How Orreco is Pioneering Athlete Health with Data Science and Innovation
Athletes today are under more pressure than ever to perform at the highest levels, and the competition is fierce.
Behind the scenes, Orreco is revolutionizing how health, performance, and recovery are managed through cutting-edge technology. Recently, we sat down with Nick Sprague, Vice President, Business Development and Legal, and Colin Morrissey, VP of Sales and Marketing, to learn how their innovative platform is transforming the sports world and some of the exciting things they’re tackling in SportsTech.
Founded with a mission to help athletes optimize their performance and extend their careers, Orreco leverages a unique combination of biomarker testing, machine learning, and wearable data. But what sets them apart is their data-driven approach to understanding an athlete’s needs, tailoring everything from training schedules to recovery plans with unprecedented accuracy.
Orreco’s Core Services and Impact on Athlete Performance
Orreco’s platform is comprised of three key products that have garnered attention from some of the world’s most prominent sports teams and leagues. The first is their biomarker service, Zone (https://www.orreco.com/products/zone), which objectively measures recovery status of athletes in real-time. This data, when combined with subjective athlete input and wearable tech data like GPS and sleep tracking, gives precise, actionable recommendations to maximize performance.
The second area of focus is female athlete health, where Orreco is leading the way. The company developed FitrWoman, a platform designed specifically to help female athletes understand how hormonal fluctuations throughout the menstrual cycle impact performance, training, and recovery. This innovation has become the gold standard in the field, with over 250 professional teams worldwide using Orreco’s solution to optimize female athletes’ health.
Lastly, Motion Signal, Orreco’s latest product, uses advanced optical tracking data to create real-time movement patterns for athletes. This groundbreaking tool can assess injury risk by comparing an athlete’s movements with their typical patterns, offering invaluable insights to coaches and medical teams for injury prevention and optimized training.
Collaborating with Elite Athletes and Teams
Orreco’s success is evident through its work with some of the top teams and leagues globally. From the English Premier League to Major League Soccer and the NBA, Orreco’s platform is deployed to ensure that athletes stay healthy, avoid injuries, and maintain peak performance levels. One standout example is Orreco’s collaboration with the English FA Women’s National Team (soccer), where their innovative solutions have played a role in improving recovery and performance.
Another success story comes from the Orlando City Soccer Club, which has seen significant success leveraging Orreco’s technology to keep players available for games. Their data-driven approach to tracking player health and recovery status has led to impressive results, including a consistent top-tier performance in the league.
It’s an amazing story of how player availability drives results in terms of points accumulation. Orlando is fourth in Major League Soccer over the last three seasons, and total points accumulated, and a huge part of their success has been having their players available for the matches.” – Nick Sprague
The Future of Sports Technology: Data and Personalization
Looking ahead, Orreco is excited about the future of personalized data and its potential to impact the sports tech space. With their integration into major global leagues and continued focus on innovation, they are laying the groundwork for the next generation of athlete performance solutions. One area that Orreco is closely monitoring is the increasing use of optical tracking in stadiums and arenas, with data now available to help prevent injuries before they even occur.
As the sports industry continues to evolve, Orreco remains at the forefront, driving new insights into the health and performance of athletes across the globe.
Read our full interview to see Orreco’s vision and initiatives that are revolutionizing athlete performance.
Taylor Pipes – Boomtown:
So, yeah, to jump in, I’m really curious to hear what was the inspiration behind launching Orreco? Was there a particular moment that sparked the creation of the company?
Nick Sprague:
Orreco is unique because it was custom-built around the leading experts in biomarker interpretation in sports. Our founder, Dr. Brian Moore, brought together this team to answer very specific questions: why do some athletes respond better than others to training and competition stimuli? What can biomarkers tell us that would help prolong athletes’ careers and allow them to perform at their best? If you look at how the company has evolved, we’ve never lost that core focus on how to make athletes the best they can be while extracting the most information from available data, old and new, as sport professionalizes and progresses.
Taylor Pipes:
Can you touch on how your platform combines machine learning, blood biomarkers, and wearable data? What exactly does Orreco’s platform do?
