Tuesday, November 30, 2021

Quantitative and Qualitative Modeling

 


Legendary basketball coach Don Meyer described three phases of coaching - blind enthusiasm, sophisticated complexity, and mature simplicity. Obviously, these aren't always mutually exclusive. 

Blind enthusiasm - "outhustle them, outwork them"

Sophisticated complexity - break the game down into an almost infinite amount of detail, teach it, and analyze what is working and isn't

Mature simplicity - Do what we do a lot well, better than our opponents. 

In Game Changer, sport scientist Fergus Connolly favors breaking the game into macro moments - offense, defense, and the transitions between, and micro moments, the "details of execution." 

As you face better competition, "absolute superiority" becomes less realistic. You can schedule it (so-called CUPCAKES) but that will hurt you in the postseason. So, smart teams focus on creating "relative superiority" and capitalizing on those moments. 

That includes overall player development with advantages in serving or blocking pairs. In other sports, like basketball, we might get advantage through pressure defense, transition, or mismatches via creating switches. 

For the individual, it often boils down to "what is your unique skill" that will get you on the court and keep you on the court? And some of that (e.g. serve percentage, aces, attack efficiency) is measurable. 


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