I recently invited VPA to Farleigh House, Bath Rugby’s training facility, to give them an insight into the performance analysis environment at the club. We strongly encourage our players, from first team to academy and even our senior schools players, to take ownership of their preparation and post match reflections using the equipment and large visual resource we have within the department.
Darren Lewis
Head Analyst Bath Rugby
June 7th, 2012 at 10:35 PM
Hi Darren, my name is Charlie Barwis I’m currently studying at UWIC and will be undertaking a dissertation into the actual role of an elite level analyst in rugby union this september. I found the video very insightful into the daily role of an analyst and in particular the depths you coerce with the players. I’m wondering from your experiences thus far how this differs from club to club and what type of expectations are placed upon you and your team from head coaches and directors of rugby?
What I would like to link my dissertation around is how significant the skills taught at UG and PG level transfer into a professional environment and whether considering the pace of the industry, certain aspects that are an integral part to an analyst role are not being taught at the university stage.
Regards
Charlie Barwis
June 9th, 2012 at 2:05 PM
Hey Charlie, thanks for posting.
I’m afraid I can’t comment on differences between club to club, but I have been lucky enough to work with different coaches. The coaches I have worked with at the club have been slightly different in terms of
a) Their expectations of my performance analysis department
b) how THEY want to see information presented and also how they choose to deliver elements of information to the team as a whole or individually.
My opinion is that as an analyst, my absolute priority is to provide the coaches with the information they need to prepare the team for games. This then followed by making sure that every possible resource is available for the players for their individual prep. Then it’s up to me to look for other trends in our own and opponents performances, collate that information (video/stats) and present it to the coaches.
Having gone through the UG and most of the PG analysis modules at Cardiff Met (UWIC) the knowledge I gained has proved very valuable. Everyone who sits in on a lecture will all hear the same things. It’s the intuitive people who then get themselves back into the lab to try and use what they’ve learned, twist it, modify it and then apply it somehow who will actually get the most out of those sessions and learn even more. Whether that is using the analysis software, playing with spreadsheets searching for neat ways to present data or getting out and filming one of the teams compete on a Wednesday afternoon.
Good luck with your studies, never say no to any kind of opportunity and try to apply something you’ve learnt in a lecture.
Thanks,
Darren