Performance analysis is a discipline that consists of a series of processes that track the variables of an athlete’s performance. This can be anything from sprint speed, distance run, or maximum height jumped. This is done in order to collect data and analyse it to ensure that an athlete can perform to the best of their ability.
The data that performance analysts collect is extremely valuable to pretty much every member of a team’s backroom staff. Recovery staff, nutrition staff, tactical staff and many more all rely on receiving the most up-to-date and reliable data so as to do their job. This makes the role of performance analysts extremely important.
Their data is used and applied to the performance of athletes at every level in order to achieve maximum performance in their respective sports and be as successful as they possibly can.
So, what kind of practical skills can you learn from a sports performance analysis course? Let’s take a closer look.
- You will learn how to take both modern and traditional theoretical approaches to performance analysis and apply them to the practical world of elite sport.
- You will develop critical awareness and be able to decide for yourself what practices work best for your approach to the discipline.
- You will learn to collect, interpret, and apply data to aid you in your analyses.
- You will learn how to operate the latest technologies that aid analysts in order to develop the most relevant and applicable practices.
- You will learn how to work closely with both athletes and other backroom staff to deliver a program of performance that puts the athlete in the best possible position to succeed.
- You will learn how to conduct your own research, independent of other practitioners to inform your own practical abilities as a performance analyst.
In addition to practical skills, you will also learn skills that are transferrable across industries that are still extremely important in performance analysis.
- You will learn how to develop an understanding of practical issues relating to sports performance analysis and be capable of providing expert advice in dealing with them.
- You will learn how to work independently to plan and deliver work of a professional standard, showing initiative and originality.
- You will learn how to make tough decisions in high-pressure situations that will affect the outcome of athletic performance.
- You will learn how to work in a cohesive unit in order to deliver on a common objective.
Patrick Harding, performance coach for Formula 1 driver, Alex Albon, and professional boxer, Michael Conlan, is someone who understands the value of developing a broad skill set in order to deliver a programme of coaching that puts his clients in the best position.
Harding has worked in many sports including rugby, football, canoeing and boxing. He says that Formula 1 drivers are closest to the latter among the sports he has worked in previously.
“A lot of sports out there, your success is dependent on one or two bio motors of physical performance.
“Sprinting, distance running, high jump.
“Formula 1 would sit somewhere close to boxing in terms of needing a really broad skill set across a number of different elements of fitness to be successful," he explains.
Far beyond just sitting down and driving a car around a track, drivers experience extremely challenging conditions and require a body that can take on fierce loads while still being able to navigate corners, not to mention keeping in mind team strategy and all the variables that come with looking after a car.
One of the main challenges that face a driver is the sheer amount of G force they experience driving at the speeds they do.
This becomes even more prevalent when they enter and exit corners at high speed and in particular when going through consecutive corners.
Harding takes an example from the iconic Silverstone circuit.
“You take the sequence of corners between Maggotts and Becketts at Silverstone. There are four corners there.
“It’s a 3G, 4G, 5G and a 3G corner sequence.
“Somebody like Alex, with the weight of the head and the helmet, that’s anywhere up to 140kg of G force through the neck just through the one sequence," he explained.
That is just one run of a particular sequence that Harding says Albon could run through up to ‘120 or 130 times through a race weekend'.
Other factors Harding mentions include extreme heart rates, adrenaline fluctuation, dehydration as well as external environmental factors such as extreme heat, all of which affect a driver’s performance.
We are training the sports professionals of the future. If you would like to work in sports in a professional capacity, you can find a course, including our BSc (Hons) in Performance Analysis, that will provide you with the requisite education to do so.
Our sports courses are listed here.
To read more articles like this one, you can visit the Sports section of the Knowledge Zone.
If you would prefer to have a direct conversation with Johanna, you can contact her on 01-892-0024 or you can email her at jo.shaw@portobelloinstitute.com. Meetings with Jo can be booked through this link.
