One of the most effective ways of communicating information to coaches and players is through clear and concise data visualisation. As the old saying goes a picture can paint a thousand words, but only if properly executed.

The growing use of data visualisation, match statistics and video telestration by TV companies and print media exposes players and coaches at all levels to the use of statistics and analysis. It is no surprise then that this type of analysis is increasingly prevalent at all levels of sport.

Many professional Data Scientists and Performance Analysts employ high powered resources, such as Python, Tableau, PowerBI and R, to create stunning graphics and data visualisations. However, if the amount of analysis you intend to undertake doesn’t justify learning a new programming language, the creation of a large data set, or the extra expense to access some of these products, what options are available to produce a good, suitable data visualisation to get your message across? 

From personal experience, using software widely available to all, such as Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint and Adobe Premiere Elements in conjunction with analysis software such as Nacsport Basic+ and KlipDraw can yield very usable results with some imagination and careful planning.

To demonstrate this, I will take you through the process of creating a short presentation that could be shown to a team as part of a face-to-face analysis session or shared online through a video sharing platform. For this example, we will be using Nacsport Basic+, KlipDraw and Microsoft PowerPoint.

Collecting Data and Video Clips in Nacsport and KlipDraw

Our analysis will focus on two aspects of a football game.  

•    Shots (Attempts on Goal)

•    Team Shape 

Using Nacsport Basic+ and KlipDraw we will:

•    Create a video playlist of all shots taken during the game. This can then be reviewed to create a shot map and also be used to generate video to include in our presentation.

•    Identify some typical team shapes / formations to generate a still image which will be edited in KlipDraw. This will illustrate strengths / weakness for coaches. 

For this Shot / Team Shape analysis, we will use a simple Button Template in Nacsport to record our data and tag our video.

Our Categories will be Barcelona Shot, Mallorca Shot and Team Shape.

Our Descriptors will be Goal and Miss. 

We will also add two Auto Add Descriptors for the 1st half and 2nd half of the game.

Once the match is tagged, we can generate a Presentation Playlist of all the shots taken during the game. We can quickly review these playlists and note each player that has attempted a shot (see image above).

Incorporating Your Analysis into a PowerPoint Presentation

Colours, Fonts and Slide Background

The colours chosen to indicate each team may dictate your choice of background colour, see some examples of different colour combinations below. Grey is a good choice for a background as it works well to provide a contrast with dark and light shades of most other colours.

Use Design Cues

In this instance, to represent each side I decided to use the colours of each teams’ strip. For the text I’ve used a very readable plain sans-serif “DIN” font, coloured amber that picks up a colour used in both team crests and is similar to the font used on each team’s jersey. To contrast these, I decided to use a dark chalkboard like background.

A large player marker bound by the secondary club colour will be used to indicate a goal scored, with a smaller marker used to indicate a missed attempt on goal.

Once the game is tagged and design choices made, we are ready to start putting the presentation together. At this stage it may be a good idea to create a project folder to keep your presentation images and videos together. 

Creating a Shot Analysis Slide

To accompany this slide it may be a good idea to add an additional slide for each half showing key attempts / goals in the context of the game.

Creating Formation / Shape Analysis Slides

In these slides we show examples of each teams’ formations / shapes utilised during the game. We use both a plan view of the pitch and a screen capture from a different angle in Nacsport with additional telestration from KlipDraw to further illustrate the team shape during different phases of play.

Bonus Video: Creating a Tactics Board with PowerPoint

I hope this article has been helpful to you. Before we get to summing up, here's a little Nacsport / PowerPoint extra, just for you.

Presentation Advice

•    Keep your font types to a minimum of 1 or 2 at most.

•    Avoid fancy script type fonts.

•    Limit your colour palette to only those necessary to convey your message. A design swatch will help you identify a suitable combination of colours and fonts that may work together. 

•    Keep on screen text / messages short and to the point. These can always be expanded on at a later stage during a discussion with your coaching team and players.

•    Use transitions and animations with care. Use sparingly to enhance your presentation. Over use may distract from the message you want to communicate. 

•    Make sure your presentation is easily readable through various types of media. Projector, TV Screen or Phone via online sharing services.

Now go and try it for yourself!

From all of us here at Nacsport, we'd like to say a big thank you to Tony for taking time out of his busy schedule to share these hints and tips with the Nacsport community. We're sure these methods of data visualisation will be extremely helpful to all Nacsport users out there.

If you've taken some inspiration from Tony's tutorial and would like to share examples of your own work with the video analysis community or if you have any questions about anything you've read in this article, please don't hesitate to get in contact with us through Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. While you're on Twitter, don't forget to give Tony a follow and like some of the many examples of data visualisation and resources he shares there.

Remember, Tony created everything in this article using Nacsport Basic+, KlipDraw and PowerPoint. We offer FREE 30-day trial of Basic+, or any other product in our software range. Click the banner below to get started (desktop only).

Once again, a huge thank you to Tony and many thanks to you for reading!