Keeping stats as a team parent

A lot of club and school teams are statted by whoever volunteered — often a parent with a phone and no training. It is easier than it looks, as long as you don't try to record everything at once.

Before the match

• Ask the coach what they want. Most want the same few things: how points were won and lost, serve receive, and attack results. Some want rotation stats. Don't guess — a stat nobody reads is effort wasted.
• Learn the numbers. Get the roster with jersey numbers and positions, and the starting lineup and rotation for each set.
• Know the libero — who they are and which players they come on for.

Where to sit

High and central if you can, or up behind a baseline, where you can see both sides of the net and which player touched the ball. Away from the bench helps; so does being far enough from other parents to concentrate.

Start small, then add

1. First match: just points. Record every point and how it ended — ace, serve error, kill, attack error, or other.
2. Next: serve receive. Grade each pass on the 0–3 scale. It is the stat coaches ask for most.
3. Then: who attacked, and from where. That gives each hitter's hitting percentage.

During the rally

• Watch the rally, record at the end of it. Looking down mid-rally is how touches get missed.
• Keep the score right above all else. After every point, check yours matches the scoreboard. If it doesn't, fix the score first and the detail second.
• A missed rally is fine. Record the point and move on; a gap costs far less than falling three rallies behind.
• Note substitutions as they happen, with the score. They are impossible to reconstruct afterwards.

After the match

• Send the coach the numbers the same day, while the match is fresh.
• Let the coach decide who else sees them. Individual stats can land badly with a player or another parent, and for junior players they are personal information that belongs with the team.

Paper or an app?

Paper is free and never runs out of battery — there's a printable stat sheet here. An app earns its place when you want stats by rotation or by player without working them out at the kitchen table, or need to fix a mis-tap without crossing things out.

Can't keep up live? Use the video

If somebody films the match, you can stat it afterwards at your own pace — pause the messy rallies, rewind anything you missed. For a new stat-keeper that is often the best way to start.