Celtic, Behind The Scenes – Cheryl Summers, Academy Analyst | OneFootball

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The Celtic Star

·3 October 2022

Celtic, Behind The Scenes – Cheryl Summers, Academy Analyst

Article image:Celtic, Behind The Scenes – Cheryl Summers, Academy Analyst

A new series on The Celtic Star where we take a look at different club employees and in particular the role that they play in making Celtic a successful football club. Last week at his media conference Ange Postecoglou told The Celtic Star that he’s put up on a weekly basis as a spokesman for the football club, but success is achieved because everyone at the club is pulling together.

The same incidentally can be said of the Celtic support. Watching the club’s Unique Angle video today, the encouragement that the players were receiving in the moments leading up to Reo Hatate’s winner was brillaint really, watch for yourselves…


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So first up today is Cheryl Summers, Academy Analyst at Celtic and today she explains the work that the Academy Analysis Department carry out at the club. It’s a fascinating insight into just one of the many aspects that go on behind the scenes at the club. Over to you Cheryl…

CELTIC FOOTBALL CLUB – Academy Analysis Department

The role of the Academy Analysis Department is to provide the players, coaches and parents from the Under 11’s through to the Under 18’s squads with video feedback from training sessions and matches.

The main aims of using performance analysis are to:

* Identify any strengths and weaknesses within each team’s performance * Analyse the opposition’s performance to identify strengths and weaknesses with the aim to combat them in each game * Evaluate training sessions to recognise the effectiveness of the programme within a game situation

Article image:Celtic, Behind The Scenes – Cheryl Summers, Academy Analyst

The Academy matches and training sessions are filmed and uploaded to Hudl, the Club’s online platform, for the players and coaches to view at a time that suits. These can be viewed on a PC, a tablet or on a mobile device. Matches are analysed using Hudl’s Sportscode program, which is designed to record and evaluate events and moments that occur in a game.

Article image:Celtic, Behind The Scenes – Cheryl Summers, Academy Analyst

This provides video feedback to the team and coaches for each specified event. The use of video analysis also provides feedback of the players’ movements both on and off the ball as well as the team’s structure as a whole unit.

This allows the coaches to work on specific aspects of the team’s performance in preparation for the next match. It also enables the players to observe their own individual performance within the game and identify any areas they may wish to improve on.

Not only does the use of analysis benefit the players and coaches from a post-match perspective, it is also used to scout the opposition team before a match at Under 18’s level. This assists in the positioning of individuals for attacking/defensive set plays. It also observes the opposition’s tactics and style of play in order to identify any particular strengths and weaknesses that could be exploited in the game.

Article image:Celtic, Behind The Scenes – Cheryl Summers, Academy Analyst

Full match videos and analysis are uploaded to Hudl and shared with players and coaches. They will view them and provide feedback before the next week’s training sessions begin. Hudl also creates a full video library from season to season for each squad. This will follow the players throughout the Academy for as long as they are with the club.

Article image:Celtic, Behind The Scenes – Cheryl Summers, Academy Analyst

Each player can view the individual match clips on Hudl, and create an ongoing library of their own footage from a mixture of games and training sessions and share these with their coaches. From here, both the individual and the coach have the ability to engage with each other on individual clips by leaving comments. These can include comments on a player’s strength or weakness within their own performance, or the coach offering some encouragement or advice for moving forward.

Videos can be downloaded from the Hudl platform and viewed offline or used in presentations by the coaching staff. These can also be shared across all squads and are used to ensure the philosophy of the Club is present at all levels and age groups from the Academy through to the First Team.

Cheryl Summers Academy Analyst

The Celtic Youth Academy is funded via Celtic Pools and you can join the Celtic Pools weekly lottery where you can win up to £25,000 in the rollover jackpot while contributing to the Celtic Academy.

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