| I created one that I could hand to non-dressing players, assistant coaches, or do myself when letting someone else manage the sideline. I just simply made a table with several columns which could take down short data in a quick manner. I can't find it at the mo, but think the columns had the following headings Contact Type - AO / DO, AR / DR, AM / DM (attacking/defending offload, ruck, maul) Zone - (This is one area I want to improve, I started by gridding the field into eight sections, but I haven't been able to quickly remember the zones - i.e. 1 and 2 are two halves of their 22, 7 and 8 two halves of our 22, 3 and 4 their half 22m-half, etc. I also tried a little code that sort of relayed a more-specific location, Attacking 5m Left Post became A5LP, Defending 10m line Centre became D10C, and so on. That was quicker, but no one else knew what I was talking about when I did stats for the First Team coach and passed them on, even with a 'legend' of sorts.) I think either will suit me, but I just need more practice. Sometimes I don't find it necessary at all, as I just want to see continuity, but when working with a higher level team, I want to see trends - how they use phases in various parts of the field. Won / Lost - W / L Forward / Backward - F / B Result - (a little more space to note how phases ended: try, turnover, kick, etc. and by whom if I want to notice trends in that respect) I draw a little line under this box to signify the end of a series of phases, so if I hadn't time to write why/how it happened, I can always see where it did and maybe go back and try and remember later. ... it sounds complicated, even as I write, but really it's just about putting letter and number marks down. The first time was a bit messy, but if you can have a seat somewhere away from other people, it gets easier and I was surprised how much MORE information I was taking in as opposed to just watching and thinking that I was analysing a lot of information. But I might also recommend getting a video camera if the budget allows. I just bought a Canon Mini DV which has a 90 minute LP capacity for $250. They're being over-taken by HDD and SD versions for quality and storage space, but they can run up to $1000. I just shot a full game with my 'older style' camera and it looks great for analysis purposes. With a kind volunteer to run the camera, I can focus on many things (solo coaching right now) and do my analysis when I get home.
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