Research Summaries Research Summary 40 Using Online Technology | Page 3

Using Online Technology to Analyse Team Performance
What they did
Twelve coaches from rugby union and hockey were
recruited to take part in the study. All coached at a
performance level in amateur sport and had been using
video-based coaching technology for at least six months.
Typical uses of the technology included asking players to
view games/clips online to inform group discussions later
or to get players to comment (tag) clips online. The
researchers then interviewed the coaches and a selection
of players about their experience of using the technology,
based on the Complex Learning Theory.
Engaging players in their own learning
Active learning means that players are involved in their own
learning rather than passively receiving information. The
research found that using the technology did increase the
athlete involvement in the performance analysis process.
Several players highlighted the benefits of the coach posting
material online before matches and training as it gave them
time to think prior to training. As one player said, this
improved the quality of people’s answers as they were not
being put on the spot in training, panicking and saying the
first thing that came into their head.
Some coaches also felt that because video-based
technology added new ways to analyse a problem, this
ensured that a greater range of players were actively
involved in the process. Different people responded to
different analysis options. As one coach said, ‘Some people
like to visualise it and see it. Some people like to do it, and
some people like to be told how to do it.’
This final part of the comment reveals an essential truth of
video-based performance analysis outside professional
sport – it won’t work for everyone. Indeed, several players
commented that the last thing they wanted to do in their
spare time was ‘worry about watching an 80-minute game
of rugby’. These players preferred to be told what to do
rather than engage in analysis.
Learning from one another
Social learning is concerned with the communication and
interaction between players in the learning process. The
coaches felt that the technology helped create a culture of
learning when there was positive engagement from all
team members. One coach mentioned how he felt that
commenting online gave everyone an equal voice
‘regardless of whether you’ve got 100 caps or one cap’.
For other coaches, the main advantage was going through
the video as a team and getting people to feed back on
what they are seeing.