Athletes and coaches use sports analysis to improve training techniques, enhance player development and increase team performance. It can help to put sporting events and outcomes into context too, so fans have a more meaningful understanding of the significance of an event.
A key part of sports analysis is opposition analysis – the study of how an opponent tries to overcome a team’s strengths and weaknesses. This allows coaches to make informed decisions on how best to counter an opposing team’s tactics and strategies.
It is also used to assess a player’s current level of play, allowing for targeted and specific training programmes. For example, if the data shows that a player struggles to take shots from outside the box, then the coach could develop specific shooting practice for this area.
Sports analytics is becoming increasingly popular, helped by the success of teams such as those portrayed in the 2011 film ‘Moneyball’. These teams are able to leverage data to identify undervalued players and make better informed decisions about how to utilize their available resources.
A key challenge for Sports analysis is that of finding a way to communicate the complexity and depth of the sport’s analytical findings to the wider audience. Often, it is the case that sports analysts have to rely on simplified, easy-to-understand language and statistics in order to gain the necessary public acceptance. This may limit the reach and effectiveness of the discipline. Thankfully, technology advancements are helping to address this issue by making it easier to access and analyse large volumes of data through video technology, GPS tracking devices and a variety of notational analysis software.