Analysing Coach Behaviour - A quick look at how coaches value the input of analysts

The coaching process is a wide and varying process that can vary wildly between sports, levels, clubs, and even coaches within those clubs. When you look at the difference in availability of staff between a non-league club and an elite level club, it's clear to see how this coaching process can vary. Often, elite level clubs will have a large amount of backroom staff to assist with all aspects of coaching, while non-league clubs tend to be a relatively small scale operation in comparison. (Ekstrand et. al., 2016)

Analysts are widely used across all forms of the sport, and can be extremely valuable to coaches as they provide a wide range of statistics and data that can be used to inform training, tactics and other important issues such as injury rehabilitation, physical load levels, and opposition data. (Wright et. al. 2017)

But what does this mean in terms of analyst's day to day work? For one, it means that we have to provide high quality data in digestible formats for our coaches and athletes to work with. Data visualisation techniques such as clear colours and readable graphs are key to ensuring that the data we produce is as easy to digest for those who need it as possible, as it can often be the guiding light for players, coaches, physios and a lot of other staff members who rely on the data we produce to inform their processes in their day to day jobs.

References

Ekstrand, J., Lundqvist, D., Lagerbäck, L., Vouillamoz, M., Papadimitiou, N., & Karlsson, J. (2017). Is there a correlation between coaches’ leadership styles and injuries in elite football teams? A study of 36 elite teams in 17 countries. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 52(8), 527–531. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2017-098001

Wright, C., Atkins, S., Jones, B., & Todd, J. (2013). The role of performance analysts within the coaching process: Performance Analysts Survey ‘The role of performance analysts in elite football club settings.’ International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport, 13(1), 240–261. https://doi.org/10.1080/24748668.2013.11868645