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

What we like best about SkillShark is being able to provide instant feedback to athletes. With SkillShark, we can view results right after the evaluation is complete and send reports.

Derek Bloski. SHA Hockey Coach

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. Weighted Reports

• Weigh out players according to your coaching recipe. Weighted reports are ideal for finding top athletes in various categories & drafting players to teams.
• For instance, a weighted report can be created for “Top Hitters” in volleyball. Turn on metrics related to hitting and adjust the weighting on each metric to your preferences. I.e, Power and attack might be weighted greater than accuracy; therefore, they will both be allocated a higher weight.
• Once the report is run, you can see your top hitters based on the weights you set.

Weighted report

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:
  • 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
• Create positive and constructive comments ahead of time that can be added to the template during evaluations.

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.
  • Athletes can visually see the impact of their efforts, and coaches can use this data to refine their technique (i.e., practice drills or individual discussions).
• Comparison development reports: Choose up to 5 athletes and analyze their progress over the season within a single skill (i.e., hitting mechanics).
  • These reports are invaluable when making final drafting picks or selecting top players.

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 in order to ensure a fair playing field, the coach will create & use an age-based list (U10) to score and compare players in the same age range.
• Use case 2: A hockey tryout spans three days in length. Player lists are created for Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3. These lists make it easy for evaluators to only 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

These 10 features just scratch the surface of what SkillShark has to offer! To learn more about our intuitive athlete evaluation app, speak with one of our product experts.