Kids Wear GPS Trackers At Soccer. Then They Learn To Code With Their Own Stats.

Most kids finish soccer practice with grass stains and a water bottle. In one Tennessee program, they finish with a spreadsheet.

The program is called footyLab, and it is run by a Knoxville startup named DataRook. Students in grades 5 through 8 wear small GPS trackers while they play soccer. Then they head inside, load up the data, and learn the Python programming language by studying how they played.

How far did you run? When were you fastest? Where on the field did you spend most of your time? The answers are in the numbers, and the students are the ones who find them.

On September 29, 2026, DataRook founder Gustavo Alvarez-Suchini pitched the business at 865 Fest, a startup event in Knoxville. The crowd voted it the winner of the $5,000 Crowd Favorite prize.

"As a soccer parent, that one has my attention," wrote Leslie Bateman in her report for Inside of Knoxville.

Here is how footyLab works, how it started, and how you can try your own sports data project.

footyLab mixes three things that usually live in different parts of a school day: sports, science, and coding.

Here is the basic loop:

1. Play. Students wear GPS trackers during a real soccer game.
2. Collect. The trackers record where each player moved and how fast.
3. Analyze. Back in the classroom, students write simple Python code to sort, count, and chart their own data.
4. Tell the story. They explain what the numbers say about how they played.

That last step matters. Data science is not only math. It is turning numbers into a story someone else can understand.

Because the data is about the student's own body and own game, it feels personal. You are not solving a made-up word problem about trains. You are figuring out why you got tired in the second half.

Gustavo Alvarez-Suchini, who goes by Gus, did not start in business. He started in science.

According to Teknovation, a Knoxville business news site, Gus spent three years designing classroom lab kits at a company called Flinn Scientific. "I really liked Bill Nye growing up," he said.

Later, he moved to Knoxville to study physics at the University of Tennessee. Along the way, he learned something that surprised him. Top professional soccer clubs like Liverpool and Arsenal had started hiring physicists and statisticians to build math models for scouting and tactics.

"They were using high school-level physics and machine learning," he said. "It blew my mind."

Gus became the first data analyst for a local club, One Knoxville SC. At the same time, he was coaching a youth soccer team. That is when the big question hit him:

"What if kids could learn coding and data science through the sport they already loved?"

This part is a great lesson for any young founder. Gus did not build a giant company first. He tested small.

Step 1: Try it with people you know. Gus bought the equipment himself and tested it with the kids on the team he coached.

Step 2: Offer a free pilot. After some early success, he offered the program for free to nonprofits. His first outside clinic ran for five weeks at Girls Inc. in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. "The kids absolutely loved it, and it validated the idea," he said.

Step 3: Get a name and a partner. Out of that pilot came the name DataRook, a nod to sports "rookies" and to learning something new. A cloud database expert, Derek Downey, heard about it and joined as chief technology officer.

Step 4: Pick one focus. The team chose to stick with soccer for now, because it is full of data, has lots of different game situations, and is easy for almost anyone to play.

Step 5: Find more partners. Teknovation reported that DataRook has worked with Tate's School and several Boys & Girls Club locations.

Notice the pattern: test with a few people, prove it works, then grow. You can do the same with any idea.

Gus has a word for what is missing from a lot of STEM lessons: relevance.

"For a lot of students, STEM isn't engaging or relevant right now," he told Teknovation. "If they're only doing problems on paper, then where's the fun? Where's the application?"

This is a useful idea for young business builders too. People pay attention when something connects to what they already care about. footyLab works because kids already love soccer. The coding comes along for the ride.

If you are thinking about a business or club idea, ask yourself: what do people around me already love? Video games, skateboarding, baking, music, pets? Your idea will be easier to share if it plugs into something people already enjoy.

If you want a simple way to map your idea, the kids learning guides on Foundra walk through picking a problem, a customer, and a first test.

Data skills are not just for sports.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that jobs for data scientists will grow about 33.5% from 2024 to 2034, according to GeneOnline's report on the projections. That makes it one of the fastest-growing jobs in the country.

Data scientists work in health care, music streaming, weather, video games, shopping, and of course, sports. They all do the same basic thing: collect information, look for patterns, and explain what they found.

The good news is you can start practicing now with free tools. A spreadsheet is a great first step. Python is a popular next step because it is free and used by beginners and professionals alike.

You do not need GPS trackers to try this. You need a sport you like, a stopwatch or phone timer, a notebook, and an adult helper.

1. Pick one question. For example: "Do I sprint faster at the start of practice or the end?"

2. Collect data. Time yourself running the same distance three times at the start of practice and three times at the end. Write every time down.

3. Put it in a spreadsheet. Make two columns: "Start" and "End." Type in your times.

4. Find the average. Add up each column and divide by three. Most spreadsheets can do this with an AVERAGE formula.

5. Make a chart. Use a simple bar chart to compare the two averages.

6. Tell the story. Write two sentences: what you found, and what you think caused it.

Want to level up? Ask an adult to help you install Python or use a free online Python notebook, and try reading your spreadsheet with a few lines of code.

Bonus business idea: once you know how, you could offer to make simple stat sheets for a younger sibling's team, with a coach's and parents' permission.

Privacy note: location data from GPS watches or phones shows where you go. Keep it private, do not post it online, and let an adult help manage any apps that track you.

DataRook's story shows a few habits that work at any age:

1. Combine two things you know. Gus mixed physics and soccer. What two things do you know well?
2. Test with real people first. His own team came before any big launch.
3. Free pilots can prove an idea. The Girls Inc. clinic showed it worked.
4. Focus beats doing everything. Soccer only, for now.
5. Make it relevant. People learn and buy when it connects to what they love.

865 Fest also featured a student pitch competition, won by a hot mustard brand a college student started at age 9. Big ideas often start small.

What is footyLab? footyLab is a DataRook program that teaches students in grades 5 through 8 data science and Python using GPS data from their own soccer games.

What did DataRook win? It won the $5,000 Crowd Favorite prize at 865 Fest in Knoxville, Tennessee, on September 29, 2026.

Do I need special equipment to try sports data science? No. A stopwatch, a notebook, and a free spreadsheet are enough to start.

Is Python hard for kids to learn? Python is one of the most common first programming languages because its code is easy to read. Start with small tasks like averaging numbers.

Is it safe to use GPS trackers? GPS data shows where you are, so keep it private and have an adult manage any tracking apps or accounts.

1. Hot Mustard to High Tech: A Vicarious Report from 865 Fest, Inside of Knoxville, October 2, 2026
2. DataRook emerges as a gateway to STEM education through soccer, Teknovation.biz, April 28, 2025
3. Data Scientist Employment in the US Projected to Grow 33.5 Percent from 2024 to 2034, GeneOnline (reporting BLS projections)
4. Bold flavor, big prize: 865 Fest Emerging Entrepreneur Pitch Competition, Teknovation.biz, September 29, 2026