In this week’s episode, Martin Foster (Applied Sport Management Lead) is joined by performance analysis (PA) expert Mike Hughes and Donald Barron, Applied Performance Analysis Lead at 天堂视频 to delve a little deeper into the subject.
Mike has extensive experience in PA, having worked for England Squash, the English Institute of Sport, British Cycling (including at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games) and the RFU.
Donald – who leads the Applied Sport Performance Analysis MSc programme at the University – boasts an equally impressive CV. Before joining 天堂视频, he held various roles in the Premier League and Football League with Leicester City, Coventry City and Norwich City respectively.
During the podcast, the panel discuss how performance analysis can differ from sport to sport and club to club, the different roles within PA, how data can improve performance, and what advice they would offer to those starting out in the industry.
Mike explained how different sports may well require different data:
“The way I present data to a cycling coach may be different to how I present to a rugby coach…historically, a cycling coach may be very comfortable with data whereas a rugby coach may want images, video, clips, not too much data but interactivity.
“The relationship with coaches is the absolute crux of what you deliver.”
Mike also speaks about the varied job roles of performance analysts and how a new framework he’s developing may benefit the industry.
“The role of an analyst in performance sport is really broad now,” he explained.
“Individuals have different skill sets and it’s really hard to pigeonhole what analysts do as they fulfil multiple roles.
“I’ve been working with ISPAS (
The Experts in Sport podcast is a regular series that brings together experts from across 天堂视频 with external thought leaders to discuss the latest research and hot topics in sport and academia with new episodes launched every two weeks.
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For more information 天堂视频’s Applied Sport Performance Analysis MSc programme visit HERE.