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A Guide to Recording Volleyball Stats Using the Pen-and-Paper Method
Introduction
Volleyball statistics is great because you can use that objective data to make informed decisions to enhance performance (read more on why we need volleyball statistics and how volleyball statistics can help you). Using the pen-and-paper method is a great entry-level way to record volleyball statistics. It is cheap and easy to use. However, there are a few things you need to know before you get started. I have written this guide to guide you in recording volleyball stats using the pen and paper method.
Preparation
* | Before you start, you need to understand the terminology in volleyball statistics. For example, you would need to understand the difference between a “pass” and a “dig”, and understand what constitutes an “attack attempt” (it’s not as simple as somebody spiking the ball). This will give you an overview of what can be done and perhaps what you need. You can read a basic guide here or what stats I collect on this link here.
* | This is a decision that will affect all other decisions. Recording in real-time has the advantage that you have immediate stats to make immediate informed decisions to enhance performance. The disadvantage is you are put under a tremendous time constraint to record that data in real time. This is because the time you are physically looking at the paper to record data is time you are not looking at potentially recordable actions. Recording in real-time has the advantage that you have immediate stats to make immediate informed decisions to enhance performance. The disadvantage is you are put under a tremendous time constraint to record that data in real time. This is because the time you are physically looking at the paper to record data is time you are not looking at potentially recordable actions. If you are recording from a match video, you don’t have that time constraint (as you can pause the video) so you can record more data. However, depending on how much data you want to record, it would require an additional 2-5 hours to record that data after the match. This is time you may not want to commit to. If you are recording from a match video, you don’t have that time constraint (as you can pause the video) so you can record more data. However, depending on how much data you want to record, it would require an additional 2-5 hours to record that data after the match. This is time you may not want to commit to.
* | You want to strike a balance between the stats you want to record and how much you physically record (if in real-time) or want to record (if from match video). A few guiding questions are:
You probably need to prioritise what technical skills you want to measure and then see how much of them you can record. You may decide passing and attack stats are critical to you so may only have time to record those stats.
Do you want to grade the technical skill? If you decide you are going to record passing stats, do you want to record the outcome as error and continuation or do you want to grade the passing on six grading levels? This does require a greater understanding of the terminology (e.g. knowing the difference between a perfect and positive pass) and extra time to record that data.
This would give a better overview of the match and it would be useful to have data on the opposition if you face the team again later in the season. However, this would also take more time to record the data.
Performance indicators normalise data into percentages, ratios or per set/ match averages. This is so it creates a level playing field so we can understand and compare the differing levels of performance. However, specific performance indicators require specific data to be recorded. For example, you need to record the outcome every attack attempt (kill, attack zero, attack error) if you want to calculate a Hitting Percentage (H% = (Kills – Attack Errors)/ Total Attack Attempts). Click on this link for the advantages and disadvantages of using performance indicators commonly used in volleyball.
Who is recording the data? If you are recording the data yourself as the Head Coach, you may want to limit the data you record because it will be hard to concentrate on the match itself if you are busy recording data. It is best if an Assistant Coach or a Scout can do it for you. You can get the bench players to do it but they may not be consistent in recording the data.
* | There are numerous versions out there that you can use if you Google it. You may even want to create your own version that is tailored to your needs. Below are two different versions that you can download to use for yourself.
* | This is the minimum equipment needed to stat manually. You can print several stat sheets in case you make a mistake. You may want to bring a spare pen too.
Before the Match
* | This would be basic information such as date, time, competition, teams playing and players’ shirt number/ name. There are several ways you can write down the player’s list. The first could simply be in numerical order according to shirt numbers. You can also be done with the starting players at the top and bench players at the bottom. Or it could be arranged by position, e.g. so you can find the passers quickly. You may want to put the libero at the bottom players list to make it easier to find. You may need to play around with this so you find the best way for you.
* | This will help you avoid statting any of these actions to the libero.
* | Manual statting in real time is actually quite stressful, especially if you are a beginner. The more data you are attempting to record, the more focused you’ll need to be.
During the Match
* | When you observe a recordable action, you need to record this on the volleyball stat sheet. My stat sheet uses tally marks, i.e. line counting that you cross in multiples of 5. Other stat sheets use symbols to record the data, e.g. a ● is a kill, a ○ is an attack zero and a Ø is an attack error. Find what is best for you.
* | Observing recordable actions will come a lot quicker than you might think. You might get flustered or panicked because you missed the last recordable action, you get a little brain fog and before you know it, the rally has ended and you have only recorded the first recordable action. The brain fog may even bleed into the next rally. So it is best to stay calm and focused.
* | In the small period when you look at your stat sheet to record an action and when you look back up, you may have already missed some recordable actions. There’s not much you can do except to forget it and record the next action. You must try and record all point-ending actions though.
* | If you have somebody nearby, e.g. bench players or Assistant Coach, then you can simply ask them what happened if you missed something, e.g. “Who got the block kill?”
* | The big benefit of recording data in real-time is you can make informed decisions in real-time to enhance performance. For example, you might see your outside hitter is not passing well. With other information you will have at hand, you have many options to make changes. You may make a straight substitution. This will also give the bench player some game time. You can take the outside hitter out of the pass and put in the opposite to pass. You may even go four passers. This could be the case if the outside hitter is still attacking very well or you know you don’t really have another good passer on the bench. Or you may not make a change at all. You may know from previous stats that the outside hitter is one of your best passers and it’s still early in the match for their stats to go back up towards their regular performance level (regression to the mean).
After the Match
* | Take a look at what you recorded. Some things you can check are:
Obviously, a player can’t have any stats if they didn’t play.
Obviously, this can’t happen.
The players in the passing unit should have the majority of the passing stats. If a middle player has a lot of passing stats then something went wrong somewhere.
If you record data on the opposition team then there are further stat accuracy checks you can do, although it will depend on what stats you record and how it’s defined. Some examples can be seen below. Click on this link for more stat accuracy checks.
Unfortunately, if you spot any of these errors then there’s not much you can do to fix it. You just have to see if there are patterns in the errors and then think about how you can avoid making those errors. For example, I found myself recording one row below or one column over so I coloured the rows and columns to help combat that.
* | Tally up the totals for every action. You may also want to tally the total attempts for every technical skill and the points won (Pts = Kills + Aces + Block Kills) and points lost (the sum of all errors).
* | This will obviously depend on what data you recorded. A common one is a hitting percentage (H% = (Kills – Attack Errors)/ Total Attack Attempts) and a Points Won-Lost Differential (= Points Won/ Points Lost). For a list of common performance indicators used in volleyball and its calculation, click on this link.
Analysis
* | Review the data and compare it against your own observations, e.g. a player you subbed out because you thought was passing badly could have been passing really well. This is best done after the match as the match is still fresh in your mind.
* | You should compile all the match stats so you have a better understanding of the performance level of the players and team for the season to date. It should also give you insight into many decisions to enhance performance, e.g. who you should start? If you should convert players into another position? Guiding you on playing systems? Click on this link to read more ways on how I have used stats to enhance performance. I would highly recommend you compile the stats on a spreadsheet like Google Sheets. It has the added advantage you can automatically sum up the totals and calculate the performance indicators with the use of formulas.
* | Think about ways the recording process can get more efficient. You could fill out the match details the night before. This could be redesigning the stat sheet to make it easier to record stats. You could also expand or limit what you record depending on how efficient you are.
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