The data collection in volleyball

"As my team played today? In the game we were able to achieve the goals we set ourselves during the week?"These are typical questions that a coach should ask yourself at the end of each race of his team. Often the answers, especially immediately after the end of the game, They are influenced by the result of the same; gathering information during meetings and workouts (typically known by the term "scoutizzazione") It helps provide more objective answers to the above questions.

In almost all team sports in the United States there is a method which gives an "objective" assessment, each athlete; for example in the basket for each player knows exactly how many points does on average per game, How many assists and so on. In the Italian volleyball horse between the eighties and nineties it has been developed a similar system mainly thanks to the work of two major technical (Julio Velasco and Doug Beal) and software development company to Dataproject. The requirement was to be able to evaluate players based on parameters as much as possible objective and not influenced by the outcome of a single match or a championship.

And 'why now in all the technical staff of the top teams it is the figure of the scoutman that the person dedicated to collect and analyze information during the race, to transfer them in real time on the bench.

Defined the culmination (that is the objective evaluation of players) We have to decide how to proceed, ie define a model to achieve this. A model is nothing but a simplified representation of reality, ie a "box" which simulates a real situation and on the basis of input data it helps to make decisions.

One thing to always keep in mind is that any model supports but does not make decisions in our place.

Scoutizzare means transforming a performance model (typically the athlete's behavior in the game) in a mathematical model that takes into account only the substantial characteristics of the service itself, Which:

• Players in the field: have evaluated the individual athletes and not just in the overall behavior of the team;
• Techniques game: in other words as fundamental are analyzed (service, reception, etc.) and with what level of detail (generic attack, attack high ball, of fastball, from the second line, etc.)
• game Schemes: especially relating to the attack (attack in the first time near the setter, set, fast, etc.);
• Votes: the set of judgments that are attributed to each individual techniques; generally they vary from three to six depending on the level of detail of scoutizzazione.

Combining this information you will get the evaluation indices for each player (and as a result of the team) in the execution of each fundamental. In volleyball using various ratios among which the main ones are:

• Number of shots;
• % of Positivity: is the relationship between the shots that bring benefit to the team and total hits (is: n ° point attacks / Total No. of attacks); It is an indicator of how a gaming technique is well performed;
• % Efficiency: It is given by the difference between the number of strokes that bring benefit minus the number of errors divided by the total number of strokes (is: (Wrong-walled attacks point-attacks attacks)/ No. total attacks); it is an indicator of how each affects the score playing technique.

All these indices are used in different ways that can be grouped into three families:

• Preparing a race tactics: according to the study carried out on members of the opposing team (always in relation to our), the objectives are to look at the service, or the most likely directions of attack and therefore priority to be marked for the wall or the defense; also are studied in depth the "joints" between the two sextets trying to choose the best starting rotation for the crossings between strikers and the wall, or between the service and the reception line;
• Management of the race in real time: during the game athletes are monitored in real time to verify that the established race tactics to be applied and provide the desired results and to obtain a more objective evaluation of the meeting; is also transmitted to the terminal on the bench a streaming video delayed for a few seconds to allow the coach to review the action just ended;
• In training: during the week to have indexes to their team it allows you to establish properly the objectives of the exercises (He is an athlete has 55% receptions good in the league, a consistent goal will be 6 well executed shots of 10, but it will not be a target of workout 8 good shots of 10 because it is too hard as a 4 shots of 10 because too bland); Furthermore the scoutizzazione during training increases the athlete's mental stress approaching the threshold that must endure during the race (which it is otherwise difficult to be simulated);

Over the years we have been developed various supporting software for data management in sports. Undoubtedly the leading company in this field is the Dataproject (for information www.dataproject.com) who designed the DATAVOLLEY which is the best model currently available for a reality volleyball (fig. 1). Just in recent weeks he is entering the new "CLICK on the market&SCOUT”, the scoutizzazione software also suitable for touch-screan devices intuitive and, for this, very easy to learn. Another software used for tactical preparation of the race MATCH-UP, a program that lets you choose the ideal initial rotation based on that provided for the opponent;

in a discipline such as volleyball fact, especially with the advent of the rally point system, it is important (sometimes decisive) choose the "joints" between attack and suitable wall or between the service and the reception line, as well as the best sextet to send to the field.

The usefulness of scoutizzazione is evident in the most High level, where maybe a choice on the wall or up front can make a difference to win a set in a final, but it is also very high in so-called minor leagues, where surely it is not necessary to go into much depth analysis detail. Especially during video-teaching resume training and matches can be, indeed, a great help to ensure that athletes can meet again and note areas for improvement in their technical gestures. Similarly take account of errors or strokes instead performed correctly will give an improvement index for each athlete.