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Hudl vs VolleyMetrics
tl:dr
Performance analysis platforms, like Hudl and VolleyMetrics, are great because players and coaches have immediate access to the match video and stats as they live online
I decided to use Hudl over VolleyMetrics for the England Team because I thought players would value stats being hyperlinked to video in Hudl rather than more detailed stats in VolleyMetrics. The other advantage of using Hudl is most players are already on Hudl and I didn’t need to compress the match video before uploading it. If I didn’t have DataVolley, I probably would have chosen VolleyMetrics though.
The ideal performance analysis platform would be DataVolley but online. It has the custom stats and reports that I want since I coded the match myself and I already built the custom reports, but it is online so players and coaches have immediate access to them. The only downside is you can’t send the video for somebody else to tag the video using your custom stats.
Performance Analysis Platforms
DataVolley is great because you can code a lot of data. However, the big downside to DataVolley is the data lives on my laptop. If coaches or players need any specific stat reports or video clips, they have to go through me. If I am away from my laptop, it could be a while before I can give them that specific stat report or video clip. This is where a performance analysis platform, like Hudl and VolleyMetrics, is great. The stats and video lives online so the players and coaches have immediate access to them. They can do their own analysis in their own time without needing to go through me.
The England Senior Men’s National Team has access to both Hudl and VolleyMetrics and I had the option to use either of them. I wanted to choose one platform for the team to use for the Novotel Cup. After trying them both out, I decided to go with Hudl. I did briefly explain why in my fter trying them both out, I decided to go with Hudl. I did briefly explain why in my England reflection post, but I wanted to further explain why. , but I wanted to further explain why.
VolleyMetrics vs Hudl
Level of StatsVolleyMetrics has much more detailed stats compared to Hudl. Hudl has NCAA-style stats, which are quite limiting. I am not a fan of the Block Assist, because both players in a blocking unit get credited with a Block Assist despite only one player getting the block kill. I’m also not a fan of the Assist system, because I didn’t like the fact that a great setter could have a lower Assist percentage if they are on a team with below-average attackers. I also have a slight issue that Hudl tags digs but not missed digs/ dig errors. This is because the only performance indicator you can calculate is digs per set and I don’t like using per-set averages as a performance indicator. Digs per set can be misleading because a player could have a high digs per set average simply dig they had the most opportunities to defend.
When I looked at the VolleyMetrics stats page, I could see they grade passing on a 4-point scale rather than a 3-point scale. This was nice. They also code missed digs so they can calculate a Dig %. I thought that was it really. However, upon closer expectation post-Novotel Cup, I can see a lot more stats coded that aren’t seen. They grade each technical skill and they even code attack combinations. It’s pretty much at the level that I code at with DataVolley.
Names of Opposition PlayersThe only information you input in Hudl for the opposition team is the shirt numbers of the players on the team list. This means the stats of the opposition players are under their shirt numbers rather than their names. This isn’t the end of the world but you would much prefer to have names with the shirt numbers. You can get opposition player names but only if the opposition team are registered on Hudl and the shirt numbers and corresponding names are correct. This would unlikely be the case with the England team. In VolleyMetrics, you do get opposition player names because you have to upload a scoresheet before it gets tagged.
Level of Data AccuracyI would also assume by uploading a scoresheet in VolleyMetrics, you get more accurate stats with VolleyMetrics compared to Hudl (click here why the scoresheet is important). VolleyMetrics does tag the starting line-up, which probably helps to avoid errors in tagging players who are not on the court. I had a recent match tagged by Hudl and the libero got tagged as having 2 kills in 3 attack attempts. Of course, this wouldn’t be possible.
Stat ReportsWith the level of stats that VolleyMetrics tags, they can produce a detailed stat report. It covers all the skills in great detail. You can see below for an example of England’s stats at the Novotel Cup in early 2023. You don’t get that with Hudl, as it only shows their basic stats.
Stats Hyperlinked to VideoThe big advantage that Hudl has over VolleyMetrics is their stats page is hyperlinked to the video. So if you click on Player X’s 10 kills, it will take you to a playlist of those 10 kills. This is valuable feedback because it can give you insight into how Player X kills best. You can’t do that in VolleyMetrics. You can get around that by going into the match video itself and filtering those options (Player X, kills). However, you want to make it as user-friendly as possible for players and coaches so the hyperlinked stats is great. Also, if you want to view kills from several matches, you can easily do that with Hudl’s hyperlinked stats. In VolleyMetrics, you have to go into each separate video and filter the stats each time if you want to do that.
Navigating the PlatformSince most England players were already on Hudl, as part of their Super League deal with Volleyball England, it should be an easier learning curve to navigate the platform. They already set up a profile so that’s half the job done there.
Video Upload SizeOn VolleyMetrics, you have to compress the match video file to under 3GB before you can upload it. I did find that quite annoying because I had to run it through Adobe Premiere Pro, wait 40+ minutes for the video to export, and then remember to upload the video to VolleyMetrics. I much prefer to upload it straight away, like in Hudl, and then focus on other things.
Choosing Hudl
The deciding factor in choosing Hudl over VolleyMetrics was I thought the England players would value having the stats hyperlinked to the video in Hudl more than having detailed stats in VolleyMetrics. If they wanted specific stats then I am still on hand to give them those stats. I also thought having players on the Hudl platform already was a benefit and not having to compress the match video was a personal benefit too.
This choice is for the purposes of the England team as their Performance Analyst. I think if I didn’t have access to DataVolley, I would probably go with VolleyMetrics for the better stats.
DataVolley Online
A massive disadvantage to Hudl and VolleyMetrics is the stats are not defined how I want them to be defined. For example, Hudl tags all downballs as attack attempts, which I don’t agree with. The other massive disadvantage is you can’t customise your reports. For example, I want to have point-scoring stats with a Point-Scoring Efficiency %performance indicator, as it is the skill most critical to winning sets in volleyball (see link).
What would be an ideal performance analysis platform is it has the stats I want them to be defined, custom reports, stats hyperlinked to video clips that are online so players and coaches have immediate access to them. I briefly considered Science Untangled, another performance analysis platform built by Ben Raymond. It has the stats I want because you actually upload your own DataVolley (.dvw) scout file so it’s your stats. It also has a bunch of different analysis reports you can run and a video analysis app, where you can filter clips. The disadvantage is you can’t customise your reports and stats are not hyperlinked to video.
This led me to think that what would be best is if you had DataVolley but it was online. It has everything I want it to have. It has the stats I defined (since I coded them myself) and stat reports I want (since I already built them). It should also have stats that are hyperlinked to video clips, which players and coaches can access as they live online. The one disadvantage is you can’t get somebody else to tag the matches, like you can with Hudl and VolleyMetrics, using your custom stats.
Final Thoughts
For the purposes of the England team, I did go with Hudl because I do think players and coaches would value having stats hyperlinked to video more than detailed stats. If I didn’t have DataVolley then I think I would have chosen VolleyMetrics for their better analytics.
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