Performance Analysts are responsible for producing quantitative information that allows coaches to quickly identify areas requiring attention. This information is primarily delivered through the provision of objective statistical and visual feedback. It involves the selection of video clips that coaches can use to engage in detailed discussions with players, identifying performance areas that need improvement and making training decisions. Video feedback technology has become a major resource as more coaches now rely on video highlights as a guide to enhance training of their players. The introduction of technology in these informative and constructive interactions in recent years has made the role of the performance analysis field a critical part in coach-athlete communication.
Unlike in other sport science disciplines, the role of a Performance Analyst is extremely ingrained in the coaching process. Analysts have become the technology translators between coaches and players. They aim to provide coaches and players with an immediate performance advantage through the delivery of accessible video feedback and targeted data reporting. Inevitably, the success of the coaching feedback process in developing athletes and improving team performance heavily depends on the communication between coaches and analysts. In order for such delivery to be successful, it is important to understand the way coaches and analysts interact as well as create and maintain working relationships.
Why Do Coaches Need Analysts?
Analysts provide coaches with objective quantitative and qualitative information to fill in the gaps left by the natural limitations of human cognition. Studies have shown that elite coaches can only recall an average of 59% of critical events in a match when assessing their team’s performance (Laird and Waters in 2008). On top of that, their judgement may also be influenced by bias triggered by emotions that influence the accuracy of their evaluations and affect the extrinsic feedback they provide to their players. Performance Analysts attempt to solve for these qualitative and subjective observations made by coaches by complementing them with additional feedback based on a more systematic and objective analysis in the form of videos, images, quantitative and qualitative findings.
How Do Analysts Deliver Information?
Technology developments over recent years have brought new ways for analysts to communicate key performance insights to coaches in more graphical and visually impactful forms. However, the method used to deliver such information may vary with the context of the situation and the style of the coach at the club. A coach may change their coaching and leadership style between training sessions and competitive matches, ranging from a more democratic, person-centered approach to a more authoritarian or autocratic one. This coaching style may also be influenced by the type of sport, gender, age and level of the athletes. An analyst should carefully judge the preferences and character of the coach and the context of the situation in order to decide when, where and how to deliver the information to the coach. The system used should also be dictated by the information needs of the coach. In competitive sporting environments, most communication takes place verbally. Therefore, coach-analyst interactions usually take place by briefing the coach or face-to-face discussions in which verbal communication skills are key.
Some examples of delivery methods employed by analysts include:
Quantitative information (frequency counts)
An analyst’s main objective is to gather as much intel by observing, recording and analysing different events that take place on the playing field. This may include pre-match insights through objective performance profiling that expose the strengths and weaknesses or players and oppositions. This quantitative information, such as match statistics, may be presented as tables, charts or diagrams of the playing field, showing the location of events, while clearly indicating how the team is playing and highlighting areas where performance can be improved.
Qualitative information (context through video)
Video analysis packages are created to provide detailed qualitative information to coaches, where they can interactively view video highlights on specific areas of interest. By providing videos to coaches, analysts ensure that the context lost from simple frequency counts can be recovered. With this additional context from the video replays, coaches can have a more in-depth evaluation of performance issues, understand why certain problems occurred and make adjustments to enhance future performance. During the delivery of these video highlights, analysts may want to point out specific features that they want coaches to notice to prevent overwhelming them with too much information and keep them focused on the most relevant points. Once a coach is able to gather enough information from both quantitative and qualitative information, they may want the analyst to produce a video package with a shortlist of selected clips to use in discussions with players.
When Do Analysts Deliver Information?
Pre-match
Data and video can be collated on opponents prior to facing them to highlight areas of strength and weakness and provide a comprehensive picture of what can be expected in upcoming matches. It enables coaches to formulate a strategy to counteract the opposition and exploit their weaknesses. Some analysts also analyse training sessions to assess the effectiveness of aspects of performance being tested in training and evaluate behavioural aspects that could influence team selection.
In-game
Performance analysts often code matches live, with statistical information and specific video instances shared between devices for review by coaches in real-time, and players at half-time. They generate continuous feedback for coaches to make timely changes during the course of the event. Video feeds and statistical data can be made immediately available in a coach’s iPad device or laptop, which is then reviewed by a coach prior to giving a half-time team talk. Alternatively, analysts may also go to the dressing room and show a coach clips and stats in person.
Post-match
Analysts often review team and individual performance in detail after the match has ended, allowing coaches to evaluate performance and plan future training. Post-match analysis feedback sessions play an integral role in the coaching process and analysts tend to be at the core of the information used in these sessions.
