5 Key Benefits Of An Athlete Evaluation Software

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Selecting the most well-rounded players for your team. That is the number one goal in the minds of coaches. Players will be evaluated across a range of skills, scores will be analyzed, and decisions will be made. But, without the use of athlete evaluation software, this process isn’t as easy as 1-2-3.

If we consider the pen-and-paper method still widely used, there are a plethora of challenges it presents. How long will it take for the data to be transferred from the clipboard to the computer? What happens if the data isn’t entered correctly or gets lost? How easy is Excel to use for filtering and interpreting data?

Save yourself the headache and consider an athlete evaluation software to conduct your next tryout, end-of-year evaluation, or mid-season performance evaluation.

1) Eliminate Data Entry

With athlete evaluation software, it’s incredibly easy to rate an athlete with just the tap of a screen. Create an evaluation template ahead of time, outline metrics and skills that will be evaluated, and simply rank players using any mobile device.

With SkillShark, add as many evaluators as you want prior to the event. Evaluators will have the option to sort players based on jersey colour, jersey number and name for easy scoring. Additionally, player lists can be created ahead of time, filtered by age, position, or region. I.e., If you are only evaluating U12 players one day, a player list is key here! Aside from player lists, specific skills can also be scored during evaluations (for example, an evaluator gets assigned to one station and only needs to evaluate dribbling).

No longer do you need to spend time bringing up your clipboard, locating the player, and making notes with a pen (a note which may not be legible when you come to read it later). This means that not only can you eliminate data entry errors, but you can also spend more time with your head up, focusing on what you should be looking at — how athletes are performing.

The end result? Access to accurate evaluation scores and less time spent trying to interpret scribbled-down notes when you come to read them.

2) Easy Learning Curve

If you’re using a clipboard-based evaluation process, your setup will look a little something like this. First, you and the other coaches will need to agree on what skills you are looking to evaluate. Second, you will need to figure out the formatting of the form. How much additional space do you need to allow evaluators to make legible notes? Do you need two or more pages? What size should the columns and rows be?

Once you have decided on a standardized form that works for you, you will need to print it. After printing, reprinting can become very difficult if you have 100+ athletes to evaluate at your tryout (not to mention a huge waste of paper!). You also have to work through the nightmare of manually managing your player registrations and matching them to the forms.

With leading athlete evaluation software, you can set everything needed for your evaluation in a matter of minutes:

1. Import players. Players can be imported either from an Excel spreadsheet or player management software such as TeamSnap or Linkt.
2. Create an evaluation template. A pre-filled template comes readily available based on your sport. Use these pre-determined metrics, customize your own template completely, or use a mix of both!
3. Create event. Add an event name, start date & time, end date & time. Invite evaluators and add your players.
4. Evaluate event. Use sliders to rate performance, input time-based scores, add any additional comments (each skill can have its own comments), and attach videos to show players how they perform on the skill they are being evaluated on.

3) Comprehensive Player Analysis

Let’s go back to the paper-based system again. Once you have been through the setup process and collected all the data, how do you even begin interpreting the data?

As most sports organizations don’t have a data scientist on hand, figuring out how to sort data, filter players, and visualize data becomes incredibly time-consuming. As a result, proper insights can’t be gathered and team placement decisions aren’t made with 100% accuracy.

However, if you’re using evaluation software, analysis is a piece of cake. Once scores are inputted during evaluations, they are then readily available for analysis; you don’t even have to lift a finger to manipulate data. Instead, you can now spend that time comparing and ranking players based on the criteria that matter to you most.

4) Prompt Athlete Feedback

Athlete development is essential for long-term success. As much as players want to win each game, they also want to become well-rounded players who are adept at many skills. However, if an athlete isn’t told what to work on by their coaches, how will they know what skills to develop and become stronger players?

By using athlete evaluation software, coaches can provide immediate, professional reports sent straight to the inboxes of their athletes. Players can see how they score across each skill and how they fare to the team average. In addition to these transparent scores, players can view any attached comments or watch videos of themselves performing that skill (if these are included).

While coaches often don’t have the time to give this level of detailed and prompt in-person feedback during practices, individual reports can supplement in-person feedback. Athletes will have a clear understanding of how they scored, what areas they need to work on, and how they can improve those weaknesses.

5) Streamlined Parent Communication

Parents will almost always have questions about how their kid is progressing. With the money, time, and energy commitment parents are making to a sports team when their child makes the cut, parents want to ensure their child is getting the most out of their sports experience.

Instead of trying to decipher handwritten notes, coaches can share scores, comments and video feedback with parents through individual reports. When sending a report to an athlete, coaches can send a copy to the parents. That way, parents are getting fed the exact same feedback their child is, eliminating any inconsistencies that arise with the delivery of in-person feedback.

Eliminate data entry, provide prompt feedback to athletes, and streamline parent communication with athlete evaluation software. Long gone are the days of pen-and-paper evaluations. By switching to software, you can spend time on what matters most: coaching.