Top 10 Features of SkillShark

Athlete evaluation software. Whether you have done some prior research or have just heard of a tool like this, understanding its core features can be a great deal of work. Rather than scanning a company’s website landing pages and making your own bullet point list of its features, we have done that heavy lifting for you.

We uncover the top 10 features SkillShark provides, benefitting coaches & evaluators of any sport!

1. Athlete Report Cards

• Provide athletes & parents with comprehensive feedback through standardized reports.

• Allow athletes to view their scores. Players can also see their ranking relative to the team's average (optional feature).

• Attach additional comments and videos to amplify the level of feedback athletes receive.

Athlete report card

2. Athlete Self-assessments

• Give your athletes the opportunity to self-reflect on their skill set & set goals in a comfortable setting.

• Select the desired self-assessment metrics (i.e., shooting, dribbling, and passing for basketball) and ask athletes to rank themselves and/or set goals for each skill.

• Self-assessments will provide you with valuable insights while helping athletes align their mindset with their performance.
  

Athlete self-assessment

3. Developmental Resources

• Further train your athletes using your own resource library of PDFs, videos, infographics, and more.

• Automatically distribute developmental material after an evaluation, only to athletes who need it. I.e., Set criteria so that if a player scores below 6 on hitting, a developmental resource will be attached.

• Engage players while improving their overall performance beyond regular practices.
  

Developmental resource attached for hitting mechanics

4. Tiered Draft Reports

• Automatically rank & draft players onto teams in less than 2 minutes (without any data entry or report setup).

• For instance, a tiered draft report can be created for the “Forwards” position in hockey. I.e, Skating and shooting might be deemed slightly more important than passing; therefore, they will both be allocated a higher weight.

• Based on these weightings, SkillShark will rank the 'Forwards' players and automatically draft them onto ranked or balanced teams.
  

5. Event Leaderboards

• Display the scores of players during any event with a live leaderboard.

• Drive healthy competition among your players while providing parents & fans with a good visual of athletes’ performance.

• All data is displayed live, meaning scores are displayed instantly once they are given.
  

Live event leaderboard

6. Customizable Evaluation Templates

Customize evaluation templates to be exactly what you would like to measure. Choose from a range of scores:

• Subjective scores- Choice metric (i.e., needs improvement, average, excellent) or fixed scale (ranging from 0-10).

• Objective scores- Single score (i.e., 40-yard dash) or multi-score (i.e., pop time).

• Comment only score
  

Evaluation template

The ability to create customized evaluation criteria is a fantastic feature. It allows me to align assessments with our coaching philosophy and the specific goals of our team.

Jamie Dixon. Academy Director & Coach — Gold Coast United FC

7. Player Development Reports

• Individual development reports: See how an individual athlete is progressing within specific skills (up to 5 skills can be selected) over a series of events.

• Comparison development reports: Choose up to 5 athletes and analyze their progress over the season within a single skill (i.e., hitting mechanics).
  

Individual development report

Comparison development report

8. Player Lists

• Player lists are effective for splitting up players into age, region, and division. They are also useful for splitting up tryouts that span multiple days.

• Use case 1: A coach wants to evaluate players at softball tryouts, but to ensure a fair playing field, the coach creates age-based lists (U8, U10, and U12) to score and compare players within the same age range.

• Use case 2: A hockey tryout spans three days, with a large volume of athletes. Player lists are created for Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3. These lists make it easy for evaluators to identify & score applicable players.
  

Player Lists

9. Videos

• During an evaluation, evaluators can take a video in the SkillShark app (or select a pre-recorded video from earlier). *When a video is taken or attached, it will show up in the athlete's report card.

• Videos provide an opportunity for athletes to see themselves performing the skill, which can often get overlooked otherwise.

• I.e., If an evaluator provides a comment telling an athlete to dribble the basketball with their fingertips, a video showing the player dribbling the ball with the palms of their hands (instead of their fingertips) will assist with conveying the message.
  

Video ability in the evaluation template

10. Message Center

• SkillShark’s newest feature! The message center keeps athletes & evaluators informed and updated on anything related to tryouts, practices, and tournaments.

• Just posted team results? Made an update to the weekly practice schedule? Want to send a reminder to all evaluators before an upcoming tryout? The message center is ideal for any use case where email would have to be used.
  

Messaging center

Wrapping Up

Athlete evaluations are more than just scoring players & making tactical decisions. Rather, evaluations are a chance to deep dive into player performance, provide insightful feedback, and tailor your coaching tactics to build a winning team.