Match analysis is a performance-diagnostic procedure, which can be used to carry out systematic gaming analysis during competition and training. The analysis of team and racket sports, whether in competition, for opponent preparation (match plan), follow-up, or training is nowadays indispensable in many sports games at different levels. This analysis nevertheless presents many open questions and problem areas: Which data should be used? Who manages the data? Who provides whom with which information? How is this information presented, digested, and applied? The more complex and anonymous the data management is, the more commercial, expensive, and uncontrollable information management and provision becomes. Match Analysis: How to Use Data in Professional Sport is the first book to examine this topic through three types of data sets; video, event, and position data and show how to interpret this data and apply the findings for better team and individual sport performance. This innovative new volume is key reading for researchers, students, and practitioners alike in the fields of Coaching, Performance Analysis, Sport Management, and related specific sport disciplines.

Appealing to a wide audience, this ground-breaking handbook takes an in-depth look at soccer match analysis, highlighting the latest in match analysis research and the innovative technologies now being used by professional soccer clubs around the world. Bridging the gap between research, theory and practice, these methods can be used by coaches, sport scientists and fitness coaches to assess and improve: styles of play, technical ability and physical fitness objective performance feedback to players the development of specific training routines use of available notation software, video analysis and manual systems understanding of current academic research in soccer notational analysis. This is the first book to focus exclusively on football, and is based on the authors' extensive experience in academic and professional match analysis.

Sport performance analysis techniques help coaches, athletes and sport scientists develop an objective understanding of actual sport performance, as opposed to self-report, fitness tests or laboratory based experiments. For example, contemporary performance analysis enables elite sports people and coaches to obtain live feedback of match statistics and video sequences using flexible internet systems, systems that have become an indispensible tool for all those involved in high performance sport. The Routledge Handbook of Sports Performance Analysis is the most comprehensive guide to this exciting and dynamic branch of sport science ever to be published. The book explores performance analysis across the four main contexts in which it is commonly used: support for coaches and athletes; the media; judging sport contests, and academic research. It offers an up-to-date account of methodological advances in PA research, assesses the evidence underpinning contemporary theories of sport performance, and reviews developments in applied PA across a wide range of sports, from soccer to track and field athletics. Covering every important aspect of PA, including tactics, strategy, mechanical aspects of technique, physical aspects of performance such as work-rate, coach behaviour and referee behaviour, this is an essential reference for any serious student, researcher or practitioner working in sport performance analysis, sport coaching or high performance sport.

These 120 drills and small games all contain a competitive element which will help motivate young players to stay involved and play to the best of their ability. Coaches will find these exercises very useful to gear a practice session to the needs and skill level of their players. Each drill includes a clear diagram, an objective, a detailed description with scoring rules and a discussion of the techniques involved. An ideal handbook for any coach looking for new ways to keep his or her players interested and motivated while learning the skills and tactical elements of the game.

Opening, middlegame and endgame are the three universally recognized stages of a game of chess, but what about the art of preparation? Winning starts with planning before the game, teaches legendary chess trainer Vladimir Tukmakov in this enlightening and entertaining work on a neglected subject. Exploring and understanding, prior to the game, the strengths and weaknesses of your next opponent and being aware of your own strong points and shortcomings, are a key to success. Tukmakov describes how planning has become a systematic process, how methodical preparation works, and which critical steps you have to take. The role of the computer in preparing for a game has grown tremendously, and Modern Chess Preparation explains how it is used by top players to get organized for success. But you will also learn the limitations on the use of chess engines and databases and how disastrous it can be to overly respect them and rely on them. A separate chapter is devoted on how to prepare for all-important games, games that will decide a tournament, a match or a even an entire career. Modern Chess Preparation is about more than just opening preparation. It also teaches you how to immerse yourself in order to find the best approach to the game. With powerful anecdotes and many instructive high-level games, Tukmakov explains how, as a competitive chess player, you can organize your homework, focus your efforts, and arrive at a viable game plan. Vladimir Tukmakov is a chess grandmaster and a former national champion of Ukraine. In his active career he won many tournaments as well as gold medals in international team competitions. He is universally acknowledged as an outstanding chess trainer and coach. ,

The tennis classic from Olympic gold medalist and ESPN analyst Brad Gilbert, now featuring a new introduction with tips drawn from the strategies of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams, Andy Murray, and more, to help you outthink and outplay your toughest opponents. A former Olympic medalist and now one of ESPN’s most respected analysts, Brad Gilbert shares his timeless tricks and tips, including “some real gems” (Tennis magazine) to help both recreational and professional players improve their game. In the new introduction to this third edition, Gilbert uses his inside access to analyze current stars such as Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal, showing readers how to beat better players without playing better tennis. Written with clarity and wit, this classic combat manual for the tennis court has become the bible of tennis instruction books for countless players worldwide.