{"id":8677,"date":"2021-08-23T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-23T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/?post_type=article&p=8677"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:11:45","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:11:45","slug":"how-the-english-institute-of-sports-performance-analysis-team-is-supporting-british-athletes","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/how-the-english-institute-of-sports-performance-analysis-team-is-supporting-british-athletes\/","title":{"rendered":"How the English Institute of Sport\u2019s Performance Analysis Team is Supporting British Athletes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n 23 Aug 2021 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

How the English Institute of Sport\u2019s Performance Analysis Team is Supporting British Athletes<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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An article brought to you by our Partners<\/p>\n

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The English Institute of Sport [EIS] had 80 people on the ground in Tokyo providing day-to-day support to Great Britain\u2019s athletes during the Olympic Games, with a further 40 set to support the nation\u2019s athletes at the Paralympic Games later this month.<\/h4>\n
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By John Portch<\/h6>\n

Additionally, those ground operations are supported by an eight-strong team of EIS performance analysts working out of Great Britain\u2019s Cardiff hub at the Sport Wales Institute. The team works on Tokyo time, which is eight hours ahead of British Summer Time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey haven\u2019t got a good deal this time around, I\u2019m afraid,\u201d says Julia Wells, the Head of Performance Analysis at the EIS. \u201cFor Rio, it was quite a convenient time difference but, this year, it\u2019s pretty much midnight that some of them are clocking in, going right through until the afternoon, but we\u2019ll have a rota that ensures everyone can get their rest and recovery. It\u2019s about bolting onto those people on the ground in Tokyo and taking the weight off their shoulders\u201d<\/p>\n

Wells is speaking to the Leaders Performance Institute on the eve of the Olympics, with a view to providing an insight into the inner workings of the EIS Performance Analysis team.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor data capture and analysis, we have a mantra at the EIS: \u2018we should spend less time capturing data and more time analysing and feeding back\u2019,\u201d she continues. \u201cThat\u2019s something that\u2019s been rooted in us since the inception of our Performance Analysis team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wells\u2019 role encompasses governance and standards, driving the strategic direction, working with practitioners to ensure technical development on the ground, and working closely with stakeholders from 20-plus sports as well as the British Olympic Association [BOA] and British Paralympic Association [BPA].<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have 27 analysts across 20-plus sports give or take across the cycle and around 80 percent of them will be delivering on the front line for Tokyo. For many it will be their first Games; for me, it\u2019s my fifth Games involvement in varying capacity \u2013 so I\u2019m definitely getting old!<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be seconded to the BOA to lead their performance analysis provision. Getting back on the frontline again is really exciting, although there a quite a lot of challenges to go through to ensure we can deliver what we need to in very different times. Teams will have more time to produce profiles on their opposition and we\u2019ll be able to make sure they\u2019ve got the best tactical prep.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll have coach presence with us as well. We\u2019re not experts in all the sports so we have to make sure we tap into that. For example, sports where decisions are being made during competition can have an impact on whether you finish fourth, get on the podium, make a final, or qualify for the next round. We want to provide them with the visual insights to make the best decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wells points out that the first week in particular can be \u201cfull-on\u201d, as she puts it. \u201cWe need to wrap a lot of people around that just to cope with the demand. Rio was about 4,000 hours of video to deal with. It\u2019s pretty intense and if we can streamline and help them to be more effective with their decision-making then that\u2019s the role we want to play really.\u201d<\/p>\n

Building relationships<\/strong><\/p>\n

As for that EIS mantra about spending less time collecting data and more time analysing and feeding back, the ability of the Performance Analysis team to focus their time is, according to Wells, a combination of their ability to harness the latest technology and, most importantly, to develop relationships with the end users.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe software available now is immense,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s so much to choose from, which can be a challenge but we honed in on data visualisation and our ability to translate data into usable insights.\u201d<\/p>\n

