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Hyderabad Black Hawks 2024 | End of Season Reflection
tl:dr
I had a great experience with the Hyderabad Black Hawks, despite finishing last in the Prime Volleyball League
I learnt a number of things, such as it was non-stop work, how to add value to the team, the need to compress match videos, the pain but pleasure of editing a motivational video, the implications of a unique match format, and how I am behind the level of the pro scouts that were there
I also appreciate experiencing living life in India
Thanks to the management for taking care of me while I was there
Being With Hyderabad Black Hawks (India)
I got recruited to provide analytical support to Hyderabad Black Hawks, a professional volleyball team in India, that competes in the 5 week long Prime Volleyball League. It’s a very short season but I get to see what life is like as a full-time professional Performance Analyst. I’ve written about my pre-season with the team and new things I learnt in DataVolley during my time here.
So what are some of the things I learnt and experienced during my time in India.
Competition Report
9th Place | 1-7 Win-Loss Record Unfortunately, we placed last in the 2024 Prime Volleyball League. This meant we didn’t make the Super 5 (mini-league with the top 5 teams) or the Big Final. It’s a real shame because I did think we had a better team than our results showed. From a performance analysis point of view, we didn’t have that one or two big point-scorers who we could rely on to score us points (see link why point-scoring is critical to winning in volleyball). We had a few players who had big point-scoring performances but it wasn’t done consistently on a match-by-match basis.
Performance Analysis Reflection
Non-Stop WorkIt was pretty non-stop work the whole time. I was always doing something, whether it was scouting a match that happened every evening, cleaning the data (I made a lot of live coding errors), compressing videos, producing match, team and scout reports, creating a bespoke match report to incorporate super serves and super points, attending training and video sessions, building a spreadsheet to compare players of the league, or editing a motivational video (see below). There was always time for a coffee with the Head Coach and I would go to the pool whenever I could squeeze in the time.
Adding ValueI feel that my main job as the Performance Analyst is to provide ideas to the Head Coach, based on stats, on potential ways to improve the team. This is my way of providing value to the team. I was happy that the Head Coach, Zoran Kedacic, was receptive to my ideas and even adopted some of them. There was one time when we were 0-2 down that I suggested subbing out two players because they made the most errors on the team. He agreed, made the two substitutions, and we went on to win 3-2 (our only win, unfortunately). I like to think that win was all down to me but of course, many things also had to go right for us to get that win.
Compressing VideosI film matches on my phone and the video file comes out to around 8 to 12GB. The size is pretty big but I don’t compress it because I want the full quality and I have enough space on my laptop (and external hard drives) to store it. However, I soon realised that if Hyderabad Black Hawks makes it to the Finals, that’s 49 matches I would need to stat. At 10GB per match video averages, that’s 490GB I would need! I cleared 160GB on my laptop before I came to India. I thought this was going to be plenty but it clearly wasn’t going to be. So I had to compress every match video to around a quarter of its original size. It added extra work but it was necessary.
Creating and Editing a Motivational VideoThe Head Coach asked me if I could edit a highlights video the night before our last match. I hate editing motivational videos because it takes a lot out of me but I always like the end result because I always like to watch it back over and over again. I knew it was going to be intense because I only had that night (I may had a few beers) and the next morning (I may have been hungover) to finish it. Since I didn’t have much time, my mantra was that done is better than perfect. You can watch the end result below.
Unique Match Format ImplicationsThe Prime Volleyball League has a unique match format where sets are played to 15 points and it has Super Serves and Super Points. A Super Serve is when a service ace strikes the court untouched and the service teams win two set points instead of one. A Super Point is when a rally is worth two set points. Super Points can only be called by the Head Coach, once per set, and when the team has 11 set points or less.
This does have implications regarding the stats. It’s foundational questions like should you code Super Serves and Super Points and if yes, how can you do it in DataVolley? Should Super Serves and Super Points be worth 2 points in the point-scoring and service stats and if yes, how does that affect the calculation of their respective performance indicators? I did think Super Serves and Super Points should be coded in DataVolley if only to indicate why the set scores went up by 2 points. I used SS and SP in the custom codes. I also thought Super Serves and Super Points should be worth 2 points in the points-scored stats because you actually get 2 rally points in the match. For the calculation of the serve average, I decided that a super serve should have a weight of 8 points, double that of the weight of an ace (4 points). It would skew the serve average upwards but I figured it should be accounted for if a player is good at getting super serves. It was easier to incorporate super points into the point-scoring efficiency % calculation [=(Points Won – Points Lost)/ Total Attempts]. Super Points Won were included under Points Scored and Super Points Lost was included under Errors.
The unique match format is quite interesting tactically. For example, is risking your serves worth it with the prospect of gaining a super serve? When should you call for a super point? Could you have planned subs since sets are only to 15 points? I tried to answer some of these questions with data but it does need a deeper analysis. This could be a new blog post.
I’m Behind the Level of the Pro ScoutsI saw how the pro scouts were live-coding everything perfectly (subzones, setter calls, custom codes etc). It was disheartening because I have been using DataVolley for nine years now and I’m not at that level. Also, combine it with the fact that I was making so many coding errors, especially at the start. The main reason for this was due to no shirt numbers in front of the players’ shirts but the pro scouts were in the same boat so how come they could code everything perfectly and I was sitting here with a ton of coding errors? What are they seeing that I am not?
Anyway, I did have to think that I shouldn’t compare myself to others and that I am on my own journey to eventually being able to stat everything. Also, my real value is not being able to code everything perfectly (you can also clean the data up after the match), but providing ideas to the Head Coach to enhance performance based on the stats taken and my deep understanding of the stats which are critical to success in volleyball.
Final Thoughts
It was a great experience being with the Hyderabad Black Hawks in India. It’s not just the performance analysis aspect but simply living in India. It’s the little things like eating with your hands, zooming around in the crazy traffic in an auto (ricksaw), walking on the road, and seeing cows roaming the streets.
The management team was great too as they took care of everything from accommodation (5-star hotel), food, drink, travel, to laundry. They took the team out to nice restaurants and roof-top bars, which I greatly appreciated. I didn’t have to spend a thing while I was there.
It was just a real shame we couldn’t perform better because I did think we were better than our results.
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