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Performance Analysis Reflection 2021-22
Introduction
I was with three teams this year, where I was able to really use my performance analysis. I was the Head Coach for UCL Men and Flaming Six Coyotes. I was also in my tenth season with Polonia SideOut London. I still like it there because Coach Kontopoulos does utilise my stats and scouts. I feel still like I had a small, but significant, impact, on the team’s performance.
I did drop IBB Polonia London. The men were winning the league easily without my help so I wasn’t really needed. I did like that they played in the Champions League and CEV Cup so I got to experience that big-event feeling. However, I wasn’t invited to go to the Champions League match this season and when Coach Koutouleas left the club early in the season, that was pretty much it for me.
So how did the performance analysis side go this season? Have a read of my reflection below.
Competitions Report
Polonia SideOut London | Women’s Super League | Second Place
Polonia SideOut London | Women’s National Cup | Champions
Flaming Six Coyotes | London League Division 1B Women | Champions
UCL Men | BUCS South Eastern Tier 1 | Champions
UCL Men | BUCS Trophy Cup | Champions
UCL Men | BUCS Premier South Play-Off Promotion | Winners + Promoted
UCL Men | Volleyball England Student Cup | 10th Place
I did have a pretty successful season as we won five out of seven competitions I were involved in (see below). The Student Cup (10th place) was more of an extracurricular competition so I wasn’t worried about that. The main one we didn’t win was the Women’s Super League (2nd place). It was close (Durham and Polonia had the same 15-1 win-loss record) but then it wasn’t at the same time (Durham was 3 league points ahead of us). The biggest shame was the league effectively ended in mid-February when we lost to Durham and we had to play six more matches that were effectively dead rubber matches. But we did get to beat Durham in the Women’s National Cup Finals so we got that one back.
Performance Analysis Reflection
Use Compound Coding to Code Digs, Block Outs and Block Touches Revisiting compound coding (see link) and then practicing it in beach volleyball did help me to code digs, block-outs and block touches for the indoor season. It was good to have dig stats, as it is pretty important to having success in volleyball (see link). I coded block-outs before but now the timecode is the same as the attack and not a few seconds later when I coded it separately. I do code block touches and the dig after (separate code). However, I found that I can’t code every single one as it happens so fast. I only code block touches that massively deflect the attack direction but even then I don’t always catch it.
Using the Overhauled Attack Combination CodesI overhauled the attack combination codes for the 2021-22 season (see link). For me, it worked. It was simplified, having seven zones across the front row made so much sense and filtering codes was a lot easier. One thing I would modify is defining zone 2, 3 and 4 as back-ones, a/ one and shoots/ gap, respectively, whether they are quick balls (“C” code), medium balls (“G”) or high balls (“V”). Of course, you can’t really have a high ball “back-one” because it should be quick. However, for Flaming Six Coyotes, I adopted higher sets for the middle players to increase their hitting window and I need codes to reflect that.
I still do miss having that option of having several middle attack origin zones. I could have used it when I noticed some UCL shoot/ gap attacks went to the centre (zone 3) and straight into the opposition blocker, instead of left centre (zone 4) and between the two opposition blockers. Having those timecodes so I could show the players on video that shoots attacks need to go to zone 4 and the stats would have been useful.
Creating New Worksheets to Update the Old Worksheets I had to create new worksheets to include the new attack combination codes and the digging stats. In the same process, I made some wholesale changes:
Made it look nicer – I increased the font to 12 from 8, I added a title for each worksheet, I added some colour that was specific to each team, I added a very brief definition of what the stats means, I merged some cells so I could write longer text
Compiled worksheets together – rather than having two separate worksheets, e.g. one for middle attack type (one, back-one, slide, shoot) and one for wing attacks (left, right, pipe, ten), I could put them together side by side. This means I would open fewer worksheets to print, which will save me time in the long run.
Creating Brand New Worksheets Showing Different DataI also created some brand new worksheets. They included:
Match Display Stats – as I don’t have access to a projector, I wanted to create some match stats that I can display on my laptop to show to the team. This meant I only showed the match stats and I had to make the font as big as possible so it filled the laptop screen.
Personal dashboard – a dashboard is having all the relevant stats in one place (like a car dashboard). I created one for my own use. It included the usual player stats but I also include my other stats including attack stats by shot (I wanted to see if tipping was effective – see link), attack stats by zone (to show the middle attack was highly effective), point-scoring stats by rotation (so I know the best rotation to start my setter – see link) and the sideout/ break point rates (whether to serve first or receive first – see link)
Attack by End Location – I wanted to know the players’ attack direction tendencies, i.e. the percentage of attack attempts that go to each zone and how effective it was. The attack directions chart can show some of this but it becomes increasingly useless the more data you have because the attack direction lines just bunch up.
Creating a Match Dashboard Using Power Pivot I learnt about pivot tables in Excel and how they can help you analyse and display data. I did it for my beach volleyball one (see link). It was good because it was dynamic and you have these panels called slicers where you can filter out data. In my case, you can select data for individual matches and the data changes. For the indoor version, I did go one stage higher and used power pivot tables. The main reason was that I wanted to link some pivot tables together, specifically match details, team stats and player stats.
Next Season
Focusing on Defence Stats by Creating WorksheetsI did not really look at defence stats that closely this season. This is contrary to my valid performance indicator studies showing that defence is pretty important to having success in volleyball (see link). The main reason was defence stats can be a bit wonky. It does punish players, i.e. liberos, who go for every ball. Also, middle players can get some easy digs after their own block touch so they can get better stats. So it doesn’t completely create a level playing field and it is something I should look into. In any case, it still doesn’t mean I can’t analyse it. The first step is really to create worksheets on defence. I could easily do it for the player. Another good one is showing defence by court zone.
Creating More Dashboards in ExcelI created a power pivot table for analysis but I never went further with it. I could have created a dashboard to show who the best player in each technical skill. This is always something I want to know so I can select my players, e.g. who are my best attackers, who are my best passers etc. Since it is a pivot table, it can be updated dynamically with every match input.
Start Statting Setting Codes This is the final step in the coding process. It took me six years of using DataVolley to get to coding digs, which was perhaps too long. So it’s time to move on and code setting. Like with the digs, I will practice coding sets in the beach volleyball season. It should be a little easier since there are only two players on a team so whoever digs, the other will set. I will just focus on getting the code in and then hopefully later, I can code the quality of the set using Joe Trinsey’s codes (see link).
Final Thoughts
It didn’t feel like I did much in relation to performance analysis, as I was more into the coaching, but I did actually achieve some things when I look back. Coding the defence stats was probably the biggest underrated thing I did, as it took me six years to do that. I am looking forward to next season, especially I can code setting stats.
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