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Improving my DataVolley Skills at the 2016 School Games
Reflection
This year was my fourth time at the School Games. I was there twice as a Statistician (2012 and 2015) and once as a coach (2014). This year I was back as a Statistician. I wanted to go because I wanted to improve my live coding skills with DataVolley. I basically needed live matches to practice in an environment where I can make mistakes without any consequence, i.e. I did not need to use the stats for post-match analysis. The School Games was the ideal tournament for this. Of course, I would only practice in the matches when I was not the official match statistician. I had a couple of goals for the tournament:
1. . 2. . 3. . 4.
Practice Coding Serve Direction
The code for serve direction plus reception is something like this;
It means the home player #12 () served () from zone 1 to zone 5 () with player #5 of the opposite team receiving () and it was prefect (). Previously, I didn’t code the origin and destination serving zone. However, in the first set in trying to code serve direction, it would take me a second to code the destination of the serve. This meant I probably forget who actually received it and forget trying to rate the quality. After that, I would miss out a bunch of the rally in trying to catch up.
After three practice matches, I did think whether it was worth it. However, I knew this was a steep learning curve and that I would be able to do it with practice. In the final day of the tournament, I used the Girls and Boys Finals to practice and I actually felt pretty good. I was able to code that section quite comfortably. I still get stuck in certain spots (zone 7 and 9 is always a bit tricky for me sometimes – it’s the same with attack directions) but it will come with practice.
Practice Coding Additional Combination Attacks
Previously, I would code an attack like this:
So the away team player #5 () attacked from a high set () from zone 2 to zone 1 (). However, I could only code every attack as a V combination, i.e. a high set. It didn’t matter if it was a quick attack or slide. It meant team attack directions and distribution gets a bit muddles because I don’t know if a V2 attack is a slide by the middle or a high ball by the opposite. So I wanted to practice using the other attack combination codes. The other codes I had to get use to is:
I choose the practice using these additional combination codes for the best games, i.e. the England Junior vs England Cadets matches, because I knew the these attacks would occur more often. Like with the serve direction, it would take me a second extra to code the quick attack and I would have to look at the keyboard too to look for the right W key. I practice using these attack combinations keys for three matches and at the end of it, I’m still getting used to it.
Find Out About Cone Attack Directions
When an attack ends up in zone 1, it’s quite a big area of 3 metres * 3 metres. I wanted it to be more precise whether it was hit the line or whether it was more inside. I thought cone attack directions was a good way to see those angles.
I spoke to Matt Bianco about it and he told me he didn’t see the value in it. The output comes out like cones rather than attack lines. He also told me that if I wanted a more accurate attack line, then I should use the subsection of A, B, C and D. I thought this was a good argument so I didn’t bother looking into it further.
DataVolley Client
This was something I wanted to use for a while. It basically allows somebody else to view the live stats. So rather all the live stats on my laptop only with me only having limited windows to view the live stats to help the coach, somebody else, i.e. the Head Coach or Assistant Coach, can view the live stats on their own laptop. I spent about an hour with Matt Bianco just to go through the process of setting it up. He told me it was easy to do but we did encounter some issues. Both laptops was connected to the same network but they couldn’t see each other. Matt problem solved it so at least now I have one solution if I run into the same problem.
The other cool thing that Matt told me that I could install DataVideo and that person could use the Client version to view the video and stats, as long as I copy the DataVideo scout folder to their laptop. This means the Head Coach could look up any stats related to video. For example, he wanted to see a player attacks.
Statistician Observation
This was something I thought of during the tournament just to see how the more advanced statisticians coded. One thing I saw from somebody was that he saved the DataVolley scout after every time out. I couldn’t see a situation where I a saved scout file would help me but there’s no harm in it I guess. The most I learnt was watching Matt Bianco code live. He was able to code so much and so fast! He was able to include setter calls and the zone subsection (A-D). It was good to see the standard I could strive for.
Other Shortcuts I Learnt
There was two other things I learnt whilst at the tournament. The first was to use the ESC key to return to the code window if I modified another code. It would be quicker than using the mousepad to return to the code window. The second thing I learnt was that when I code a double substitution, I could code both of them straight away rather than one at a time. This is particularly useful because if I coded the first substitution of the opposite coming on for the setter, I would have to nominate the opposite as the new setter and not the second setter coming in because I haven’t code that substitution yet. I could get around that by either coding the setter coming in the opposite first and recoding the setter after I done both substitutions. By doing both at the same time, I could nominate the right setter straight and thus saving me time.
Post Tournament
I statted Pulsepoint London Orcas vs Team Durham match for scouting purposes. I also used this match to practice all the above. This was good because I didn’t have to focus on the analysis, i.e. advising the coach on any changes, just on the coding itself. I could also test out my new camcorder. I made a few mistakes in that match, in particular awarding the rally to the wrong team (?) but with practice, I will get better.
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