Fostering A Coach-Analyst Relationship
The most essential skill a Performance Analyst needs to have a successful performance impact in a team is their ability to be integrated within the coaching environment - to be the “right hand” of the coach. Analysts should focus on understanding the requirements for successful coaching practice and becomes an asset for the coach to succeed at their role. They should continuously seek opportunities to engage and connect with the head coach and the rest of the coaching staff. One of the most frequent opportunities to do so that are presented to analysts are during review sessions, where analysts sit down with coaches to discuss and assess the analysis together. It is then that analysts have a great opportunity to gain the trust of the coach and offer their own independent assessments to show their value. By gaining the coach’s trust, analysts are more likely to be consulted about team and player performance more regularly, thus obtaining further chances to demonstrate their value to the team and coaching staff. Trust can work in both ways, for the coach to know that the analyst is giving them relevant and valuable information but also for the analyst to know that the coach is going to understand and use that information in the correct way. It can also give the analyst a boost in confident to know that their coach considers them a competent and valuable member of staff. However, this trust can only be achieved by successfully fostering a positive working partnership with the coach through, amongst others, mutual respect, openness and honesty.
One of the first steps an analyst starting in a new team should aim to do during the building phase of the relationship with the coach is to clearly understand what the expectations of working practice and hierarchies are at their new club. By establishing an early understanding of the coaches’ methods and cementing the status of the relationship, the analyst can adapt their work to suit the preferences of the manager and start delivering positive results and gaining trust. Only when that trusting relationship has been established is the analyst able to adequately offer improvement to processes, such as tactical suggestions or offer new ideas for ways a coach could engage with their players. However, while there is sometimes room for negotiations around the design of analytical processes and defining the measures of successful performance, the common perception within most coach-analyst relationships is that the analyst is often limited to purely collecting the information as directed by the coach. This is especially the case with experienced coaches, who know what they want and how they want it, leaving analysts little room to deviate from the direct instructions on how analysis should be performed and delivered at the club.
Authoritarian coaches
A coach’s leadership position in the club’s hierarchy provide him or her with recognised power over their subordinates. They are perceived as experts thanks to their experience and knowledge, their status of role models awards them with referent power towards their players and staff, and their social status within the club is elevated providing them with legitimate power to reward or discipline others’ behaviours based on conformity or outcomes.
Unfortunately, in situations where coaches exert an authoritarian leadership style, an analyst’s expertise may be overshadowed by the legitimate power of the coach. The analyst’s scope is therefore reduced to carefully listening to requests and producing exactly what the coaches want. Often, these authoritarian coaches impose high workload levels and demand numerous resources from the analyst to support their needs when making reliable technical and tactical appraisals of performance. The domineering power exerted by these coaches over their athletes and backroom staff can truly shape the nature of their working relationships, including those with analysts. Analysts may feel that new ideas are at risk of falling on deaf ears or being shot down if the right relationship has not been reached with the head coach.
It is important that the analyst acknowledges the working environment in front them and learns to navigate the politics involved in succeeding in an elite sport environment. For instance, studies have shown that coaches often place significant importance to social interactions with other members of their backroom staff as they perceive them as a mechanism to maintain and control the balance of their status of power. This is why social gatherings, even when portrayed as non-work related, are often compulsory events for analysts to attend. Not only end of season awards or team meals during away travel but also get togethers or socials may often be considered obligatory socialising for an analyst. These situations often present opportunities for analysts to interact with coaches outside of the pressures of the competitive environment. A game of pool, a football kickabout or a round of golf removes everyone from the daily working environment and puts them in a relaxed situation in which social interactions can help build a more co-operative relationship between analysts, coaches and the wide backroom staff members. Even when at work, analysts should sit at the coaches table at lunch, be there for team meetings, and involve themselves where they can.
Managing conflict
A great challenge for analysts is to be able to effectively manage this coach-dominated relationship. However, the reality is that, due to factors like job insecurity, most analysts feel that the way to gain respect and trust from the coach is to offer their unconditional support to the coach, as they ultimately hold a position of maximum authority. They perceive success as their ability to anticipate a coach’s needs before being asked, proactively seeking new ways to understand the team’s performance.
Analysts are highly dependable on the relationship with their coach. Establishing a connection early on may be critical in dictating whether the coach would want the analyst to continue in the team, even before the analyst has had a chance to demonstrate his or her skills. In some cases, personality clashes with coaches may be decisive in the analyst’s future. This is why establishing and maintaining a positive relationship with coaches should be one of analysts’ top priorities. Whether there is true appreciation and respect towards the coaches and their decisions, or whether the analyst is struggling to find motivation when in a difficult working environment, being respectful at all times is key to survival in a dynamic, competitive and pressured industry. Similar to what happens with athletes, any conflicts against the coaches could jeopardise an analyst’s future career within elite sport. For instance, conflict may occur if an analyst continuously fails to meet a coach’s expectations. Even when pressure rises, analyst should be able to remain calm under this pressure and not let emotions interfere in their communication with coaches.
Unfortunately, since the hierarchical coach-analyst relationship is dictated by the coach, analysts will often see themselves on the losing end when challenging a coach, even when the coach is in the wrong. For these reasons, conflict management, both proactive and reactive, together with openness, positivity and motivation, become crucial elements in maintaining a positive working relationship between analysts and coaches. Any concerns or issues from analysts should be raised and communicated in the right way, at the appropriate time and providing adequate solutions.
