In the movie Moneyball, based on Michael Lewis鈥檚 book of the same name, Jonah Hill鈥檚 character, assistant general manager Peter Brand, uses his obsession with sports statistics to help turn the moribund Oakland A鈥檚 into a winning Major League Baseball club.
At one point Brand explains how crunching the numbers works to build a team: 鈥淚t鈥檚 about getting things down to one number. Using the stats the way we read them, we鈥檒l find value in players that no one else can see.鈥�
Vancouver鈥檚 high school basketball scene has its very own Peter Brand in Eric Hamber secondary鈥檚 Sean Wu 鈥� an 18-year-old basketball statistics prodigy.
Wu has been on the sidelines of the Hamber senior girls team, the Griffins, for two years, but his work has been front and centre for coach Jill Polukoshko and her players.
Wu collects the raw data from the game, logs and analyzes the information and then presents Polukoshko with suggestions for improved performance. He does it all for fun, on his own time.
Polukoshko credits Sean鈥檚 work last year with helping her Tier 1 Griffins finish second in the 麻豆传媒映画City League and third in the city championships.
This year, the team sits at seventh in the league, but Wu remains dedicated to helping them improve.
From the numbers he collected, Wu gave Polukoshko tips on the four things the team has to work on to win more games: turnovers, free throws, offensive rebounds and effective shooting percentages.
For each player, he provides a breakdown of strengths and areas for improvement.
He also compiles fun stats such as how far the team has travelled and how individual player stats compare to players in the NBA.
One of the girls had more rebounds in a season than Brooklyn Nets power forward Kevin Garnett.
Each player gets a copy of her spreadsheets, which are also posted on the team鈥檚 Facebook page.
鈥淭he girls love it,鈥� said Polukoshko.
Wu doesn鈥檛 just crunch the numbers to help his own school鈥檚 team. For the Midtown Showdown tourney held at Hamber last month, he designed the program 鈥� full of stats and interesting quick facts 鈥� and compiled numbers for each of the 16 teams.
Wu was at each game, pounding on his laptop. He also kept tabs on the top scorers in the tournament, writing details on whiteboards behind the two team benches. In addition to being good with numbers, Wu can also recall names easily and, told once, he referred to the players by their first names the rest of the tournament.
鈥淎ll of the coaches were just flipping out,鈥� Polukoshko said. Many approached her and commented on how much Wu is like the Hill character in Moneyball.
Wu is aware of the similarities.
鈥淚t is my favourite movie of all time,鈥� he said, adding that just like Peter Brand, he also doesn鈥檛 actually play the sports he compiles the stats for. Like Brand, he is brains over brawn.
Wu introduced his friend Bob Zhang, 17, to both the movie and the joy of statistics. Wu taught Zhang his process for logging and compiling the data and then Zhang helped Wu on the sidelines at the Showdown.
Both Zhang and coach Polukoshko said Wu always seems happy no matter how long he鈥檚 been courtside crunching numbers. 听
At the Showdown, both teens were at the tourney from morning until night for three days.
鈥淭he saying goes, 鈥榠f you enjoy what you do, you never work a day in your life鈥� and I think that really applies to him. He really enjoys what he does so he doesn鈥檛 think of it as tiring or work,鈥� Zhang said.
Wu鈥檚 interest in sports stats began in Grade 3 when he moved to 麻豆传媒映画from Taiwan. He started with hockey stats and then branched off to baseball and basketball.
Wu also created a blog on sports statistics in Grade 10 (), which was picked up by American sports blog .
Wu posts stories on various topics, such as fantasy football picks and the chances of success of the Slovakian hockey team, all based on the stats he compiled.
He admits it鈥檚 not always easy to find the time for all the other commitments in his life.
鈥淚 do kind of slack off on my school work,鈥� he said.
His grade average is currently at 90 per cent.
Wu鈥檚 father, Charles Wu, admitted it鈥檚 been hard to support the time and effort his only child puts into stats outside of school, but he's warming to the activity.
鈥淲e want him to do something great, but I think the reason we brought him here 10 years back is we would like him to have an education which is more liberal and an environment which can give him diversified knowledge of culture, so, we let him be,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e tell him that as long as you can keep up with your school work, that is OK.鈥�
Charles Wu said he and his wife had no idea of their son鈥檚 aptitude for statistics until a few years ago, but they did notice he had a knack for memorization.
Charles recalled when his son was two or three years old, he was given a book of the world鈥檚 flags and memorized them all on his own in a couple of days, surprising both his parents.
Because Wu is graduating this year he鈥檚 recruited a Grade 9 prot茅g茅 Brandon Chou to take over keeping the stats for the girls team after he leaves.
Polukoshko said Wu leaving will be a big loss not only for her team, but also for Hamber, where he has become a part of the school鈥檚 fabric.
Wu plans to attend the University of B.C. after graduation, and eventually become a sportswriter.
