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Wednesday 15 October 2014

On 9:09 pm by Unknown in    No comments

Why create a volleyball-centric stat site?

We are math nerds who are long-time volleyball fans from the Philippines - we created VolleyMetricsPH to serve as an outlet to satisfy our curiosities about the sport. This blog will focus on the statistics of gameplay and will be largely exploratory as the metrics we will be using here are all untested stats (at least in the Philippine volleyball scene, as far as we know).

We aim to test and illustrate stats that would greater explain volleyball gameplay intricacies (momentum, hitting efficiencies, play efficiencies, overall effectiveness etc.) and player performance. Think of this blog as an attempt of a mathematical experimental study on volleyball. We are not sure if what we are doing is equivalent to Sabermetrics, but we do know that some collegiate clubs in other countries have already employed some kind of 'advanced' metrics system [Sidenote: if only we have the same technology as this FIVB volleyball tracking system, that would be great!]. We will be analyzing UAAP women's volleyball games as a start, as these games have the most exposure and coverage.

If we aim to be one of the best in the international scene, we have to put some math and science into our sports and study how players and teams move (and not move). Just look at how Thailand and Turkey have transformed their respective national teams. Statistics and numbers are not usually the focus during the games themselves (as they should), but these contribute greatly during pre- and post-game evaluation of the teams. This blog might not be an interest to spectators because some might feel this project is too 'inside baseball', but this can be of interest to the coaching staff and to some extent to the players themselves. We will, however, try to make things as reader-friendly as possible.

Bear with us as we are still establishing some foothold and catching up on past seasons. The upcoming UAAP season is only a week away, we are excited for the games to begin!

Disclaimer: VolleyMetricsPH is not related to the Volleymetrics.com. We are also not related or connected to the official statistics team of UAAP (although any access on more detailed stats from the group would be greatly beneficial to our "study").