Approachability and getting to know the individuals
Moreover, building strong working relationships with other cooperative and supportive colleagues can be extremely beneficial to analysts. An analyst should be able to navigate the micro-politics prevalent within high performance teams by establishing himself or herself as the expert in their field and within their remit of work by producing high quality work in a timely manner that contributes to a harmonious working environment. An analyst’s role is not limited to helping the team perform on the pitch but he or she should aim to help everyone in the club be better at their respective roles by leveraging their analytical expertise and enthusiasm in the sport to provide them with useful and valuable insights. They also need to be approachable to allow them to really engage with their coaches and peers and get to know them well at an individual level. Getting to know the coaches as individuals can make the analyst more sensitive to the ways in which each coach likes to be approached and given key information.
Analysts should be able to listen effectively and adapt their communication style not only to fit coaches but also with the wider backroom team and players. They should listen twice as much as they talk to be able to clearly understand and translate coach directions into numbers or quantifiable information. They should know when they have the coach’s full attention and if so, explain themselves in an easily understood manner, ensuring that the coach has understood, believed and accepted what the analyst is trying to communicate to them. Coaches are busy people. Therefore, analysts should be mindful of a coach’s time by being concise, clear, constructive and complete in their communication. Coaches do not always have time to drill down into the data, so it is important that they are presented with key insights that give a good indication of player performance in training and matches. Moreover, analysts tend to not have played the sport professionally before, therefore their opinions should always be backed up with evidence.
Motivation
Performance Analysts operate in a highly pressured and competitive industry. To succeed in such environments, motivation plays a key part in ensuring that the analyst is continuously giving 100% to their team and coaches. They are expected to be willing to go the extra mile to meet their coaches’ needs and expectations. This usually translates into not working set times but instead working unsociable hours around the schedule of the team, the coaches and the competition. For instance, analysts will frequently need to work long hours into the night to produce match reports of last night’s game. This setup requires analysts to have a strong sense of commitment to the overall team performance that motivates them to produce valuable information for coaches regardless of the costs in workload.
An analyst needs to be pushing their own boundaries and those of their coaches beyond the current knowledge. Coaches will not ask for something that they did not know could be done, it is for analysts to be motivated enough to continuously come up with innovative solutions to deliver performance insights. However, at the same time, analysts may be heavily dependent on the coach’s ability to clearly articulate and operationalise what they associate with success in the sport. This tricky situation may become a cause for frustration amongst analysts. It may happen that an analyst is asked to produce reports that never get used or materials for a meeting that never happens. Even in these situations when the analyst is sure that the work will be redundant, an analyst should be aiming to deliver on the work expected, as the risks of the work eventually being required but unavailable to coaches may seriously damage their relationship with the coach. Moreover, they need to be prepared for all eventualities. Coaches do not understand and do not want to understand why something is not working or why it may take so long. Analysts need to prepare for failure – both in equipment and analysis – and be prepared for last minute requests at all times.
Motivation is easier to find when there is a mutually respectful relationship with the coach. There needs to be a sense of ‘togetherness’ in the working environment that makes all members want to work towards a common goal. Good coaches foster these environments by making analysts want to work for them. They empower their backroom staff through willingness to listen to their inputs. However, analysts should reciprocate the coach’s willingness to listen to their inputs, as well as their respect and trust, by meeting their high standards through hard work, good time-keeping and good quality of work produced. They should always be meeting the specified deadlines at the highest possible quality of work. A hard-working ethos, underpinned by honesty and being approachable, leads to the desired productive coach-analyst relationships. Portraying motivation to coaches and other colleagues can lead to more supportive relationships in the whole. On the other hand, failing to meet deadlines will inevitably lead to losing the trust and respect from the coaches. Coaches may then begin to rely less on the analyst for decision-making and ignore their work and value.
Future opportunities
The relationship between the analyst and coach is so important that coaches would attempt to recruit analysts that they have worked with in previous roles when they gain new employment. This networking aspect to an analyst’s role expands beyond their current role. Maintaining previous relationships with past coaches can be beneficial to their long-term career. Future opportunities may arise where the analyst may be directly contacted by a former coach to join them in a new venture. This can become an extremely motivating experience and provide the analyst with greater job satisfaction and feeling that they are valued.
Citations:
Bateman, M., & Jones, G. W. (2019). Strategies for maintaining the coach-analyst relationship within professional football utilising the COMPASS Model: The Performance Analyst’s perspective. Frontiers in psychology, 10, 2064.
BBC (2020) Performance feedback in sport. BBC. Link to article.
English Institute of Sport (2020) Why is there a Performance Analysis team at the EIS? Link to article.
Future Active (2020) How to become a Sport Analyst. Future Active. Link to article.
Haines, M. (2013). The role of performance analysis within the coaching process. Mike Haines Performance Analyst. Link to article.
McGarry, T., O'Donoghue, P., Sampaio, J., & de Eira Sampaio, A. J. (Eds.). (2013). Routledge handbook of sports performance analysis. Routledge.
Sprongo (2020) The many benefits of video analysis. Sprongo. Link to article.