The second part we became passionate about solving was how to scale personalized coaching in an online environment. With the rise of the internet came the rise of “generic” courses like Youtube Guru’s or Masterclasses. While those can be interesting, in our research, we found this type of learning can actually hurt the performance of athletes more than 70% of the time.
The average youth sports team has a player to coach ratio of 15:1. We wanted to create an environment where every single athlete had the full attention and focus of an elite coach in a 1:1 ratio.
Why Video Analysis for Performance?
Research shows us that on average, athletes and coaches can only recall 30% of performance correctly. Performance analysis helps athletes improve upon their decision-making skills, tactical and technical knowledge, and improves their confidence.
While a lot of us thought in-person coaching was the only way, the research kept leading us in a different direction. While in-person coaching has its benefits, what we learned was that by focusing on performance analysis, it gave our coaches and athletes some very specific advantages:
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It allowed for more evidence-based decisions. By taking out emotions, assumptions, and speculation our athletes were systematically able to enhance their ability to make the right decisions at the right time.
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It improved communication between the athlete and the coach by enabling the coach to show the athlete exactly what they are doing and the exact changes they need to make.
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It provided a more collaborative coaching experience. The process of analyzing performance on the field or during live practice is often the coach telling the player what needs to change. When you develop a rapport away from the field, away from emotions, and walk through video together, it turns into a collaborative experience in which the player develops a deeper understanding of what they are doing and gains more accountability over their performance.
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Oftentimes, in team environments, coaching in the moment in front of peers is the WORST time to receive coaching. We can have our guards up because of egos and not wanting our peers to judge us. Coaching at the right time in a way an athlete can watch & re-watch anytime, allows the information to sync in like never before.
The popularity of “video analysis” has gained serious traction over the past few years and it is important to understand how best to use it and how it fits as one section of a performance analysis company.
Almost any coach will say they are a video analysis expert in today’s world. But the reality is that annotating on a screen is not performance analysis nor helpful to the athlete by itself.
A coach being able to highlight what an athlete can improve upon, why it needs to be improved, and setting a clear plan for improvement is coaching. That is why Blayze is not just a video analysis platform, but a true performance analysis and coaching platform. Our coaches focus on the what and the why in every coaching session. This ensures the athlete will start to answer those questions for themselves over time.
Outcomes of Blayze Coaching Sessions
In study, research showed that when learners participated in one-on-one study sessions, they performed two standard deviations better. That means that the average learner performed in the top 2% of all students. Or better than 98% of their peers.
So far, Blayze coaches have more than a thousand coaching sessions under their belts, reaching hundreds of customers and results show that our athletes increase their performance 90%+ through Blayze.
For example, Jeff Bennett, one of our very first customers at Blayze. He joined and started working with his new coach, racing expert Dion von Moltke, a Rolex at Daytona 24 Hour winner.
Over the next several months, Jeff and Dion worked together every race weekend. Jeff had a plan for each weekend, he knew what to work on, and kept reviewing his races with Dion. After 18 months Jeff went from consistently finishing in the bottom 10% of his races to winning his first national championship.
You read that right… just 18 months from struggles to championships. Jeff is now set up to continue to perform for years to come!
Parents report that in a few sessions with Blayze coaches that their children show higher levels of confidence and decision-making skills on the field. “The drills have been excellent practice for my daughter, so much so that she was pleasantly surprised when she had to do similar drills while in tryouts for her extremely competitive high school team. She would have never practiced those specific drills if it was not for Blayze.”
Ancillary Benefits of Performance Analysis with Blayze
Extra benefits from performance analysis that became evident to us after we started includes:
Injury Prevention:
Video analysis has turned out to be a great preventative to sports-related injuries. Did you know more than 1.35 million youth athletes are injured every year playing sports? This equates to a trip to the emergency room every 25 seconds. Through consistent video analysis and 1:1 attention with coaches, bad habits and form can be caught early. This can help prevent a large number of these potential injuries.
Removing Emotions for Best Results:
By being able to step away and objectively view ourselves with a trusted source through video analysis, athletes can take out the emotions we all experience while practicing or competing. Coaching in a non-emotional state actually provides the best environment for coaching to sync in.
Science Shows It Benefits Brain & Body:
Science has recently shown that video analysis does not only help an athlete mentally but physically as well. There is a psychoneuromuscular theory that hypothesizes that athletes can actually improve their performance by seeing a video of themselves or others.
“Basically when you imagine yourself doing things, through video or through your mind, the hypothesis is that it activates neural pathways in the same way as when you’re physically executing the skill,” says, Brett Haskell, director of Sports Psychology at Nebraska University. “To a lesser degree, you’re getting physical repetitions through your nervous system even though you’re not actually executing the movement.”
Learn More With Blaze!
The secret to mastering any skill is practice! Do you feel like you could benefit from performance analysis and a 1:1 coaching session? Could you use direct feedback on your strengths and weaknesses within your sport?
At Blayze we give you a personalized coaching session from the very best coaches in the world. For a truly unique and personalized feedback experience, submit your performance video to one of Blayze’s highly qualified coaches. The custom-developed coaching session can help you improve so you are performing at your very best in every game. One easy click here will take you to more details on our coaching sessions.