Where to Place Your Fingers on the Keyboard When Coding Matches?

My Finger Placement When Coding Matches

I was told by the former GB Women Scout Matt Bianco during my training at the UK School Games 2015 to have the left fingers resting on the Shift, A, S and V keys and my right fingers resting on the number pad of 4, 5 and 6 when coding in DataVolley (see photo below).  This made sense to me because you would be typing shirt numbers and (eventually) court zones so you want easy access to the numbers.  

My normal finger placement when coding matches. Good for coding numbers but right of the keyboard is essentially unavailable to you.

A major disadvantage of placing your fingers this way is the right side of the keyboard is essentially unavailable to you.  This is because you don’t want to look at the keyboard while you’re coding because you may miss out on seeing critical actions (and subsequently not coding them) or even worst, miss out on the rally ending action, e.g. who won the point.  One example is the P letter on the right side of the keyboard.  It denotes if the attack was a soft/ roll attack and PP is the default attack combination code for setter attack.  You can work around this by remapping the keyboard.  This means if I press the B key, it would actually come out as P (soft attacks).  This is actually what I did.  Since B is a code used for blocking, I remapped the L key to be the B code.  

Change of Finger Placement

I recently read that Joe Trinsey, former USA Women Volleyball Scout, would have his index fingers rested on the F and J keys.  This was basically how you would place your fingers for normal touch typing (see photo below).  I forgotten but back in 2015, I was told that the Japanese scout would code this way too.  

The new finger placement when coding matches. Whole keyboard is now available to you, although it might be hard to code numbers.

This was wild to me because I thought it must be difficult to code numbers.  However, I soon thought that if you were able to touch type numbers on the top row of the keyboard then suddenly all of the letters on the right side of the keyboard are now available to you.  I could:

• Use the M key to code jump float serves (I usually leave it to “H”, which usually means standing float serves)
• Have extra or different attack combination codes, e.g. I could use the default PP code for setter attacks if I wanted
• Use the default ; key to denote the away team instead of Ctrl+A
• Have the outcome codes gathered in one place, e.g. U for kill, J for positive, L for neutral and , for negative
• Code full extended codes in real time, e.g. if the pass was midline (“M” key) or on the player’s left (“L” key).  I wasn’t at this level but the option was there

It also had another advantage that if you were able to code this way, you didn’t need to have a laptop with a number pad.  This was the situation I had when I bought my laptop last year.  Not all laptops had a number pad.  I also had the chance to buy one of the best laptops on the market (Dell XPS 15) at a very good price but it didn’t have a number pad.  I am still be happy with my Lenovo IdeaPad S540 but I still think about owning a Dell XPS 15.  

Anyway, if the best scouts in the world do it this way then I should at least test it out.  

First Trial

I first tried coding a match with my index fingers resting on the F and J key.  It was from match video and I found the experience extremely difficult.  I was making mistakes everywhere and I couldn’t get through one rally properly.  I knew there was going to be a steep learning curve but not I didn’t think it would be that steep.  I also had not statted in 7 months so being rusty could be a factor.  I thought I should get some mass practice and see where I get to.  

Second Trial

I went to a SideOut Grand Prix Women’s Beach Volleyball Tournament just to purely practice coding coding matches with both hands on the keyboard.  I didn’t have the worry about getting the stats rights.  It was also couldn’t “pause” the action because it was live.  If I missed something, I would have to ignore and carry on statting the next action.  

I did improve throughout the day but after 6 matches, I still couldn’t really code one rally properly and correctly.  There were several reasons why:

• Couldn’t always touch type numbers correctly.  This was extremely important because you need to code the correct player number and zones and often I would code the wrong number, e.g. 5 instead of 6.
• Finding the keyboard again after coding numbers.  The index fingers on the F and J keys is your anchor to finding the keyboard but I would have to move them to code numbers on the top row and I would lose the keyboard.  For example, I would often lose the ; key (code for the away team) by using the ‘ key next to it.  I would also lose the . key (code for compound codes).
• Typing “L” for numbers.  I would often see that I typed “L” for the attack zones.  I think it is because I am used to typing the attack zones with my right hand and I just press it automatically.
• Forgetting to code the away team.  This is usually rustiness from statting but it usually comes back quickly but it didn’t that day.
• Remembering where the codes are.  Since the right side of the keyboard was available to me, I used it as an opportunity to remap the keyboard so some codes were there.  The main example was outcome codes (e.g. kill, positive, negative, error).  It’ll take 2-3 seconds and that’s enough time to lose track of the rally.     

If I couldn’t stat one rally properly after 6 matches then this is going to be a really steep and long learning curve.  Was it going to be worth pursuing this route?  The biggest obstacle was coding the numbers correctly AND then finding the keyboard again.  It was an obstacle that I felt I would not easily overcome, if at all.    

Going Back to the Number Pad

Before making a decision of whether to continue practicing with both hands on the keyboard or not, I thought I should stat one match the old way with my right hand on the number pad.  I statted a match from video and it was instantly so much easier.  I could almost immediately stat rallies without that many mistakes.  There were some mistakes but a lot of that was due to using a new attack combination codes and remapping some of the keys.  I knew this would be overcome with practice. 

It went so went that I was able to code some digs, as this was something I was planning on doing with the help of compound codes (see link).  I wasn’t able to do it for every dig but I can see myself improving.  I was nowhere near that with both hands on the keyboard.  

Sticking With the Number Pad

I made the decision to stick with my right hand on the number pad.  I have since statted a few more matches and I don’t regret the decision.  It is just easier for me this way.  I still have a room for improvement, such as coding digs and eventually coding setting, before it losing access to the right side is limiting.