Advances In Providing Athlete Feedback Through Technology

Sport Tech

Every coach knows the long list of reasons why athletes need to keep playing sports, but do we really understand the reasons that athletes stop?

Through research, I discovered that 70% of kids drop out of youth sports by age 13.

Included in the top 4 reasons why athletes drop out is that they have a lack of confidence in their ability to play the sport. It all comes down to the retention of feedback. Think of the last meeting you were a part of. Really, stop to think about what exactly was said.

If you were handed a blank sheet of paper, how much could you write down with specifics? If you are like most people, the paper would be pretty empty. Now add adolescence, peer pressure, and social media to the mix. These factors make it pretty difficult for athletes to remember and apply the verbal feedback they were given after practice or before a big game.

Until recently, there was not much a sports organization could do to help this...

Now, with tech solutions such as SkillShark, sports organizations can evaluate athletes using their mobile device or tablet instead of using pen and paper. By making this one simple change to the evaluation process, sports organizations can now quickly and easily provide detailed feedback to each individual athlete after an evaluation.

What we like best about SkillShark is being able to provide instant athlete feedback. Before SkillShark, we used the old-school method of pen and paper. Now with SkillShark, we can view results right after the evaluation is complete. We wouldn't be without it.

What Does a Player Report Card Include?

Athletes score on each skill evaluated.
Average team score on each skill evaluated (optional)
Athletes' overall rank (optional)
Comments to provide additional feedback on specific skills
Video footage is provided to show players their execution of a skill.

Player report cards in SkillShark

Book a Walkthrough

Learn how SkillShark can streamline your evaluations. Let us walk you through the features of the platform and set up your free account.

Cut down evaluation time
Reduce stress
Improve athlete development

Customer Testimonials

Explore how SkillShark has transformed careers and organizations through real-life success stories. Join our community and streamline your athlete evaluations today.

"If you're a coach, you need to take advantage of SkillShark. I've been coaching softball for more than 20 years and SkillShark is by far the most convenient and effective evaluation tool on the market."

Andi Wolf

Head Coach - Cougars

"SkillShark is an exceptional tool for evaluations. The reports are impressive visually and I appreciate being able to track player progress. SkillShark is by far the best money I've spent as an International Recruiter. "

Jack Cameron

CJFL Football Recruiter

"SkillShark is an efficient tool for evaluations, training, and progression of our players. I now have statistics and information at my fingertips. I wouldn’t be without."

Scott Hudson

Head Coach — Diamondbacks

"The program is very clean, looks professional, and parents & students really enjoy the digital reports. The team at SkillShark is always a phone call away and eager to help set up your program on answer any questions!"

Tyler Stahl

Notre Dame Academy

"SkillShark has been an invaluable tool for our tryouts. We have used it with nearly 400 athletes and it has been a great addition to our participants and parents, who now receive a college coaches evaluation after each tryout. We will be SkillShark users for life. Thanks SkillShark for bringing our tryout evaluations from the stone age to the digital age!"

Justin Dee

High Performance Director (Delta Region of USA Volleyball), Head Volleyball Coach (Belhaven University)

"As a Roller Derby Coach and Official, I am tasked with training and evaluating High Level skaters as well as raw beginners. SkillShark has been an incredible tool for me to help evaluate and benchmark skaters as well as helping to develop training plans. "

Dean Toles

Coach

FAQ — Providing Athlete Feedback

Through athlete feedback, players can gain a deeper understanding of how they are progressing throughout the season. This acts as a catalyst for personal growth, where athletes now have the knowledge they need to refine their existing skills and develop new ones.

As a general rule of thumb, athlete feedback should be provided after any tryout, assessment (i.e., mid-season evaluations or year-end evaluations), camp, or showcase. The more feedback is provided to athletes throughout the sports season, the better athletes can understand their progression.

Just as athletes want a granular level of feedback, so do their parents! As joining competitive sports comes at a premium price, parents want to be aware of how their child is progressing and the criteria being used to evaluate them.

Neil

As an engineer from the UofS, I’ve spent 30 years focused on optimizing industrial processes like mines or manufacturing facilities… combine that with my love of playing or coaching competitive softball the majority of my life, that’s where I saw the need for SkillShark. I took over the U18 Softball program in 2016 and saw the evaluation process was archaic and the way gathered data that was being used to decide team placement could be vastly improved.