Video Analysis and Weaknesses – 50 for 50 Ideas #36 and #37

posted on: October 23, 2018
author: Brian Lomax, Ed.D.

One of the major trends in sports these days is the use of technology and data analytics to help athletes improve their performances. This is especially prevalent at the professional level. However, with smart phones, video cameras, performance apps, etc., the technology to assist athletes is available to everyone regardless of level. One of the best ways that you can use technology to improve your game is through the use of video analysis.

Idea # 37 – Use Video Analysis to see what’s working and what could be better

Have you ever seen a video of yourself playing your sport? Probably not. I’m 50 years old and I have never seen video of one of my matches. However, the ability to get video of yourself competing is becoming easier and easier. If you play a team sport, it’s likely that your coach films practices and games. If you are a tennis player, more and more clubs are setting up camera systems that provide video footage as well as analytical data. Talk to your coach about getting access to this video or about reserving time to be filmed.

Once you have access to the video, analyze it for the following and take notes.

• What’s working?
• What could be better?
• Describe your body language
• Describe your energy and effort level

During this exercise, it’s likely that you will see something that you never realized you were doing. Or perhaps you’ll think something looks a bit strange. That’s OK. In fact, it’s part of the objective of reviewing this video. To improve your performances, you need all the information you can get.

After you’ve analyzed the video and taken notes, talk to your coach about your observations. Ask her what she saw in the video. This is a great opportunity for you and your coach to come up with a plan for general improvement.

Idea #36 – Develop a plan for one of your “weaknesses”

If you are a regular reader of this blog, then you know that I use a strengths based approach in my work. I love the idea of developing super-strengths, and I’m very careful in how I refer to those areas of performance that aren’t quite strengths. However, for the purposes of this post, let’s call those sub-optimal areas what most people call them: weaknesses.

You probably know what your weaknesses are as a competitor. You may have even seen one or more of them during your video analysis. Make a list of them and then determine which one is holding you back the most. It could be technical or mental. In fact, most technical issues have mental components associated with them so it could be helpful to write about them in that way.

Now that you’ve identified that big weakness, you need a plan to address it. Part of that plan has to be knowing what you want this skill to look like in the future. Can you imagine yourself performing this skill well in competition? Write down what that looks like. Once you’ve got the vision, work with your coach (or on your own) to create process (improvement) goals to help you get there. Those process goals can drive your training for the next several months.

If you decide to do a video analysis of your performance(s), let me know how the process goes and what you learned from it. I’m keen to learn from your experiences.