depth presentations on a specific topic, and networking opportunities, the symposium also offered a glimpse into the future of sports analytics with its Hackathon competition.

Saturday marked the final stage of a six-week competition. Participants, who were all women or nonbinary individuals not previously employed in professional sports, used NBA tracking data to build application prototypes intended for use by a front office or coaching staff. The top three teams were invited to present their work at Citizens Bank Park in front of peers and leading figures in the industry.

Emma Ritcey, a former basketball player at Queen’s University in Canada, created an app that analyzes how NBA teams attack in transition. Shaye O’Beirne’s app visualizes court spacing during possessions and breaks down how spacing can impact shot outcomes. Finally, the team of Yexin Cao and Joey Gao analyzed NBA player combinations to provide coaches with lineup construction recommendations.