Data Volley/ UK School Games 2012 Learning Experiences

This is a belated blog post but I did want to cover my learning experiences at the UK School Games back in May 2012.  This was the first opportunity to use Data Volley software system since I first learnt about it in March 2011 (see link). So what did I learn from this experience outside learning how to use Data Volley and the two-person system they employed? 

1. Compounded learningI was prepared for a baptism of fire type learning experience because I have never used Data Volley before or been a part of a two-person system.  However, I found it was much easier than I thought.  By the end of the first match, I was almost able to code the whole match without the help of the caller.  This was because I already had similar previous experience of real-time data collection with Team South Wales and UWIC Archers.  I applied some of the strategies I developed then to this situation, e.g. knowing who the receivers are before serve.  I just had to learn the different codes for Data Volley.   This is an adjustment of my belief that skills are not directly transferable.  

2. Improving other practicesThe protocol for the caller was, “team, shirt number, action, outcome.”  This was the sequence that had to be entered in Data Volley.  I thought this was a good tagline to standardised the teaching of others.  I used this system when hand notating at the All Nations Volleyball Tournament.  It helped minimise errors such as hand notating the right player and action outcome but to the wrong team.  I also used this tagline to teach the other statisticians, which I thought was of great benefit.  

This is another great learning experience that has improved my work practices.