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My Journey So Far (old 2013 page)
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Every story should have a beginning, middle and an end. But not necessarily in that order.
THE MIDDLE
It’s December 2008. Wagamama has put up the poster for the annual company party. It is another damning reminder that it has been another year in a job that I do not want to do. It is not to say that working as a chef in Wagamama per se is inherently bad. It is an indictment upon myself that I am not following my passion.
However, I still faced the same perennial problem for the past 5 years: I struggled to find a career that inspired me into action. I made a breakthrough in August 2009 with a book called “Planning a Career Change” by Judith Johnstone (2006). It transformed my life. It helped me systematically review my life vis-à-vis my academic choices, previous work experience and hobbies/ interests. The end result was that only one career aligned many of my underlying motivations, utilized many of my skills and abilities and it reflected my personality type.
It’s December 2009. Wagamama has put up the poster for the annual company party. It’s still another damning reminder that it has been another year in a job that I do not want to do. However,
THE BEGINNING
It is April 1996. It is biggest decision in my life: choosing GCSEs. I chose Physical Education (PE) because I realized I spent nearly all of my extracurricular time playing school sport. This decision would later inform me that I had a massive passion for sport and that this passion would guide my academic career.
However, the problem of what specific career dawned on me. Careers advice at university did not really help me. My best idea was Sport Psychology but I knew it was not the one. Tomorrow was my greatest friend and I would just let inspiration come to me. I graduated in June 2004 with a 2:1 in BA(Hons) Sports Studies degree at Stirling University.
It is April 2005 and I got a steady job at Wagamama after periods of unemployment and seasonal work. I left the company to embark on an around the world trip from October 2006 to August 2007. When I got back home from that amazing experience, I was still no closer to finding this career inspiration. I was heavily in debt so I started at Wagamama again in September 2007.
THE END
It is December 2009 and was the first time in my life I had a career choice that felt right. I now had ambition and drive. The goal was to apply for a Masters degree in Sports Performance Analysis in December 2010. It gave me exactly 12 months to procure as much performance analysis experience as I could. Here are some of the things I have done within this time period:
1. Read various performance analysis readings including “The Essentials of Performance Analysis: An Introduction” (2008) by Mike Hughes and Ian Franks. 2. Promoted to Head Coach of Tuskers Volleyball Club National League Women’s team – an ideal opportunity to practice performance analysis and bridge many skill gaps. 3. Collated volleyball statistics – I used the NCAA’s “Statisticians’ Volleyball Manual” as a guide for operational terminology and procedure. I built a spreadsheet from scratch (75+ hours to build and still counting) to input the data. I bought the equipment necessary to carry out the collection of data. 4. Applied notational analysis on serve and serve reception – general statistics outlined in the above manual did not give enough detail on the two most important skills in volleyball. I used a rating system to combat this problem. I inbuilt the data into the above spreadsheet. 5. Compiled match and scout reports – I analysed the volleyball data to create match reports for players for future use. I used the corresponding match videos in the first half of the season to write up scouting reports for the second half of the season. 6. Researched the biomechanics of volleyball skills.
It’s December 2010 and another Wagamama annual party has passed. I reflect on the previous 12 months and I think I have accomplished much. Contrary to the title, this story does not end here. I still have much more to achieve.
UPDATES
January 2011 * Researched then applied for 2 Masters courses – MSc Performance Analysis at the University of Wales Institute Cardiff and MSc International Performance Analysis of Sport at Nottingham Trent University for September 2011 admission.
February 2011 * Received an unconditional offer on the MSc International Performance Analysis of Sport course at Nottingham Trent University. * Manual video editing – used windows movie maker to show individual players’ match performance. * Created a performance analyst profile – – using social media including: Blog – http://thevolleyballanalyst.blogspot.com/ YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/thevolleyballanalyst Twitter – http://twitter.com/thevbanalyst Facebook group – http://www.facebook.com/groups/thevolleyballanalyst?ap=1
April 2011 * Received an unconditional offer on the MSc Performance Analysis course at University of Wales Institute Cardiff – I duly accepted. * Volleyball statistics for the volleyball season completed. Final Season Report written up.
July 2011 * Applied for my first paid performance analysis job. * A batch of performance analysis books read (http://thevolleyballanalyst.blogspot.com/p/reading.html). * Practice computerised analysis skills using the software LongoMatch (http://longomatch.ylatuya.es/) by creating a volleyball template.
September 2011 * Started MSc Performance Analysis course at UWIC. * Sadly quit Wagamama after 20 days shy of 4 years service. * Rebuilt a volleyball spreadsheet for better data presentation and more statistics available (see previous blog post at http://thevolleyballanalyst.blogspot.com/2011/09/volleyball-box-score.html).
October 2011 * More analysis experience at Cardiff Celts (NVL Division 3 West Women), Team South Wales (NVL Division 2 South Women), Super 8 Men’s (top Men’s NVL) and UWIC’s Women’s Basketball Team (NBL Division 1 Women). * Experience using performance analysis software in Dartfish and SportsCode. * Videos posted up on my YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/thevolleyballanalyst).
December 2011 * More experience using SportsCode Elite, Dartfish TeamPro and StatEasy. * Compiled 3 mid-season reports and their associated spreadsheets. * Understand valid performance indicators in volleyball.
January 2012 * Analyst at the Basketball Women’s National Cup Final (link here). * Built a speadsheet and dashboard for the Super 8s. * Posted videos on my YouTube channel (link here).
February 2012 * Changed the dashboard for UWIC Archers. * Launched the Super 8s Statistics website (link here). * Beta-tester for StatEasy (link here). * Team South Wales reaches the Shield Cup Finals.
March 2012 * Launched the All Nations Volleyball Statistics website (link here). * First job performance analyst interview with Leicester City Football Club (link here). * Published article at http://www.visualperformanceanalysis.com/sports-blogs/thevolleyballanalyst/
April 2012 * UWIC Archers finished 1st in the EBL Division 1. * UWIC Archers Play-Off Finalists (link here). * Team South Wales wins promotion to NVL Division 1 (link here). * Team South Wales wins National Shield Final (link here). * Assistant Coach and Analyst for Wales School Team Girls (link here).
May 2012 * Live Statistician at the Sainsbury’s (UK) School Games.
August 2012 * Secured analyst posts for 2012/13 season at Polonia IMKA (NVL Super 8s Women) and Tuskers (London Division 1 Women). * Selected for a Sitting Volleyball Statistician position at the Paralympics 2012. * Two football internship interviews.
November 2012 * Secured paid performance analyst role at SideOut.
February 2013 * Passed FA Level 1 Coaching course.
April 2013 * Polonia reaches Play-Off Finals. * Performance analyst at Rhodes 2013.
July 2013 * Appointed England Junior Boys Beach Volleyball Analyst. * Performance Analyst Intern interview at Millfield School.
August 2013 * Passed VE Level 2 Coaching course. * Appointed Head Coach of City London University Volleyball Club.
September 2013 * Appointed Great Britain Men’s Sitting Volleyball Analyst for 2013 European Championships. * Complete Masters dissertation, entitled .
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