ABSTRACT
Performance indicators and performance profiling in notational analysis and statistical processes have come under close scrutiny, and have generally been found wanting. These are areas that will continue to develop to the good of the discipline and the confidence of the sports scientist, coach and athlete. If we consider the role of a notational analyst in its general sense in relation to the data that the analyst is collecting, processing and analysing, then there are a number of steps that facilitate the production of a performance profile:
1. defining performance indicators,
2. determining which are important,
3. establishing the reliability of the data collected,
4. ensuring that enough data have been collected to define stable performance profiles,
5. comparing sets of data,
6. modelling performances.
Unfortunately, most of the research in different sports has been driven by the coaches of the respective sports, who are knowledgeable in their sport but perhaps less so in Performance Analysis. As a result, in a number of sports analysts have been directed to design notation systems founded on erroneous ideas. Examples of profiling from soccer will show this problem, but there are still lessons to be learnt.
