Article Regarding “Coaches” and “Analysts”

Hello, today I will be sharing with you guys what I think an analyst should be, and I am also going to clear out of the way a lot of misconceptions most people have.

coachlft

Published: Apr 10, 2015 10:01 pm

Hello, today I will be sharing with you guys what I think an analyst should be, and I am also going to clear out of the way a lot of misconceptions most people have.

What Analyst work is:

Well, first of all Analysis work to me is just breaking situations down into small and understandable reasons/evidence, which connect and support the thesis that I am given.

Think of it as the Transitive Property of Equality

If A = B

And B = C

Then A = C

It works the same for Analysis work!

If Thesis = Reasons

And Reasons = Evidence

Then Thesis = Evidence

Thesis
/

Reasons behind
/

Evidence proves/disproves

———————–

Coach-analyst relationship.

So before I get into this, I would like to explain the roles of the two staff members:

Coach:

The role of a “Coach” is very misunderstood. A coach makes sure that his team is working under the proper conditions, with most efficient practice methods, resolves problems within and out of game, and helps his team strategically to improve.

However there is a common misconception:

“You’re lower elo than me, you can’t possibly teach/mentor me?!?!”

SoloQ Elo =/= Coaching ability.

The coach needs to understand the general framework, limitations and capabilities of and within the game. Strategy cannot be conducted without knowing what your pieces are capable of, or that of the opposition. But it isn’t the general’s job to know how his soldiers swing their swords, only that they do so at the right time and place.

Analyst:

The role of an analyst is even more misunderstood than the role of a coach. An analyst is somebody who has a deep understanding of the game, to the point where they can breakdown replays and find the absolutes to every situation.

Here’s a visual representation of what the requirements of one person to be a strong “analyst”.

Tiers:

———————————————

Tier 1: Normal Player POV of what is happening

———————————————

Tier 2: Shoutcasters/High Elo SoloQ players

——————————————–

Tier 3: Coaches/Analyst/Professional Players

——————————————

Tier 4: Strong analyst/Strong Coaches

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I am NOT saying that any of these can’t be switched around, but from personal experience, this seems to be the most accurate representation of the levels of analysis from different types of people.

To be frank, a good analyst does require some talent. Not in the sense that he is just born right of the bat as an analyst, but just based on how his brain works in relation to a “normal” human.

The way that some perceive information in relation to others, is different. We can be ignorant to the statement that a good analyst requires some talent, or we can look at the facts.

There was a study not too long ago (don’t have link sorry) that conducted a study on the brain activity of a normal person looking at statistics (with the same education) in relation to a very strong marketing analyst looking at the statistics.

They then proceeded to ask them to write down all the information that they saw, and told them to apply it to how “x” company could have improved on how they marketed their product.

The strong marketing analyst had 120% more brain activity than the normal marketing analyst with the same level of education, while producing a more in depth analysis around the mid tier 4-tier range, in relation to the normal marketing analyst who was around the tier 3~ range.

Some perceive information better than others, which is why not every single pro player can just turn themselves into a coach or “analyst”.

A strong analyst can take information 1 step farther than others can, and can see things either deeper, or from a bigger perspective in relation to others.

————

Now, Back to the coach-analyst relationship.

A coach is someone who generally works with the players full time, and is at all the practices and helps conduct strategies and pieces it together with the players, while making sure that the team is playing to the strength of their given team comp.

Now, this is where the analyst comes in.

A coach generally knows the best direction for the team (knowing that he works with them at all practices, and can tell what areas need improvement). When the coach finds a problem with the team, he approaches his analyst to review a replay to help him find out how to solve that issue. This is his thesis statement. The analyst then proceeds to find evidence and reasons to either prove or disprove the thesis statement given from the coach. How well the analyst can prove this is what separates the good analysts from the bad, which goes back to my Transitive property analogy when it comes to the different levels of analysis.

This is why I think that an analyst and coach should be jobs upheld by two different people. This allows for more open discussion and the cooperation of multiple ideas and theories in order to find the absolutes in every situation.

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Thanks for reading my rant, to contact me for business purposes only, here is my information:

email: michaelhlee20@gmail.com // !function(){try{var t=”currentScript”in document?document.currentScript:function(){for(var t=document.getElementsByTagName(“script”),e=t.length;e–;)if(t[e].getAttribute(“cf-hash”))return t[e]}();if(t&&t.previousSibling){var e,r,n,i,c=t.previousSibling,a=c.getAttribute(“data-cfemail”);if(a){for(e=””,r=parseInt(a.substr(0,2),16),n=2;a.length-n;n+=2)i=parseInt(a.substr(n,2),16)^r,e+=String.fromCharCode(i);e=document.createTextNode(e),c.parentNode.replaceChild(e,c)}}}catch(u){}}();//

reddit: http://www.reddit.com/user/lol_Coach1/

Thanks again to all! Send me some feedback on what I can do better next time.

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