Nick Sprague:
Yes, Orreco today offers three key products. Our first is our biomarkers service, which uses biomarkers to objectively measure the recovery status of athletes. This is paired with data from wearables and subjective information provided by athletes themselves to give precise, personalized recommendations on how athletes should eat, sleep, train, and recover. This service is the most widely available and is deployed among the best leagues and teams worldwide, with the English Premier League being our largest market. The second service we offer is focused on female athlete health. Orreco was the first company to dive into understanding how the menstrual cycle affects female athlete performance. Our FitrWoman platform helps athletes understand how to eat, train, and recover during each phase of their cycle, where hormonal fluctuations may vary dramatically. This platform is a game-changer for elite female athletes and is used by over 250 teams worldwide. The third product is Motion Signal, which uses optical tracking data from camera systems to assess individual movement patterns. This helps coaches and teams understand how an athlete moves in real-time versus their usual patterns, offering valuable insights into injury risks and how best to train or rehab them.
Taylor Pipes:
You mentioned the Premier League earlier. What about other athletes, leagues, or teams? Can you share examples where your technology has elevated a team’s performance or helped an athlete reach their peak?
Colin Morrissey:
We have a few examples, Nick, that I can touch on. On the female athlete side, with the FitrWoman and Fitr Coach platforms, we’ve worked with the England Women’s National Soccer Team, the Lionesses. They are the current European champions, and we’ve supported them for about five years. We’ve worked with their senior team as well as pathway teams, helping them integrate our technology and science insights. In the U.S., we’ve collaborated with USA Swimming over multiple Olympic cycles. They’ve had success in Tokyo and Paris. We’ve worked with athletes like Allison Schmidt, a 10-time Olympic medalist, who is now part of our team since retiring.
In the Premier League, Newcastle United has been another long-term partner. We’ve worked with them for years, integrating multiple services from Orreco.
Nick Sprague:
We also serve teams across Major League Soccer, the NBA, NFL, and NHL. On the women’s side, we work with teams in the NWSL and WSL in the UK, where we have a significant presence. One of our standout clients in MLS is Orlando City. They’ve been with us since 2022, and their player availability is a key part of their success. They’ve maintained a 97% player availability rate over the past two seasons, which has contributed to their strong performance. We also worked with Uruguay’s national soccer team in 2022, where we were embedded as the only external vendor during their World Cup lead-up, providing critical insights that helped them optimize their roster.
Taylor Pipes:
Wow, those are some fantastic examples! How do you think about collaboration within your team, especially when it comes to personalization for athletes? What sets Orreco apart in this competitive space?
Nick Sprague:
The Orreco team is extraordinary because we started with a niche focus and have expanded with a clear client-centric mindset. Our expertise is holistic, combining sports science, nutrition, biomechanics, movement science, and sports medicine. We have a deep scientific understanding, which is essential for translating data into actionable insights. From the beginning, we’ve built a team capable of applying this scientific knowledge practically. This focus on client success, alongside our multi-disciplinary approach, is what makes Orreco unique.
Taylor Pipes:
Orreco has seen tremendous success in the industry. I’m curious what inspired you to apply to the Comcast SportsTech program, and how do you think it will benefit Orreco’s growth?
Nick Sprague:
Comcast is one of the biggest stakeholders in global sports. Their investments and influence align closely with where Orreco is growing, especially in the Premier League, NBA, NFL, and other major leagues. It made sense for us to apply to the program, as Comcast’s influence in these spaces is unmatched. We’re excited to leverage their platform and expand our network of partners and clients, particularly in the U.S.
Taylor Pipes:
It’s been exciting to see how companies like yours have evolved. What’s your impression of the program so far?
Nick Sprague:
We’ve been incredibly impressed with the caliber of the companies in this cohort and the synergies we’ve been able to identify. Comcast’s program is not like a typical accelerator. It’s a platform that fosters genuine collaboration and creates meaningful dialogues between companies and Comcast stakeholders. The resources provided have already opened up new opportunities for us, and we’re excited to see how we can continue to build on that.
Taylor Pipes:
Do you follow any sports outside of your work? How has working at Orreco changed the way you engage with sports?
Nick Sprague:
I’ve always been a huge sports fan. The work we do at Orreco has deepened my understanding of how teams operate and how data science is transforming the sport. It’s fascinating to see how science and technology are improving performance at all levels, and my perspective has shifted from just loving the game to understanding the systems behind it.
Colin Morrissey:
I’ve always loved soccer, and working at Orreco has given me a greater appreciation for the science behind the game. It’s been incredible to see how technology is helping athletes improve and preventing injuries, which can be game-changers for teams.
Taylor Pipes:
Thank you both for your time today. It’s been fantastic hearing about the work Orreco is doing, and I’m excited to see how it will continue to innovate in the future!