6 April 2012
I am a member of the Performance Analysis team involved with the UWIC Archers basketball team. The Archers PA team consists of 6 members, hence the need for consistent group dynamics. On match day, numerous different aspects of our job must run smoothly and with 6 group members, the saying too many cooks spoil the broth may come to mind. However, at the beginning of the season we decided, as a group, to all get involved in every area in order to enhance our learning experience. We discussed delegating particular roles to each other but decided against this. Not every group member would be available for every game therefore prescribing a role to that person may have left the rest of the group short on days that this person is not available. As well as that, there are a number of away games during the season for which, generally, only one analyst can attend. Therefore, we felt the best decision was for each group member to be as hands on as possible with every aspect. Match day tends to run pretty similar each week with the group members available meeting about an hour before Tip Off to collect the analysis kit and get set up, allowing time for any issues to be rectified. One major advantage of having 6 group members is that this work can be split up and carried out quicker than with a single analyst. Each basketball game has 4 quarters plus each players minutes on court, therefore every member has a job to do. As a group we, generally, work well and efficiently together. As we are all enrolled on the MSc Performance Analysis at UWIC, we all are coming here with a common goal, yet we each bring different characteristics and experiences to the table. At the beginning, as with every group of people, issues had to be aired and solved. However, our ability to do this made us more effective as a unit. On a personal level, I believe that to fully support the needs of the UWIC Archers, a group of analysts is a must. As basketball is such a statistics driven sport, the need for analysis after every game is quite high and is necessary to establish season trends and patterns. The group dynamics must work efficiently and towards a common goal, which I feel, we have now achieved and in future years, will continue to do so.
Aideen Howlin
Group Dynamics UWIC Archers Basketball • Opuss № I