Why Do We Need Performance Analysis?

INTRODUCTION

I was asked recently why do we need volleyball statistics?  He saw my Super 8s match statistics (e.g. London Lynx vs Leeds Carnegie) and said that what was the point of it?  He was questioning my existence as a performance analyst so I decided to write another blog post on why we need performance analysis (the first was about the need for objectivity).

WHY DO WE NEED PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS?

O’Donoghue (2010, p.3) gave a succinct answer to this question:

You might be thinking we do this anyway. Coaches, physical education teachers and athletes themselves have been observing and analysing performance as long as sport has existed. However, there are limitations with observation and the recollection of performance. Various studies (Franks and Miller, 1991; Laird and Waters, 2008) have found that coaches only recall roughly 50% of critical events during a match. Experienced coaches are also more likely to report differences when there were no actual differences exists (Franks, 1993). Recalling events is influenced by many things including distinctive portions of competition (e.g. controversial decisions, exception technical performances etc), emotions and personal bias (people will see what they want to see). The inaccuracies of subjective coaching observations is very similar to eyewitness reports. At the bottom is a video clip demonstrating this.

In addition, the coach cannot remember every single action that happens in a match. In a typical Super 8s volleyball set, you get an average of 250 individual bits of data. That is 750 bits of data that a coach cannot possible remember in a 3 set match. For these reasons, coaches will have a distorted perception of performance.

Therefore, those responsible to enhance performance need an objective way to record performance. Performance analysis provides a way to do this and it informs the coaching process and those responsible on how to enhance performance.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE ON THE DANGERS OF PERSONAL BIAS

During the All Nations 2010 (see blog post for the a preview of All Nations 2012), I remember that Antonio Codrington and Luciano Pinter make a lot of kills but they also made a fair amount of attack errors.  I thought they were overrated and that their hitting percentage would not be that good.  However, 1.5 years and the latest Super 8s Top 10 list later, I am able to say I was wrong.  They both made the Efficient Hitter Top 10 List, hitting 43% and 32% respectively.

REFERENCES

Franks, I.M. (19933) ‘The effects of experience on the detection and location of performance differences in a gymnastic technique’, , 64: 227-31

Franks, I.M. and Miller, G. (1991) ‘Training coaches to observe and remember’, 9: 285-97

Laird, P. and Waters, L. (2008) ‘Eye-witness recollection of sports coaches’, , 8(1): 76-84

O’Donoghue, P. (2010). London: Routledge.

*** Update 1 February 2021 | I have written another similar post but with a slant on volleyball statistics.  Click on this link to read more ***