Analytics, is the buzz hockey phrase of the day is it not? So many people talking about the numbers, and comparing it to money ball. Breaking down, individual shifts, games, series, and just about every other thing possible.
This is no new thing. Coaches have been doing this for many years. They just haven’t called it Analytics, or used all of the numerical equations that are available today. Some of us have been looking at players effectiveness based on numbers for decades.
To me though, there is the different form of Analytics. One that I like to talk about to player who sometime need the wake up call.
I call it the Finite Games Calculator.
As player, we are all born with a FINITE NUMBER of games. This number is one we do not know, and will not know until we actually reach the end of that finite number of games.
Some player are born with thousands of games, some born with hundreds, but we all have a limited number of games. We do not know when we will have the injury that ends it, or when our talent no longer gets it done, or when someone else make the decision for us that our playing days are over.
Think about this.
Now think about every game you play and do not give 100% effort.
Because you have a finite number of games, each game you only play at 90% effort, or 75% effort is a game you can not get back.
Thinking you can bank those percentages of effort saved is not possible because you have a limited amount of games to begin with. You can not bank percentage points to add games to you pre determined finite number of games.
You can not play at 125% the game after you play at 75%. It is numerically impossible. So each game you play less than full effort, is essentially a game lost.
When you give less than full effort, you only cheat you self. Only one person ever get to understand those Analytics, and that’s you when you career is over.
These number only say one thing to the true player. Never leave anything left in the tank when the whistle blow.
Coach
