ABSTRACT

Performance indicators are a selection or combination of action variables that describe some or all aspects of sports performance (Hughes and Bartlett, 2002). They are demonstrated to be valid measures of performance, possessing the metric properties of an objective measurement procedure, a known scale of measurement and a valid way of interpretation (O’Donoghue, 2010). Performance analysts and coaches use them in order to describe or compare positive or negative aspects of performance within or between competitions. This chapter covers theoretical background on performance indicators and describes possible processes of improving validity. A review of several applied research studies addressing procedures for normalizing performance indicators is presented. Also, there is a brief discussion of how some recent studies are addressing some of the issues outlined in this chapter for several game sports (see Table 10.1, Appendix).