What Is In A Name? Are We All Performance Analysts?

Keith Lyons

Centre for Notational Analysis, Cardiff

Porto 1998

Introduction

◆ Bom Dia!◆ I am honoured and delighted to be here.◆ I would like to discuss the issue of

performance in sport with you.◆ I would like to share with you a vision of a

twenty-first century sport science ignited by the work we can do.

◆ Desculpe. Nao falo portugues!

Alternative Vision

◆ We have a wonderful opportunity to change the ways in which performance is understood.

◆ We can do this by placing whatever we do in notational analysis at the centre of sports science activity.

◆ We are mature enough to question what it is we do and how we do it.

Some Personal Background◆ I have been involved in

the analysis of performance since 1980.

◆ I am fascinated by the history of ideas in notational analysis.

◆ I have worked with international teams as a coach and as a performance analyst.

◆ Since 1992 I have been the director of a centre for notational analysis in Cardiff.

◆ We now have 17 researchers working with 7 sports.

◆ We have worked at World Cups and an Olympic Games.

The Missing Four Years!

◆ I last attended an ISNA Congress in 1994.◆ Working with coaches and performers has

taken up all my time since then.◆ Part of a changing culture: world class

performance plans.◆ But fortunate enough to supervise a PhD in

notational analysis (Potter, 1998)

Notational Analysis

◆ This is the fourth world congress of notational analysis.

◆ There is a growing global community of researchers who use notation to record performance in sport.

◆ We have access to increasingly sophisticated technology to facilitate our analysis of performance.

A Dynamic Enterprise?

◆ How can we develop our work to meet the demands of a world of sport that poses at least two challenges?

1. To theorise practice?

2. To transform performance?

A Theory of Practice?

◆ We have worked to map the content of sport.

◆ Our origins are rooted in the emergence of an academic area of study.

◆ We are attempting to theorise.

But what kind of theory do we have?

Do we have a language for performance …

that is gender neutral …

that has diverse methods and forms ...

that transcends and transforms sport science discourse?

How do we make our research public?

◆ We re-present data.

◆ We produce a “documentary reality”.

◆ We share a story using a narrative structure.

Forms of Re-presentation (1)

A social dimension in human experience is achieved by employing forms of re-presentation …

Forms of Representation (2)

The kinds of nets we know how to weave determine the kinds of nets we cast.

Forms of Representation (3)

The particular form of representation one selects places constraints upon what one is able to say, regardless of the level of skill one possesses or the variety of techniques one knows how to use.

Breaking Away?

By Being Creative

Working within forms of representation provides the individual with an opportunity not only to perform in the role of maker but in the role of critic as well.

How?

Connoisseurship

and

Criticism

Connoisseurship

◆ Connoisseurship is the private art of appreciation.

The length of time spent at a sports event is not necessarily an indication of the level of connoirseurship someone has achieved.

◆ Looking/Seeing ◆ Recognising/Perceiving

Criticism

◆ Criticism is the art of disclosure.◆ The public side of connoisseurship.◆ Criticism renders experience and points to

significance.◆ It depends on purposes, maps, models and

theories in use.

At this World Congress

◆ Papers and posters◆ Conversations with

friends◆ Translations◆ Concepts◆ Empirical Study◆ New work◆ Long term study

◆ Data◆ Philosophical

conjecture◆ Mutual recognition

Modes of Enquiry

◆ Quantitative

◆ Qualitative

◆ They differ in how they choose to inform the world about what they have seen.

◆ Judgement about when and for what purposes each mode is appropriate

At Cardiff

◆ We have been interested in making permanent records of performance.

◆ We have made video archives of sport.◆ Non-linear technology has transformed

what we can do.◆ But we wonder if we have captured

‘performance’?

Can ‘Performance’ Enable Us to Build a Theory of Practice?

◆ Empirical evidence is collected in ‘ecologically’ sound contexts.

◆ We can combine systematic observation with the meanings performers attach to their actions. (‘Verstehen’)

◆ ‘Objective audit’ provides data for interdisciplinary activity.

◆ But … is ‘performance’ more than a sum of parts?

Narrative Structure of Performance?

◆ How do we read ‘performance individually and collectively ’?

◆ Can we develop a language to deal with the art of performance? What would our narrative account look like/sound like?

◆ A language open enough to incorporate ‘connoisseur’, ‘verstehen’ and ‘viagem’.

Representing Performance?

◆ We try to represent performance through visual, oral and written narratives.

◆ Much of our work uses video as triggers.◆ We think we have to be sensitive to

multiple intelligences (different ways of knowing and being in the world).

Thick Description

Can we develop accounts of performance that are sufficiently rich in observation and interpretation that we can provide thick description?

Challenge and Transform

◆ To challenge how performance is

presented.◆ To encourage sports scientists to engage in

cross-disciplinary conversations.◆ To transform our work with performers into

an interdisciplinary adventure.

Why?

Twenty-First Century Sport

◆ Will demand innovative approaches to performance development.

◆ Will need very close links between analysts, coaches and performers.

◆ Will require talented, imaginative and open thinkers and doers who can link theory and practice.

An Example: The Recovering Athlete

◆ Optimising performance in training.

◆ Managing recovery within a tournament.

◆ Rehabilitation after injury.

◆ Overcoming long term illness.

Another Example:Soccer Officiating

◆ ‘Discretionary Time’◆ Ball in Play Time◆ Psychological Crisis Vulnerability◆ Rules in Use◆ Verbal and Non-verbal Behaviour

A View from the Water’s Edge

◆ I believe that we are all performance analysts.◆ I think we have a central role to play in twenty-

first century sports science.◆ If we can dare to be different.◆ And develop a language of performance that is

enriched by distinctive cultural differences.◆ But that recognises there is a common,

empowering discourse we can have about sports performance.

A Real Difference?

◆ I am NOT suggesting we become less ‘scientific’.

◆ I am suggesting that we can enrich what we do by exploring how we work WITH others.

◆ So that we make a real difference to all our lives!

Praxis: a fusion of theory and practice

◆ We are in a strong position as performance analysts to become a meta-discipline for sports science.

◆ We can integrate fundamental and applied research in a creative way.

◆ We can not only theorise about the world we can work within sport to change performance.

Elliot Eisner

The time has come, I believe, to look to other views, not as a rejection of the old ones, but for the promise that a fresh perspective can provide.