Initial Steps in a Data Analysis Pathway: 2

Welcome Back!!

Lets get straight back into it, bit more meat to todays post…

After the previous post we have 2 separate spreadsheets: regularly collected data; not so regularly collected data. For simplicity lets call the regular data file “Everyday Data” and the not so regular data file “Basic Information”.

Let’s start with the “Basic Information’ file, which should still be blank unless you’ve raced ahead of me! The following are groups of information I would look to store on separate sheets within this file:

• Player Information Columns
  • Name
  • Unique ID (i.e. squad number in football, a quick reference number unique to this player)
  • Squad Status (Senior, U23, U18 or Group 1/2/3 etc.)
  • Position
    • Perhaps further positional breakdown depending on sport i.e. Backs/Forwards in rugby
  • Date of Birth
  • First Name
  • Last Name (Some software exports only reference surnames)
  • Max Heart Rate (Not particularly necessary but can be useful)
  • Min Heart Rate
  • Max Velocity (In meters per second!, humans do not move in km/hr ;))
    • Can be useful to break down 70%, 80%, 90% of Vmax here
  • Any data you collect which relies on baseline data this can be added here (One caveat, screening data with a large number of assessments, a separate sheet is probably best)
  • If you regularly contact athletes using phone numbers, emails, or addresses storing that info here is an option

• Season Information Columns
  • Season (Useful to keep as whole number rather than split i.e. 20182019 not 2018/2019, some softwares won’t like the “/” present)
  • Week Number/Name (Can be split by offseason(OS), preseason(PS), inseason(IS) or oppositions name)
  • Date (Pick a date format you use in every sheet to prevent conflicts)
  • Day Type (Training, Match, Recovery, Off, Travel etc.)
  • Competition Type (League, Cup, Domestic Cup, European Cup etc.).
    • If opposition not present in Week column, adding here would be useful.
  • Home/Away/Venue (Game location).
    • Different surface types (Grass, Deso, Articifial, Sand-Based etc) can be included here
    • “Turn Around Time” or “Time Between Games” can also be added here
  • Finally, a MatchDay Reference is advisable i.e. Matchday -1, Matchday -1, MatchDay +1 etc.

Thats our Basic Information file sorted now!

Thanks for reading, come back again for the first step….2.5 up next!