How does video analysis benefit sports performance?

With the advancement of digital video and technology over the past several years, there has been a clear increase in the use of video analysis as a coaching tool in sport.

Video analysis allows athletes to take a more critical look at their performance in order to improve skills and prevent injury. Recording a player’s performance allows you to find clips that you wouldn’t necessarily have been able to see with the naked eye.

With the help of suitable video analysis tools and a professional to analyse the motions, athletes can get help to recognise mistakes, identify their strong points and often receive an entirely different, fresh perspective on their sport performance. This allows players to accelerate their development in their sport and get ahead of the competition.

1. Injury Prevention

Poor technique and body positioning is a contributor to sports injuries. Analysing movement with videos can help identify specific habits that are adding to pain and injury. With help from the video footage, once the action is identified, the player can learn the correct technique in order to prevent additional pain or injury.

After an injury has occurred, video analysis can also be used to track progress and the road to recovery. This can increase the speed of recovery and help players to go back out on the court/pitch as fast as possible. Click here for a little more information on the steps that can be taken aside from video analysis in American Football.

2. Individual – Review & Comparison

It is recommended that a player reviews video footage in order to prevent any past negative habits and ensure they maintain consistency of any actions corrected. Comparison videos can also be used during video analysis.

A recent study showed that a tennis player who compared their video analysis to those of a professional tennis player doing the same skills, improved faster than they would have compared to just regular practice and coaching alone without video analysis. Being able to review and compare visually is really important as 65% of people are visual learners.

3. Team Development

In invasion games like rugby, coaches are often too busy during games and don’t always have the time to focus on each players’ individual performance. Having someone record the footage so it can be analysed later gives the coaches a chance to look at individual performances. Once a players’ video analysis is done, the player and the coach can develop a strategy by addressing any weaknesses and taking advantage of any strengths that are observed to help with overall team development. Click here for an interesting video on how Derby County Football Club use video analysis.

Conclusion

Ultimately, coaches and players have the potential to benefit hugely from video analysis. It is proven (when done effectively) that video analysis can increase speed of development, when compared to analysing live with the naked eye. In sport, the focus is often on how we can innovate and progress forward, learning from our past mistakes and becoming better players / coaches / analysts. Do you think video analysis helps sports develop?How would you use video analysis to benefit performance in your sport?