The most important things we can do as applied practitioners is clearly communicate the results we are observing with the athletes. Whether this is coming from a strength and conditioning standpoint, a sports medicine and return-to-play standpoint, or from a sports science/quantitative physiology lens; how, we communicate our data and observations is imperative to helping coaches get the most relevant information for the decisions they need to make.
Unfortunately, we often fumble the ball with respect to our ability to clearly articulate the athlete process (and I’m guilty of this myself, at times). One of the most fundamental questions in science and one of the most fundamental questions we need to answer in the applied setting is, “Compared to what?”
“He had a big session today.”
Compared to what?
“She needs to have more of a down day tomorrow.”
A down day compared to what? How much of a down day? How much would you like me to back off?
“This was a tough session for that position group.”
A tough session compared to whom? A tough session compared to what is normal for this position group? A tough session compared to the other position groups today?
It should be clear that such vague statements make it challenging for decision-makers to know what to do in these instances. Ultimately, this type of vague language creates frustration for a coach leading to a lack of uncertainty and trust in the information being provided.
That said, what can we do to improve our communication of athlete derived data to not only support the decision-making process of coaches but also, to show the athletic administration or front office/ownership the value in our work which (hopefully) leads to more funding and support?
Every morning I turn on CNBC to get a sense for what the stock market is doing that day. Imagine turning on CNBC and hearing the reporter say something to the effect of, “The S&P 500 is doing well today. A really big day and moving in the right direction.”
This tells me absolutely nothing about the decisions I should make with my money!
Instead, they report the market movement in a manner such as, “The S&P 500 is up 10% today compared to the previous 3-weeks but it is down 15% compared to what it was at this time last year.”
This statement is much more direct with regard to what is transpiring. I’m provided a line chart on the television of the S&P 500’s movement over a desired time period and, based on what the reporter has articulated, I understand that it seems to be climbing out of its three-week funk but is still below where it was previously.
Let’s take that same approach and apply it to the first examples above.
Previous statement:
“He had a big session today.”
New Statement:
“This was a big return-to-play running session for the athlete. He performed 15% more high-speed running today than he has in the past 2-weeks. He’s about 35% below the volume of high-speed running his position group is currently performing in practice, so we have a bit of a gap to close there to feel confident about him getting back on the field. That said, the 15% increase occurred with no adverse reaction (reporting of pain or swelling) so we are pleased with his improvement to this point.”
The second statement is much clearer. We’ve answered the question, “Compared to what?”, by explaining the amount of increase the athlete has had in his high-speed running and that this increase occurred without any negative side effects. We also explained that the athlete still has a bit of ways to go to satisfy the demands that his position group is currently performing in practice, so we need to safely progress him to meet these demands in order to feel good about his return. We could have even taken it one step further and presented the next two-weeks of the return-to-play program to show how we intend to make this progress.
Wrapping Up
Data literacy can be challenging and decision-makers sometimes have a difficult time wrapping their head around what to take from a data report (charts, graphs, tables, bullet point comments, etc.). As applied practitioners we can help by using clear language, avoiding vague statements, and directing the decision-makers attention to the most important and relevant pieces of information.
I’ve had the pleasure of presenting at two conferences in the past year on the topic of data communication in applied sport. It isn’t always easy but if you find yourself using vague terminology, pause and try and answer the questions “Compared to what?”. Doing so may allow you to enumerate that which you are observing in a way that allows the audience to clearly see the underlying process.