Careers in Maths

What’s your dream? Have you ever thought of launching a startup company, reaching millions of users with a new app or saving lives with a miracle discovery in medicine? You can make it happen by choosing maths.

Mathematics is an essential in the 21st century workforce and it’s your doorway to nearly every industry.

More than crunching numbers, maths is the language that allows you to solve the problems of tomorrow, innovate new technology and lead scientific discoveries. So if you’re still wondering where on earth you’ll ever use maths, don’t! Start getting ready for the extraordinary. Some of the biggest challenges for future generations are still to come and the solution is maths!

Shape our Future Athletes

Sport is a numbers game. From optimising performance to game strategy, doing the maths to get that big will is always front and centre.

With TV broadcasting deals and sponsorships at play, sport is big business and the demand on players and coaches has never been greater. Finding the winning edge with data and strategic game play is essential. It’s estimated that the sports analytics market is expected to reach almost $4 billion by 2022 and it shows no signs of slowing over the next decade.

Watch a football game and the statistics will come thick and fast. Goals scored, kicks, patterns of play and even betting odds. Behind the scenes a team of analysts is mining this information for a golden ticket to triumph. Helping the players stay ahead with the next best move.

Wearable sports technology grabbed headlines in 2010 when FINA decided to ban high tech swimsuits. Since then wearables in the form of clothing, technology to analyse body performance data and even high-tech footwear have been a hot topic and a growing industry. Maths and stats are used at every step from Research and Development to performance analysis and even marketing.

The sporting industry will continue to grow and mathematics and statistics graduates will be at the heart of every sports team, across every code, around the world.

Jess Tavrou – Football Analyst, Hawthorn Football Club

A week can be a long time in footy. And every week I’m part of the team using statistics to build a game plan for Hawthorn. From team selection, player rotations, match ups or formations, we analyse every team in the competition to identify patterns and strategies that might offer insight into how to approach the match.

What I wanted to be when I grew up changed a lot as a teenager. My mother was an accountant, and she’d give us maths problems on long car trips or would get me involved in balancing the books for dad’s building business.

Choose maths

Sport has always been a big part of my life. I was the type of kid that often found it difficult to concentrate in a classroom environment and craved sport, music and outdoor education. A teacher in high school inspired me to study engineering and would relate my specialist maths questions to sport. It was a brilliant way to keep me interested and help me understand difficult concepts.

I started studying a Bachelor of Product Design Engineering, but sport was calling me. I completed a Bachelor of Sports Engineering at Victoria University and eventually followed it up with a Master of Football Analytics.

Becoming a sports analyst means having a genuine interest in the sport, not just the team. Work on your ability to put yourself in the minds of players, and coaches – then swap to an objective viewpoint. Be prepared to do internships, have ideas for your own projects and to learn a coding language.

When I get some time away from the club, I enjoy playing music and watching sport (surprise). I also coach my partner’s basketball team. I’m sure he loves having his scoring efficiency recited to him at every timeout!

Jess’ Career Path

Bachelor of Product Design Engineering

Bachelor of Sports Engineering

Master of Football Analytics