Many Steep Initial Learning Curves To Get Through

STEEP LEARNING CURVE

The past couple of weeks have been tough.  The workload is astromonical but what makes it harder is the steep initial learning curves involved, i.e. I have to learn many new skills and it takes time to be barely functional.  If I was on the graph, I would be towards the bottom left-hand side.  Some of the brand new skills learnt are:

DARTFISH TEAMPRO Other than the one Dartfish lesson 3 years ago, I am practically new to this analysis system.  It did not help that the updated version of Dartfish TeamPro had bugs (e.g. the Team Manager and Players did not work).  It took me about 3 full days to get a functional tagging window.

SPORTSCODE ELITE I truly started at the beginning on this software.  I have some experience of using different analysis software systems but this one was completely new to me.  I spent 5 minutes figuring out how to put a new button on my code window (somebody told me I just had to drag it in).  Again, it took me 3 full days to get a basic code window functional.

UWIC ARCHERS BASKETBALL WORK EXPERIENCE Learning about the life of a basketball analyst is tough (see previous blog post).  The preparation involved, the problem solving and the post match coding (with all the mistakes) is immense.  There is even talk about being improving the workflow!  Let me learn how it works first before I even think about efficiency!

TEAM SOUTH WALES VOLLEYBALL CLUB The first problem was learning a new system to analyse volleyball for the Head Coach (everything is rated!).  The second problem was the video format didn’t work in StatEasy or LongoMatch software and it would not convert properly to an usable video format (cursed the stupid .wmv files!!!).  After 2 days, I realised it worked in Dartfish.  That involved creating a new tagging window.  That was the first two matches.  The third match was captured on SportsCode so I had to build a functional code window for that software too.

SUPER 8s MEN NATIONAL VOLLEYBALL LEAGUE After two months delay, I coded two Super 8 Men’s matches.  There were problems of not knowing the players well.  It basically, it took 35 minutes to code up to the first technical time out (first to 8 points).  It normally takes me 35 minutes to code a set.  Thankfully, the rest of the match and the second match took me roughly the same time for a normal match.  However, there’s still issues with players names and numbers and missing match video.

ASSIGNMENT 1 I am going to write about valid performance indicators in volleyball.  I have not written an essay since my dissertation 7.5 years ago.  The process of writing an academic essay is tough.  The toughest bit is getting into the language of journal articles and understanding what is meant.  I do not even know how to critique those studies.  Don’t get my started on statistics!!!  I have not even thought about how to weave these studies into a coherent structure.

ASSIGNMENT 2 I have to analyse a team of my choice with Dartfish or SportsCode, produce a feedback report (video) and discuss its suitability to the chosen sport.  I have not even started on that yet.  I got the team of my choice (Team South Wales).  However, I am going to have to rebuild the code window for SportsCode and Dartfish, tweak the spreadsheet to suit my needs and redo the statistics for all the matches I have done already.  I haven’t even thought about learning the video editing software to do my feedback video report!

THE SHORTCUT KEYS This is a small thing but learning the shortcut keys the Mac, which is slightly different to Windows (see right).  It is also the differing shortcut keys for the different analysis software I am using between SportsCode, Dartfish, StatEasy amongst others.  For example, the pause button in SportsCode (and most others) is Space Bar whilst in StatEasy, it is the Tab button.  The other day I was watching a video and I pressed Shift+Arrow Right key to fast forward like in SportsCode.  Needless to say, it did not work.

CARDIFF CELTS I am now coaching the Celts.  Technically, there is not a steep learning curve here.  However, it does eat a lot into my time (coaching, analysis, planning sessions, travelling to matches etc).  It is time, as evidenced from above, that I do not have!

ACTION PLAN Right now, being efficient is a luxury so my plan of action is simply log those hours.  The motto is: