Man City share EIS passion for performance

by Rebecca Roberts - 26.10.12

Keeping ahead of the competition not only requires the right expertise but the experience and understanding of what works for different sports and its athletes.

The English Institute for Sport (EIS) has long since worked with professional and English sports as well as Olympic and Paralympic ones, with collaborations amongst teams as well as sharing best practice are critical in delivering results.

Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini visited British Cycling’s set-up earlier this month, also meeting a number of EIS support staff working with the programme and rated the opportunity between sports to find out where performance gains can be made.

“I think there are ways we can improve and learn from other sports,” Mancini said.

“Performance analysis is one area which is very strong in cycling and I think we can still improve on this, although there has been a lot of progress in recent years,” he added.

Already scheduled was a meeting between EIS Head of Performance Analysis, Biomechanics & Skill Acquisition, Stafford Murray, EIS Performance Analyst working with cycling, Chris White and MCFC Head of Performance Analysis Gavin Fleig to share ideas on where analysis can help give the edge.

“Our team at the EIS reviewed over 3000 hours of footage during both the Olympic and Paralympic Games and whilst the team has a strong core set of skills, one of our key strengths is our ability to apply these specifically to each sport we work with so the coaches and athletes get not only valuable feedback but appropriate interpretation of that data,” explains Murray, who has led the team at the EIS for 10 years.

“Performance Analysis has come on leaps and bounds over the past few years, changing dramatically even since the Beijing Games, so what’s important for us is that we keep ahead and meeting with skilled practitioners like Gavin from professional clubs as well as those in other sports, helps us bring that back to the rest of the team,” he adds.

Gavin Fleig, Head of Performance Analysis at MCFC added: “Performance Analysis at the EIS is led and delivered by a very experienced team throughout the country, across a diverse range of sports, providing a unique opportunity for knowledge sharing between we at Manchester City and Stafford’s team. We are fortunate to share not only a postcode with both the EIS team and the home of British Cycling but also their desire to continuously seek to improve the way in which we work to support our athletes and coaches.

“We strongly believe that challenging yourself to improve even the smallest of details enables you to move forward. Seeking out the lessons learnt from other sports, who are asking the same questions about performance, can often be very rewarding. Having previously met with Stafford, Chris and others from the EIS Performance Analysis team around 10 months ago, we are very much looking forward to continuing our learning.”

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