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The Most Intense Two Weeks of My Life – Super 8s Finals and Rhodes 2013
TWO INTENSE WEEKS
The Super 8s Play-Off Finals and Rhodes 2013 immediately after may have been the most intense two weeks in my life. I remember being busy towards the end of last season with several finals to attend and straight after with a mountain of coursework to get through that I neglected because of it. However, what makes this so intense was I was burning the candle at both ends for most of the two weeks. Most nights I went to bed after 2:30am and I was up most mornings before 7:30am. Needless to say, it was one of the best two weeks of my life!
Since this blog is primarily a learning blog, I will talk about what I learnt, what I learnt previously that I applied in the fortnight and what I could have done better.
WHAT DID I LEARNT PREVIOUSLY THAT I APPLIED HERE?
* . When SideOut got me on board as the performance analyst, it was really up to me to get it all to function. As SideOut has never done this before, I had to provide the blueprint of how it would all work. Pertinent questions as such what will be analysed and how it would all fit it had to be answered.
* . I knew my time at the Super 8s and Rhodes would be limited so I did as much preparation as I could prior to the two weeks to save time when I’m there. For example, for the Rhodes video I chose the music, pre-edited the scenes and storyboarded the whole video so I was ready to go.
WHAT DID I LEARN?
* . I have only done it a few times before (see link and link) so this was a good build up my technique analysis experience.
* . I learn best if there’s a practical purpose so this was an ideal opportunity to utilise Kinovea again. I played around with it before the two week so I was up to speed. I learnt two important things about it: firstly, it could not properly handle the HD video from my camcorder. This meant I would need to convert the video it in Rhodes. Secondly, learning the shortcut keys for increasing/ decreasing play speed and frame forward/ backward. This would happen to be a tremendous help in the video analysis sessions.
* . With severe time constraints, I felt the best way to organise the videos was by annotating the video file name with the skill and players involved. This was so when I compiled the videos for each player according to their analysis aims, I was able to without having to re-watch the videos.
* . I felt that the 3 main coaches should lead the sessions because they had a superior knowledge-base. I started off the session with the player’s aims which helped the coach understand what to analyse and then I played the appropriate videos. As the video is playing I also had to listen closely to the coach so I can slow down the video at the appropriate places to highlight their points. Also, where possible, I would try and use the drawing tools.
* . When you watch the same training session seven times and watch the same mistakes being made, you really get the basics of beach volleyball drilled into you. It is the same story at the video analysis sessions and the three top-level coaches I worked with. I would hear the same basics being told to players.
* I brought a high-capacity battery as part of my preparation because I knew I would be filming all day in Rhodes and my original battery would not last (see link). It did and it is such a useful addition to my PA equipment. Also, during the Super 8s Finals, I was able to film both matches back to back from a great vantage point (see link) without having to find an AC mains.
* . I am a perfectionist and it irks me if something is not right (e.g. see link). When it comes to video editing, it is never perfect for me. When it came to the Rhodes video, despite knowing what to do, I ran out of time and it was far from perfect. However, I had appease myself with the above quote, otherwise it would have bothered me all day.
* . It is a nifty bit of software to crop photos. And I learnt making photos into widescreen/ panoramic always makes photos look better. Always.
WHAT COULD I IMPROVED UPON?
* . My Technique Analysis coursework involved analysing the spike technique of three players and that could applied to the beach spike technique (see link). For example, I know a bigger arm swing will result in a bigger jump but I forgotten the biomechanical principle to say why that was the case.
* . When it comes to work, I am too focused in getting the job done. I feel guilty if I’m not and if I’m not doing my best. For the most part I was squirreling away working on the laptop that I missed getting to know some of the amazing people that were around me. A truism if there ever was one is, “It’s not where you are but who you are with that matters” and I do sometimes forget to follow that.
* . I got a couple of off the cuff interviews with players and it’s a goldmine of soundbites. It would have been nice to get some soundbites about my analysis work and hopefully how great it has been.
These two weeks has reconfirmed to me that although it almost killed me, performance analysis is definitely what I want to do as a career. Below is a snippet of my time in Rhodes.
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