Levels of Performance
Ben Kemp
In this task I will explain the purpose of, and the resources required for analysis at two different levels of sports performance.
Foundation.
At foundation level, you will find that the participants are school children and normally people who are just beginners in the sport.
Elite.
In the elite bracket, you will find participants who compete at olympic standards or are world class standard athletes/professionals.
Participation
This is another level of sport performance, you will find participants compete in leagues on a weekends against other team.
Performance
In this bracket you will find participatants are performing at national level, representing their country up and down the country.
Talent Identification.
This is used at foundation level. Coaches and teachers compare their groups' results with what top class athletes acheived when they were the same age. For example coaches will use David Beckham's results when he was a school child to the results the children they are teaching are getting. If a child is almost matching what Beckham acheived then they will be identified as a real talent for the furture. This will not be used very much in the elite bracket because when athletes are competing at olympic level, they have already been identified as a talent. It will happen at elite level because professional clubs will send scouts out to different clubs to identify young talent so they can therefore try and bring that particular talent to their club.
Identification of strengths and areas for improvement.
This will be used in foundation level, for example when the school children are learning how to catch a ball, the teacher will watch the participants and then show them better techniques on how to catch the ball. On the other hand, this will be used all of the time with elite athletes, this is so they are able to be the best they can be and so they can improve on aspects of their game they need to to become stronger in all departments. For example, if a performer is weak at accuracy, the coach will analyse that participant and then give him/her drills to try and improve on that particular skill.
Recovery after injury.
Recovery after injury will not be used at all within foundation level. This is because coaches will not analyse the injury after it has happened, they will just tell the participant to rest. Meanwhile, in the elite category, athletes will have physiotherapists that will analyse everything the performer does when recovering from an injury, they will have training programmes. For example if the participant suffered a broken leg, the physio will create a rehabilitation programme for the participant to regain strength in that leg. Elite teams will monitor recovery from injury because, for example they will need to know whether the performer is ready enough to come back into full training or not. Also, if a player is injured for a really long period of time, they may want to buy a similar player or loan a player to cover that position while that player is out.
Goal Setting.
Goal setting will be used in patches within the foundation level, for example a football team, could set a goal to win the league this year. It will be used in the elite level too, but on a more, important stage, for example an olympic athlete, Usain Bolt could set himself a goal of beating his world record time in next olympics. Analysis is used to monitor goal setting at elite, for example, athlete's trainer will look at a performers performances since they set the goal, for example, Usain Bolt's coach will look at the times he has achieved in his last races since setting the goal and analyse his technique, if he is beating his time each time he races, his coach will know that he is making progress to reach his goal.
Fiscal.
In foundation level, there is minimal to no money for equipment needed to analyse to a good standard. For example money will be used on other things such as renting facilities to play/train on and kits. On the other hand, at the elite level, there is millions of money to go towards analysis equipment and facilities. At foundation level, running times will be recorded by a stop watch where as at elite level they will have timing games, which will exclude human error and give the elite participants a more reliable time to work with.
Equipment.
At foundation level, if a race is taking place, the time will be stopped by basic equipment when the participants cross the line by a stop watch, which is unrelaiable due to human error. On the other hand at the elite level, the race would be stopped by much more technical equipment for example timing gates, this excludes human error as it has sensors within the gates with detects movement. The difference in the quality of equipment is important because at elite level they will have the technology that will enable them to slow the technique of the athlete down so they can analyse to a large extent.
Time
At foundation level, the participants might train once and have a game each week, this is because it will not be competitive. Whereas at elite level, the athletes will be training every day with maybe one rest day, it is a full time thing for them, which means they will want to improve everytime they have chance to and they will make the most of it. Coaches at foundation level will not have the time to analyse their participants' performance as they will have other commitments, for example jobs. On the other hand, elite performers coaches will have the full time to be able to analyse performance made by their athlete as is it their job to do so.
Facilities.
Foundation level participants will only use school fields, or gymnasiums to use to train and play but elite athletes will have the best facilities in the world, for example the best turf to play on. Also, if the weather is poor, elite athletes will have many other facilities to use so they can still practice and they lose no time in trying to improve. The facilities used at foundation level will be very limited as they only have the naked eye to analyse performance. On the other hand, at elite level they will have the best facilities possible, for example laboratory to analyse performances made by their athletes.