Information about SportsFive Stats

Since 2007, teams in Section Five have been required to send in basic post-game reports. The basic reports include the scores (by quarter), the number of goals and assists produced by each player and the performance of each goalie (saves, goals against and minutes played).

In the spring of 2009 SportsFive Media offered their first clinic for statisticians. Following and reviewing material from the NCAA Statistics Handbook, a small group of volunteers from a number of Section Five teams gathered for the free presentation and began to send in what are now called "FullStat Reports". The presentations for statisticians have been offered each year since then.

The more comprehensive statistics are compiled into reports that are published along with the game stories on SportsFive.NET. They include ground ball data, shot performance (shots takes, shots on goal), clearing/riding data, defensive take-aways, penalty data and manup/mandown performances.

By 2012, roughly half of the team in the Section used the FullStat worksheets, although not all the teams turn them in for publication. Some coaches feel that the possibility of giving opponents such information outweighs the advantages of promoting their player accomplishments.

In the fall of 2012, SportsFive re-wrote their on-line statistics pages so that some of the FullStat data turned in is available on the player and team statistics pages. The new format determines if the more comprehensive reports are available for each team and produces reports based on the information available. If a team turned in basic reports in 2011 and more comprehensive reports in 2012, the pages will look different.

Some teams turn in most of the stats, but not all. For example, some teams do not turn in defensive take-aways. In addition, some team miss comprehensive reports for a small number of games during the season. The web pages indicate, as needed, that some player totals are based on a specific number of games. The basic data is available for each of the teams for the entire season.

In some cases, a team does not turn in the comprehensive reports, but their opponent in that game do. In these cases, SportsFive accepts the data collected for both teams. If both teams turn in reports and the reports differ, each team's data is entered for their own players. "Team data", like clears and rides or manup/mandown performance may be different where there are multiple reports for the same game. In these cases the riding data for Team A will be based on the clearing data entered by their opponent (Team B). If a SportsFive staff team collects stats for a game, we always used their data for both teams.

How reliable are the stats?

There is no doubt that some reports are better than others and certainly the more experience the statisticians, the better the results. Even with the best of reporters, there can be differences in what one person sees during a "live action" game. We appreciate the efforts of the large number of volunteers who provide this information for their teams.

If your team does not turn in the comprehensive reports, you many want to ask your coach if there is a reason. If volunteers are available to gather the data, SportsFive will help with the training and will work with the volunteers to get the data available on the web site. Volunteers often work as pairs or small teams, who work together to gather the stats and/or share the task throughout the season.

There is a "joke" around the SportsFive office, that we could finance the whole business if we had a donation for every email requesting a change in the stats. Although everyone involved wants the data to be as accurate as possible, we have specific procedures for dealing with such issues. First, we only accept changes from reporters who sent in the data or the Head Coach from the player's team. Sometimes coaches request changes after reviewing game video or after talking to players. If you have issues with the stats, you need to talk to your coach.