Digital Evaluation Software Use Cases

Familiarizing yourself with the features & benefits of digital evaluation software, like SkillShark, is a task in and of itself. One question that may quickly come to your mind is, “How often can SkillShark be used throughout the season?”

From tryouts to mid-season evaluations to clinics, SkillShark is a multifaceted app with many use cases for coaches. This blog discusses the 5 main ways SkillShark can be used during your season, providing you with real-time insights at every point along the way.

What is Digital Evaluation Software?

Digital evaluation software is a powerful tool that enables coaches to streamline the traditional pen & paper evaluation process. What used to be a stressful, time-consuming process can now be done in a fraction of the time and produce accurate results. Whether coaches want to draft teams, provide athlete feedback, or track athlete development—a digital evaluation software has the capabilities for it all!

Digital Evaluation Software Use Cases

1) Tryouts

Ditch the pen-and-paper and digitize your evaluation process. Make your tryouts objective, efficient, and organized by switching to an app that does it all. Some features include:

• Create & customize your evaluation template. *All athletes will be evaluated on the same skill, and evaluators will use the same scoring scale. This results in fair, objective scoring—no matter who is evaluating.

• Score players, add comments, and take videos (of an athlete performing a skill) on any mobile device. *Data will be securely stored and synced to review at a later time.

• Instantly access rankings & compare players using SkillShark's pre-generated reports. *No data entry or report setup is required from you!

Scoring players on digital evaluation software

Comparison of athletes

2. Mid-Season Evaluations

Use this as a halfway check-in point to assess athletes, scoring athletes on the same skills they were evaluated on during tryouts.

• Create an evaluation event for “Mid-Season Evaluations” on SkillShark.

• Score athletes on the same criteria.

• View evaluation data in SkillShark's individual development reports.

• Answer the questions: How have they progressed within X skill? What steps can they take to continue improving this season?

For instance, after evaluating one of your soccer players, SkillShark’s individual development report indicates that their endurance has slightly decreased since tryouts (based on a ranking scale from 1-10). With this information now known, you integrate more agility drills during practices to help improve that player’s endurance.

Individual development report

3. Training Camps & Clinics

As training camps & clinics are focused on mentorship, skills development, and mental training, use SkillShark to:

• Score athletes on a number of skills each day at your training camp/clinic.

• Provide athletes with detailed feedback. Hint: Player report cards come in handy here.

• With player report cards, athletes are provided with scores, benchmarks, and supporting comments. Players are provided with a clear snapshot of their skills, helping them understand areas in which they excel and those they can improve.

Athlete report card

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 professional-level report cards after each tryout. We will be SkillShark users for life!

Justin Dee—Delta Region Volleyball, Director

4. Showcases

With SkillShark’s live event leaderboards, make any showcase engaging for parents & other fans in the bleachers while generating healthy competition among players.

As scores are being entered by evaluators, data is displayed instantly on the event leaderboard, and players are ranked accordingly.

Event leaderboards

5. Post-Season Evaluations

As the season comes to an end, make this an opportunity to evaluate athletes and provide them with any final feedback.

• Create an evaluation event for “Year-end Evaluations” on SkillShark.

• Score athletes.

• View evaluation data in SkillShark's player development reports.

• Answer the questions: What skills have they improved on throughout the season, and what can they continue to work on for next year?

For instance, after evaluating one of your soccer players, SkillShark’s individual development report indicates that their endurance, coordination, and agility have all increased since mid-season evaluations (based on a ranking scale from 1-10). With this information known, you can now encourage that player to keep working on these skills for next season!

Individual development report

Wrapping Up

Whether you are conducting tryouts to draft teams or running mid-season evaluations to track & provide athlete feedback, a digital evaluation software can help you with both use cases (and more!). Starting at just $5/player, SkillShark offers customization, time savings, and accuracy. These are just a few reasons why you should be dropping the pen & paper and switching to an app instead.