Numbers vs. Feelings - Talking to Your Players About Stats

I presented at the 2018 American Volleyball Coaches Association convention on December 13, 2018. Thanks to all who attended and to my friends that gave me valuable feedback as I prepared.

Here's how I summarized it for the convention program:

Our sport, especially at the higher levels, is becoming more reliant on statistics to drive decisions. The athletes we work with may have no exposure to performance measures and the exposure they do have may not be similar to how you use them in your program. Given the importance of stats in what we do, it is important for us to learn to communicate effectively with our athletes about numbers.

Here's my video from the seminar:

Here is the audio track. This version allows you to hear the audience member responses as well as my voice much more clearly.

Here are my slides:

PDF Version

Power Point Version

Here are some references:

Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen provides not only the quotation but also the "three conversations" concept

The Pete Carroll quotation comes from Michael Gervais' podcast, "Finding Mastery"

"Forward Never Straight" from wedu.team

The Jennifer Garvey Berger quotation comes from an interview on "The Knowledge Project" podcast

When discussing that learning isn't linear, I mention Trevor Ragan and his web site, https://thelearnerlab.com/

Special thanks to my friend and colleague Adam Ringler who listened to the presentation more than once and provided outstanding feedback.