The EIS\u2019s ever-increasing capacity in data visualisation is proving to be its cutting edge. \u201cIt means we can design our own outputs, we can iterate those, we can make changes, we don\u2019t have to wait for anyone else to make the changes because we can do it ourselves,\u201d adds Wells. \u201cThat\u2019s been a real key focus for the team over this cycle, to really accelerate and be the best translators of data and also the best visualisers of data. There\u2019s so much more of that to come because we\u2019re dealing with even more data than we have before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such work is possible due to the EIS analysts embedded within the sports. \u201cThose relationships really stand out,\u201d says Wells. \u201cThey ensure continuing opportunities to develop our data analysis, let us be guided by the user, and also steer the direction of travel of those visualisations; what\u2019s important, what\u2019s not. We can be curious and ask questions of the coaches or the end user, making sure they get regular interactions to ensure it\u2019s on track. That\u2019s a real key component of it. Not just being an analyst behind a computer working away for weeks on end with no conversations. That\u2019s where we see projects or visualisations not landing with the stakeholders because they haven\u2019t been a part of the journey.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve got strong relationships and you can have really good conversations to make sure how information is being used and relayed back into training or competition for the athletes. They become fully embedded in that coaching process, they\u2019re listening, they see the changes in the data, and they get to see it through the video. There\u2019s no real hiding whether the information you\u2019re providing is having an impact on the coaching process. If we can get that right, it\u2019s pretty powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were also opportunities afforded by the 12-month postponement of the Games. \u201cAnalysts had the time to stop and reflect, they had the time to streamline some of their processes \u2013 all of those things you don\u2019t get to do because you\u2019re on the road all the time or you\u2019re in the day to day training. They were able to analyse all of the data that they didn\u2019t necessarily have the time to analyse before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strong project management skills<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wells has just completed her fifth Summer Olympic Games cycle but this was her first since being appointed the EIS\u2019s Head of Performance Analysis in 2018. \u201cIt\u2019s a role I\u2019d always aspired to be in and it has been a real opportunity to challenge and develop my own leadership skills further,\u201d she says. \u201cHaving great people around me to mentor me, both formally and informally \u2013 some of them might not have even realised they were doing it \u2013 and to guide me, or for me to ask them how they would approach my role if they were me, has been fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having been in position for three years, she reflects with considerable pride on her work during this elongated cycle. \u201cIt was a really good challenge to come in and build a really strong technical lead team. For me, it was always that inside battle of thinking \u2018I need to be someone else\u2019 and I learned to trust being me and being as authentic as I can be, because that\u2019s how I will get the best out of myself in this role.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also have to ask ourselves how we get the best out of people \u2013 because it definitely is all about the people \u2013 in order to ensure that we\u2019re moving in the right direction to answer valuable questions or even just lessons we can learn from if things haven\u2019t gone as we want.\u201d<\/p>\n

In saying \u2018we\u2019, Wells is quick to point out that it is not just about her. \u201cI want the same approach for any of the technical leads or practitioners on the ground. To be the best version of themselves and be comfortable being themselves. The analyst is a key member of the performance support team. It\u2019s integral that relationships within that team are effective and productive. Of course, it depends on the question they\u2019re trying to answer because it could be a question that one person goes away and finds those answers or they could be much bigger questions that require a wider number of stakeholders be involved, whether that\u2019s the sporting team on the ground or external partners.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur analysts lead on projects all the time and so they have to develop strong project management skills and to ensure that the day to day is delivered effectively while these projects continue. We\u2019re going into heavy competition support mode, but we\u2019ve still got eyes on Paris.<\/p>\n

The EIS Performance Analysis team has risen to the challenge. \u201cAs anyone who gets to work in sport always says, we feel really lucky and really proud and fortunate to be in a job that doesn\u2019t feel like a job even though you\u2019re working all the hours. We had a relatively young team when I stepped in, so to see individuals step into leadership roles and to see them making an impact and having so much positive feedback on what they do and contribute to the big picture is really inspiring.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single one of them has developed and pushed themselves, taken on new skills. They are learning to understand themselves and work with others. To be at the cutting edge but also to be pushing themselves daily on what they do and how they provide support is outstanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Want more from the EIS? Download the latest Performance Special Report, Staying Agile: Managing Disruption and Optimising Preparation During the Pandemic –<\/strong> detailing the work of the English Institute of Sport with its teams and athletes.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n