An evaluation app can provide player feedback and send athlete communications
Evaluation software can help youth sports clubs in numerous ways during tryouts. It can help make player registration easier, it can help streamline the scoring process, and it can help leagues form teams quickly.
But evaluation apps can also be helpful beyond tryout sessions. The setup and investment of the app can be utilized throughout the season to send communications to players and parents, track player feedback, and even be used during additional league activities like training sessions, camps and clinics.
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Send player communications and results
Directly after tryout sessions, leagues can utilize the evaluation app by providing individual results to players. Andrew Lenhardt, the Director of Coaching at Springfield (Ill.) Area Soccer Association (SASA), said he tells parents and players during the tryout sessions that results will be available after the evaluations. He thinks this establishes transparency between the league, the athletes and their parents. Families know they are receiving the same results on which the players will be evaluated. To learn more about communicating tryout results, check out How to Communicate Youth Soccer Tryouts Results.
Leagues can also draft team communications in the app. Coaches and directors can prepare email templates send to parents and players, informing them of team placements and other news throughout the season. The emails can be sent directly from the app, eliminating the need to create several versions of the communications.
Track player feedback
As part of the evaluation app, coaches and directors can track athlete feedback and compile player evaluations. This allows leagues to send out individual evaluations to players throughout the year to inform them of how they’ve performed, and what the coaching staff and league want them to improve on for the remainder of the season. By sharing feedback with the players, the athletes can make more conclusions between their performances and team placements, as well as roles.
The St. Croix Soccer Club, which uses the TeamGenius app, utilizes the ability to do player evaluations throughout the year to their advantage. The league likes how the player evaluation forms are available in the app for the league directors and coaches to access. “Then I can see it, coaches can see it, and send off to families,” said Nathan Klonecki, the Coaching Director at the St. Croix Soccer Club.
Klonecki is confident these evaluations will help when forming teams next year, as he expects “less phone calls, less shock at the end.” He thinks sending player evaluations during the season will help to inform what they need to work on for the following year. This should allow players to know heading into tryouts if they needed to improve on anything from the previous season, and what coaches and evaluators are looking for from them.
“It will make people happier. They have an evaluation and can get feedback as the year goes on,” Klonecki said.
Lenhardt echoed his sentiments.
It also helps the players. According to sports psychologist Dr. Justin Anderson of Premier Sport Psychology, giving players direct feedback on what they need to work on can help youth athletes cope with a poor evaluation. Having a player see the scores and feedback he or she received can help him or her prepare for their next step, whether it’s how to improve for the rest of the season or preparing for next year’s tryouts.
According to Anderson, sharing the following information with youth athletes in a feedback or evaluation form can help them cope with poor tryouts results or mid-season evaluations.
“Be authentic. Give them things to work on. Give them coaching advice on how to improve their skills. Direct them on what they can do versus what they can’t,” Anderson said.
These tips can help athletes put together a specific offseason workout and training program to help them improve on the identified skills or areas.
Use during training sessions, camps and clinics
The player evaluation app can help teams stay organized during team activities throughout the season. Leagues can track individual player results and performances during training sessions, team and player camps and clinics. This helps keep player evaluation scores and progress in one place throughout the season.
Using the app at team events can also help administrators, as it can assist with registration and overall evaluations of the events.
