Netball: Crunch1ng numb3rs 4 NZ

Bobby Willcox adding up the finer details for the Silver Ferns. Photo / Greg Bowker

Meet Bobby Willcox. Nobody has watched more netball in the past four years than the Pt Chevalier resident.

She has studied every ANZ Championship game, at least three times over, collecting and analysing information on each and every Australian and New Zealand player.

Over this week in Singapore at the world netball championships, you may notice Willcox sitting on the coaching bench next to Silver Ferns coaches Ruth Aitken and Wai Taumanu. She will be huddled over a laptop, frantically analysing all the real time data from the games.

Willcox is a mathematics and statistics expert who is using her speciality to help give the Silver Ferns an edge in analysing the strategies of the game. Netball is sport where the margin between success and failure can be exceedingly small - a game can turn on one pass, one shot, one movement, one moment.

The ground-breaking research has helped her to identify playing styles within each position, enabling her to build profiles for the coaches on the way different people play the game - both Ferns and opponents.

"They then have a breakdown of strengths and weaknesses, tactical preferences - things that certain players prefer to do on court and things that they are good at," says Willcox. "It also shows which styles would complement others and which would not be such a good combination."

"I can't go into too much detail but we are tracking every part of the game you could possibly think of," says Willcox. "It is about giving the coaches the key numbers in the areas we need to keep an eye on during the game."

As well as playing styles, Willcox has also developed 30-40 benchmarks within each position, which help to measure effectiveness of performance. Possession rates are an example. The bare statistic shows that a certain player is not getting the ball. Willcox's measures seek to identify if it is something wrong with the game plan; or if the player is not getting free enough; or if it is because their team-mates are not seeing them.

Willcox is quick to emphasise that such tools are not replacing the sharply-honed senses of coaches and players, just enhancing them.

"I wouldn't want to place too much importance on it, compared to all of their coaching knowledge but certainly with the current batch of New Zealand and Australian players, I have a fairly comprehensive knowledge of what they like to do and where they like to go on court."

"But you can't ignore the subjective side of the sport. There are times when the stats of the player on the court might not be as good as the player on the bench, but what they bring in terms of level-headedness is invaluable."

For example, the coaches may know the numbers are better for Liana Leota against a certain opponent or team. However, the coaches may feel instinctively that it is better to keep Temepara George on court if there was a pressure-cooker situation of three minutes to go in a tight finish.

Aside from offering live advice, the other element of Willcox's role is video analysis. Using specialist sports coding software, Willcox can compile clips of individual Ferns players or their opponents.

"The video tends to back up the numbers and helps the players trust the numbers they are getting from me or the coaches," says Willcox. "It is typical though - if the news is bad, nobody wants to hear it."

This week Willcox will also be watching all of the pool matches involving rivals England, Jamaica and Australia.

Her involvement in netball started back in 2004, when she did a project on the Ferns as part of an MSc in statistics. Willcox then moved on to a PhD, looking at ways to measure and evaluate player performance in the sport.

As the game has become more professional, the need for data and performance analysis has increased, and Willcox now has a full time role.

Singapore will be her fourth major tournament, after Melbourne (2006), Auckland (2007) and Delhi (2010). Previously the assistant coach or conditioning coach would fit the analyst role, around their other duties.

"Nobody else has time to watch every ANZ game at least three times over like I do," laughs Willcox. "And probably nobody else would want to. I love the sport but I have to admit some games I sit down and think do I really have to watch this one again.

"I guess I am proof that if you study statistics you don't have to be a maths teacher - you can end up sitting on the sidelines at a netball world championships."