Presenting it all.

My main focus over the past few weeks has been on my final presentation and reflecting on my Spreadsheets project. My final product was learning how to use Spreadsheets to analyze sport statistics. This was very unique to me as I analyzed my cricket statistics that I have gathered over the past few years.


I chose to do this project as I have a prominent desire and passion for sports, so I thoroughly enjoy analyzing sports statistics and information. Having learnt spreadsheets will not only assist in gaining a great skill but it will also assist me in the future as I want to go into the business world where Spreadsheets is widely used and required. I was able to complete this project through online courses and research, as well as speaking to people who have background knowledge in spreadsheets. Under the guidance of Mr. Shappell, using his understanding and knowledge, the learning process was a lot easier and quicker. Once completed, I had gained considerable knowledge in spreadsheets and in my cricket game and I learnt how to analyze sports statistics using different methods. I can proudly say that I have gained enough knowledge to be able to produce a spreadsheet that can be used to examine different areas of sports.

One of my most invaluable assets was my overall ability to create a spreadsheet from my random cricket statistics into meaningful, useable and accurate summarised data. I was able to realize the capability and power of a spreadsheet. Once created the data allowed me to better understand my needed areas of improvement of my cricketing skills without which I would have not been able to do. As a result of the above, applying the meaningful data to focus on improving my cricketing skills in areas of weakness, has in fact proven to be my biggest strength. The reason for this strength was that I had adequate access to resources (Online and Mr. Shappell) which enabled continuous growth and learning. A concrete example would be honing in on my batting skills as I went out multiple times in a season.

My biggest adversity throughout the learning process was that I did not have sufficient knowledge of some of the more complex formulas and therefore I had a lack of understanding with regards to the intricacies, which limited my functionality, of spreadsheets. A concrete example of the finer details of the COUNTIF function is shown below:

The example on the left is incorrect, this is because I put a space after the word "out" or "not out" and thus it was not counted in the totals.

When initially deciding how to formulate my spreadsheet, I thought using multiple spreadsheets would have been the most convenient however my confusion arose when trying to link the spreadsheets and as a result I was forced to include all of my data onto a single spreadsheet which could appear to be somewhat cumbersome. The reason for this confusion was due to the complexity of spreadsheets. A concrete example of this was initially wanting to link both my batting and wicket keeping statistics from two separate spreadsheets.

I am extremely happy and proud of my success throughout the course of the semester and this project. I have been able to accurately and proficiently record my data into averages, totals and graphs to make better sense of my game, season by season and overall. This was very important to me as one of my goals was to gain a better understanding of my cricket game and by interpreting my data, I was able to do so.

There are definitely ways in which I can improve. One way would be to learn the more complicated formulas and functions of spreadsheets to extract higher level data for example further interpreting my batting skills by doing a more in depth analysis using these more complicated formulas and functions  to assess the different ways in which I went out according to the specific shot I played as well as the particular type bowlers that I faced. My weakness throughout the project directly links to my strength. By learning the more complicated formulas I will have a better understanding of how to interpret the data and therefore improve my knowledge and understanding of spreadsheets and its workings in addition to improving my cricketing skills.

I am extremely proud to say that overall my final presentation was a success. There are a few ways that I could improve and elevate my presentation as a whole such as not using notecards during future presentations, another way would be to backing up big/power statements with explicit and in depth evidence by using the WHY, HOW AND WHAT method.