ABSTRACT
The term profile has been used in performance analysis of sport to date and this chapter will serve to ensure the word ‘profiling’ is used correctly, as it is in other disciplines such as management and psychology. This chapter explains what a profile is and what a profile is not. It is a collection of related variables brought together to represent an athlete; for example, a fitness profile or a psychological profile. In sports performance, a profile can be used to represent typical performance based on multiple match data. However, a profile can also be used to represent an individual performance. The variables included within sports performance profiles are typically performance indicators. When a profile is produced for a team or athlete, it is necessary to represent the variability in performance indicator values showing where the team or athlete is consistent or inconsistent. This chapter reports on the techniques of James et al. (2005) and O’Donoghue (2005) and the different ways they represent average performance and spread of performances. However, these techniques average different types of performance in a way that conceals important information. For example, one may wish to know how a team or individual performs against different classes of opponent. This issue is addressed in the method of Cullinane and O’Donoghue (2011), which accounts for opposition effect when interpreting performances, leading to the generation of profiles that include sections for different types of matches. The three techniques outlined in this chapter use the same example for purposes of illustration and comparison.
