My name is Hai-Binh Ly and I was asked by Josh Bryan to write something about my experience as a performance analyst on the Visual Performance Analysis website.  So here I am.

Much of my learning experiences can be viewed on my blog http://thevolleyballanalyst.blogspot.com (shameless plug!) so I won’t bother retelling my story here.  However, I did want to write a quick post about two quotes that encapsulate my work ethos as a performance analyst and life in general:

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand. – Confucius

I am a big advocate of this quote.  Theory is fine in the classrooms but you not cannot expect to make that connection in practice without practice.  It is only in practice where you learn how things are really done and it is where you see the potential problems that might occur.  This also applies in coaching.  You cannot expect players to carry out tactics successfully if they have never practiced it before.

My second quote is this:

Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. – Thomas A. Edison

The first quote (learning by doing) is the only the first part.  You have to keep “doing” if you want to become good at it.  It is completing that mythical 10,000 practice hours if you want to become a true expert in the field.  Success in life only comes with hard work and nothing less.

Thank you for reading this.  I will write something about my performance analysis learning experiences in the future (I do not normally preach).  Again, please check out my blog at http://thevolleyballanalyst.blogspot.com

Hai-Binh Ly