Integrating Performance Analysis into The Coaching Process

Introduction

I recently presented “Statistics and How to Build Around Them” for Scottish Volleyball. A new thing I added was indicating where you can use volleyball stats in the coaching process. I thought it was quite cool so I wanted to write about it.

The Coaching Process

The coaching process is a structured approach to improving performance or skills. It is a cyclical process of Observation, Analysis, Planning, and Feedback. See the diagram below. This shouldn’t be anything new to coaches, although you may not have seen it laid out this way. You could also add more stages or substages but the core is there. So where do volleyball stats, or performance analysis, come into play within this coaching process?

Observe

Before you can give any feedback to players or the team, you have to first observe a performance in training or competition.

Film the Performances

Perhaps, the most important thing in performance analysis is you should film the performances. This is so you have an objective and permanent record of performance. You can “run back the tape” to review what you observed. It could be just to confirm what you have witnessed and/ or there could be things you missed when observing the performance the first time around. Even if you’re not planning on using the video, it is better to have it and not need it than it is to need it but not have it!

Analyse

This is where you have to analyse the performance to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the team and players.

Statistical Analysis

Performance stats are a great way to summarise performance information to quickly identify the strengths and weaknesses of players and as a team. So rather than reviewing hours of video to analyse a player’s performance, you can just take 30 seconds to review their stats. You can see which players are your most effective attackers, passers, servers etc. Some answers may surprise you.

Video Analysis

Analysing video will provide you with a lot of context of what the performance stats are indicating. Thankfully, most performance analysis software platforms have stats linked to the match video. It means you can watch every attempt, clip by clip. For example, the stats might indicate a player’s attacking effectiveness isn’t as good as you perceive it to be. This is where you watch all of their attack attempts, clip by clip, to find out why.

Plan

Once you identified where your strengths and weaknesses lie, you have to create a game plan to maximise those strengths and correct those weaknesses to enhance overall team performance. Of course, your game plan should consider all other information you have, e.g. your coaching staff’s opinions, relationships with players, current injuries, your coaching philosophy etc. Whatever the game plan, it should be worked on in training.

There are countless ways you can do this. Click on this link for examples of how I used performance analysis in the past to enhance performance. If I were your Performance Analyst, I would recommend doing the three things below as a starting point.

Focus on Improving Point-Scoring and Attacking Performance

My research is clear: teams with the better point-scoring and attacking performance will win the match and the bigger the performance difference, the easier the win (click on this link or watch the video below). So you should do everything you can to improve your point-scoring and attacking performance if you want to win. This will have the biggest impact on winning right now. For example, you should start your best point-scorers in your best point-scoring rotation first.

Start With Easy to Implement Changes

There are probably a few things that will improve point-scoring and attacking performance. I would start with changes that are easy to implement. For example, it could be the case that your middles are highly effective attackers so you ask your setters to set them more often. This will involve some coaching and practice to change the mindset of your setters to use their middles more, but it should be easy to implement. Changes that require a lot of practice to make it work, e.g. setting quick middle attacks or higher tempo sets to the wings, can wait.

Focus on Three Things at a Time

I recommend limiting the game plan to three things at a time. Otherwise, more would be too much for players to keep in mind. Focus on three things at a time. Move on to the next thing once you feel players understand what you are asking them to do. You can always go back to it as a refresher.

Feedback

Once you have your game plan to maximise strengths and correct weaknesses, it should be fed back to the players.

Video Sessions

Video is such a powerful feedback tool for players and coaches that it should utilised. This is where video sessions come into play. It’s a team meeting with a video feedback element. This is usually done in a meeting room plus a projector. It can also be 1-on-1 on a laptop for individual player feedback.

The video clips you show should relate to your game plan. It’ll give players a better understanding of what you want them to do in the next training session. This is also an opportunity to show the stats. You should tell a story of what the stats are indicating. It will likely involve some education on what the performance stats mean and which ones are the most important.

Observe the Next Performance

The cycle starts again as you observe the next performance to see if your changes have taken effect.

Final Thoughts

It is nice to have it laid out this way. You can see how performance analysis can help you in all steps of the coaching process.

The coaching process with performance analysis can be viewed below.