Influencing Decision Makers:

Using Data Visualization To Inform Coaching Decisions & Maximize Training

In any sports team, the responsibility for important training-related decisions usually lies with the coaching staff, with the ultimate decision maker often being one person – the Head Coach.

But how can coaches be confident that their training programs are directly improving team performance? How do they know for certain that the decisions are appropriate to the current status of the players? Are the training sessions they design supporting individual player progression, or put those players at unnecessary risk of injury?

Ultimately – are coaches receiving the data they need to ensure that their decision making is as well-informed as possible?

Even at the highest levels of sport, we see impactful training decisions being made in isolation, mainly because data isn’t flowing quickly enough to the key decision makers. Medical staff, sports scientists and S&C practitioners have to ask themselves a question; is the data they collect really making any difference?

It is increasingly apparent that bridging gaps in data – and communicating that data – is the key to enhanced performance. Apollo’s bespoke reporting and data visualizations can do exactly that, in order to influence decision makers, optimize the training process, and increase the probability of winning.

 

Part 1: Creating Player Profiles For The Game Model:

Every team has a specific way of playing, known as a Tactical ‘Game Model’. This model is based around the playing philosophy of the Head Coach, and involves factors such as:

• Their chosen style of play,
• Their preferred formations,
• And what players are required to do in certain game situations.

This tactical blueprint creates very specific demands on each individual player, and this forms the foundation of everything that the players do in training.

All forms of training – whether it be technical, tactical, physical or psychological – must be implemented according to this overarching tactical philosophy, and be designed to improve the ability of the player to deliver the game plan during competitive situations.

To be of maximum value, the supplemental training that support staff perform with each individual player – such as strength & conditioning, injury prevention, and recovery – must transfer directly to the tactical principles of the team. For this degree of specificity to be achieved, multiple player data points and performance analysis must be merged together to generate individual Player Performance Profiles.

Effective player profiles are built and communicated through a report which highlights those performance metrics relevant to the Game Model. Creating such a report requires customized data visualizations to be designed which allow coaches to access important player information from multiple departments in a clear, precise and easily understandable way.

This will give each coach the specific information they need to constantly refine their training plans, and optimize the process of player development.

To address this challenge, Apollo created Athlete 360.

Athlete 360 is a single page, player profile which summarizes all essential performance data in one place – essentially, it is the Performance Fingerprint of each player.

This fingerprint contains upper and lower thresholds which define the individual performance characteristics of the player, allowing coaches to generate more accurate targets for their training sessions, and putting data into a more relevant context.

Using Athlete 360 enables coaches to monitor player development trends using the metrics which contribute specifically to the characteristics of their unique Game Model. Data concerning wellness, physical outputs, gym performance, availability and workload – all of which are generated by different departments – is easily accessed and integrated, giving coaches the ability to track individual players in real time and quickly identify opportunities for improvement.

WHAT APOLLO CAN DO FOR YOU

Our system equips teams with the ability to generate custom-made data visualizations without software code. We have more API’s than any other system, which allows us to collect data from the multiple tools and systems staff are using, and then combine it efficiently to allow coaches to make informed decisions with their players.

We have Power Bi and Tableau integrated into our ecosystem, which enables us to build bespoke, best-in-class data reports designed to meet specific requirements and ensure that coaches receive the data driven insights they need, to inform decision making and influence positive change.

To learn more about using ApolloV2 for performance enhancement, email – alamb@apollov2.com.

Written by Adrian Lamb, ApolloV2 Sports Scientist

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