Why Draft Youth Sports Teams Using an Evaluation App

Before the era of wearable technology, coaches used stopwatches to measure speed & reaction time, instead of today’s fitness trackers, and then used workout logs to enter this information manually.

The transition from traditional workout logs to fitness trackers is just one example of how sports technology is changing the game. Other well-known examples include smart equipment, VR training, and Esports streaming platforms.

However, did you know that sports technology also encompasses an athlete evaluation app? An app that coaches can use to score athletes on their mobile devices, gain access to real-time data, and draft their teams accurately and quickly.

While this may be your first time hearing of an athlete evaluation app in the world of sports technology, we uncover the top 5 benefits of using an app for your youth or professional sports team.

1. Eliminate the hassle of pen-and-paper forms

With a typical pen-and-paper form, you are stuck entering each score by hand (which takes more time than you think!).

After entering all that data, the next step is analysis. This means collecting all the evaluators’ papers, entering the data into a spreadsheet, and formatting the data into readable reports. Unless you are highly skilled in using Excel, this task causes more headaches and stress than anything.

With SkillShark, this time-consuming and error-prone evaluation process is eliminated:

• Enter scores with a slider button (or opt to type it in) on your mobile device.
• Immediately after evaluations, navigate to the reports section to view player data. *All reports are pre-generated; no formatting is required!
• Easily review data from the reports to make accurate drafting decisions.

2. Collect data from evaluators systematically

Hand-collecting papers from evaluators is a task of the past. It is a time-consuming, and frankly unnecessary process, coupled with the fact that some evaluation papers can get misplaced when collected by hand.

When switching to an evaluation app, all evaluators’ scores will be stored on a centralized platform for later review.

No longer will you have to contact each evaluator individually for their scoresheet. Once evaluations are complete, head to the SkillShark web app to see all evaluators’ scores in real-time in the reports section.

3. Gain instant access to player data

As mentioned, all scores from each evaluator are stored in SkillShark right when they are entered.

When it comes time for team placement decisions, just select which report you want to run, choose the player(s) you want to assess, and the skill(s) to analyze.

Let’s use an example to portray how easy it is to gain access to player data.

• The Bobcat Hornets use SkillShark for their evaluations, with each evaluator having the app downloaded on their mobile device.
• During evaluations, evaluators enter athlete scores using the simple slider function.
• Once evaluations are complete, the head coaches access the SkillShark web app and navigate to the reports section.
• After choosing a pre-generated report (i.e., player ranking grid or player comparison report in this case), they are able to quickly identify the top player(s) for each position.

We’ve evaluated approximately 1200 players this season. Data entry usually took us eight hours a day, for fifteen consecutive days. With the volume of athletes that we need to process in one event, SkillShark has probably saved me about 120 hours overall.

Jordan Draeger. Owner & Operator — Going Yard Baseball

4. Easily identify the top-skilled players

Auto-generated reports provide clear & detailed insights. In a matter of minutes, you can identify who the top players are for your team.

Let’s look at an example.

Scenario: You have just conducted basketball tryouts. After running through the essential drills and scoring players, you head over to SkillShark’s reports section and click on the ‘All Scores’ report.

Player ranking grid in SkillShark

You see immediate results of how your players have ranked overall. To provide an overall score, SkillShark averages the scores across all categories evaluated such as dribbling, defense, passing, shooting, etc.. After spending a short amount of time reviewing player scores, you are able to identify the top players for your team.

Note: For instance, if you want to identify the best player for a specific position (i.e., point guard) you can hone in on the passing and dribbling skills.

5. Cut down evaluation time

Without the hassle of pen-and-paper, you are saving HOURS of time, not to mention administrative labor.

Wrapping Up

Next time you think of sports technology, think of SkillShark. Just like any other sports tech that makes our lives easier, SkillShark’s athlete evaluation app is an all-in-one platform for ANY type of evaluation and for ANY sport.

Score your athletes, access real-time insights, and draft teams quickly & accurately. What can be better than saving time, reducing administrative overhead, and being confident with every player you draft?