2020 setting out plans with your team for the season.

A Happy New Year to all. I hope you all enjoyed the festive period. It's that time of year again when all across the country are having those team meetings and begin to prepare for 2020. Player's meet new and returning managers, plans for the season ahead are put in place. S&C work for preseason, when players will go through some fitness testing, trying to schedule challenge matches. As statistics and analytics grow more prevalent and popular among GAA teams, performance analysts are being included in these discussions. Analysts are now, having those winter conversations with management teams and committees about what you can bring to the table and how you can support the club. However, recent findings from UCD indicate that the role of an analyst is often misunderstood by players and management and that the burden of work on analysts is making the role unsustainable in some cases. So with that being said this time of year is extremely important to an analyst to iron out what their role will be with their teams and demonstrate what they can contribute to the team.

To clarify our role as an analyst we need to identify what KPI's we'll be tracking, what aspects of the game we'll be breaking down. With this information, we will be able to gauge the time and effort required to complete this work. Often when we ask managers what sort of stats they are looking for they might say something along the lines, 'the usual stuff'. This vague answer has two issues, their interpretation of usual or standard stats could be very different to yours' but it also indicates that the coach may not know how he intends to use the stats and analysis you will provide. These generic answers will make it difficult for you to be able to create insights especially when the coach doesn't know what they are looking for. If this is the case challenge the coach.

As for the more specific questions, ask a coach or manager what KPI's they value and why they value them. This will help you get an understanding of what is important to the management and what they value. Therefore you will be able to identify measures that are important to the management's long term goals and their style of play. Don't be afraid to challenge them on their topics. Ask them how the KPI's they want to use will provide insight and coaching points and in addition to this, how will they use these insights to inform decisions and their coaching. If you can work with the management offer to identify what value the KPI's will add to their coaching and player feedback then we can consider it a valuable tool. Don't be afraid to challenge the management on their assessment of KPI's but on the flip side don't dismiss differing opinions, it is possible that both interpretations of the KPI are correct.

Following on from this you can ask them how they want to play. What style of football will they be implementing? From this, you can assess what will be indicators of positive and negative performances. A team's style of play will dictate what was a good or poor decision, what are valuable traits to the team. With this information and your experience, an analyst should be able to identify what KPI's they can offer to coaches will add value and insight. These KPI's based around the team's style of play will offer unique value to this team as it will be specific to how they want to play the game. These KPI's will help coaches identify what aspects of their game plan are the players best adapting to and what aspects will need continued work in training.

I would always ask a management team what is their experience in using statistics and analysis. It will allow you as an analyst to frame your message in a way that will best get across what you want to say. It will ensure you don't take something for granted when speaking with the management and avoid miscommunication for those who have less experience with analytics. On the flip side if they have reasonable years of experience and perhaps have been an analyst themselves before you will be in a position to skip past some of the basics and avoid wasting time on these.

I would always encourage analysts to be visual in these meetings. Bring samples of match reports, demonstrate a sample video session. Show the management what you have to offer them rather than tell them and allow them to see what value you can offer in your role as an analyst. Ask them to engage with the templates and ask them for their feedback to ensure your template is correct for the team. I would recommend showing them your workflow so they fully understand the work you put into analyzing a game and how you go about doing it. Don't fear that the manager might steal your way of doing things and do it themselves. If they value you as their analyst they will not take your ideas and run, they will engage with your process and appreciate the work you do to conduct the analysis.

One of the more challenging conversations which are important to have is to discuss expectations. By demonstrating the workflow to your management team they will become aware of how much work your analysis requires. Agree on realistic timelines as to when you will be able to turn games around and how long it takes to prepare video sessions. Agree what is expected of you. This will help prevent you from getting dragged into taking on too many tasks. If you have a core agreement of what you will do and when you do it anything additional and extra can be asked as a discretionary request which you can accept or reject to take on depending on your time available. At the end of the day, this is our way of being involved in football. We, in addition, have full-time jobs, families, friends and other pastimes that all require attention. By managing expectations of GAA managers in terms of what you can do you will ensure that the GAA season will not engulf you at the expense of the rest of your life.