Tracking stats can add a new perspective to your coaching.
April 16, 2021 by Keith Raynor in Opinion with comments
Bring It In is a coaching-focused column by Keith Raynor.
Since I began coaching, I’ve had “the numbers” in my hands on the sideline. That once was the clipboard — I was quite fond of those hard plastic cases that could hold paper and writing materials and had a clip attached to the exterior — and has since become the iPad. The players sometimes talk about the device as if it were a team member, an assistant coach I carry with me. Despite understanding that dividing my attention between sideline coaching and stat-keeping probably hinders my in-game coaching ability, I’ve become accustomed to it, and the digital stat sheets help me call lines during games.
But I’ve also found it something of a black box to players and other coaches alike. What is being tracked? How does it help my team? And could it possibly be more helpful than the team getting my full attention? Ok, I won’t be able to address that last part, but maybe I can make a case.
The data tracked is a tool, another perspective on the game. In that sense, it almost is an assistant coach. Sometimes, that perspective aligns with mine; other times, it shows me something I didn’t see. Perhaps I felt like a cutter had a great weekend after they caught eight goals on Sunday, but when I look at the data, they actually had more turnovers than I realized. As a coach, I can use this information to guide decisions: player rotations, skills to work on, adjustments to make, what strategies to practice and use, understanding my team’s and players’ strengths and weaknesses.
Some of that information is stuff that’s hard to get an accurate sense of with my own eyes, particularly while coaching. I use Statto currently, though it helps to be good at multitasking and having practice; I wouldn’t necessarily recommend tracking advanced stats and coaching by yourself, so you may want to ask for help from another person. Alternatively, if you have film of your games, you can go back and take stats after the fact. One of my favorite statistics is touch-to-turnover ratio, a simple offensive efficiency metric. Touches are unrealistic to track with the naked eye while coaching, but it’s only a few taps to get all of that information together with the device’s assistance.
Once play winds down — sometimes even on the Saturday evening after play — I’ll sit down and look over the numbers. Which players were performing to expectations? Perhaps someone had a productive day in limited minutes, and should get more time the next day or tournament. Or I’ll open up and see we had an inordinate amount of turnovers between handlers, and need to spend some time working with that subgroup to build chemistry. And when players ask for feedback a few days after the tournament, I’m able to contextualize and recall using the touch-by-touch data I’ve tracked.
And to be honest with you, it’s fun for me. For the same reasons I enjoy the games that led to my thoughts about Ultimate Timeout Theory, I enjoy the data analysis and the personnel tinkering that comes with it. It’s one of the elements of coaching I enjoy. It’s one tool a coach can turn to, not a requirement. If there are other parts of coaching you enjoy that are better uses of your time and effort, then you can focus there. But if you’re like me, you might enjoy playing more with data and using it to enhance your understanding of your team.
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TAGGED: Bring It In, Coaching, Statistics, Statto, Subscriber Paywall
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