The aim of this study is to compare the effectiveness in identifying performance determining factors (PDFs) using discrete point analysis (DPA), functional principal component analysis (fPCA) and a novel technique, analysis of characterizing phases (ACP). Twenty five vertical ground reaction force (vGRF) curves, recorded during a countermovement jump, were analyzed. DPA inappropriately identified the rate of force development as a PDF, due to bi-modal vGRF curves. In contrast, fPCA and ACP identified the phase around the peak vGRF before and after the rapid drop in force as a PDF. The continuous techniques showed greater benefit in analyzing the captured data as they are not affected by the timing of key variables (e.g. peak vGRF), indicate the period over which a PDF occurs and do not discard potentially important information.