Minnesota Heat Basketball Success Story
Minnesota Heat Basketball Reduce Time Spent Forming Teams From 7 Days To 4-8 Hours
New Brighton, Minnesota
120 Teams
1,200+ Players
The Challenge
The Minnesota Heat, a non-profit basketball organization, began in 2004 with one team and has since grown to 120 teams.
While the success of the club is tremendous, it also meant the organization’s process of using pen and paper to evaluate players and form teams was no longer efficient.
“We would give our evaluators a sheet of paper and say ‘hey, jot down notes, write down what position you think the player is and give them an overall grade based on an A, B, C scale,’” said Josh Presbitero, the Chief Finance Officer of the Minnesota Heat.
Doing it this way resulted in an inefficient team-formation process. It took the club about a week to build the teams. Sifting through sheets of paper was cumbersome, and the scoring system was inadequate. They had to look at the evaluations and determine how a player labeled as a “good ball-handler” differed from another athlete labeled as an “excellent ball-handler.” The club didn’t know how to quantify those comments, and it resulted in a lengthy team-formation process.
“For us, back then, (using pen and paper) was good, it served its purpose,” Presbitero said. “Now that we’ve gotten bigger and are dealing with a larger number of players to evaluate, we needed an app that could streamline the process for us.”
While the success of the club is tremendous, it also meant the organization’s process of using pen and paper to evaluate players and form teams was no longer efficient.
“We would give our evaluators a sheet of paper and say ‘hey, jot down notes, write down what position you think the player is and give them an overall grade based on an A, B, C scale,’” said Josh Presbitero, the Chief Finance Officer of the Minnesota Heat.
Doing it this way resulted in an inefficient team-formation process. It took the club about a week to build the teams. Sifting through sheets of paper was cumbersome, and the scoring system was inadequate. They had to look at the evaluations and determine how a player labeled as a “good ball-handler” differed from another athlete labeled as an “excellent ball-handler.” The club didn’t know how to quantify those comments, and it resulted in a lengthy team-formation process.
“For us, back then, (using pen and paper) was good, it served its purpose,” Presbitero said. “Now that we’ve gotten bigger and are dealing with a larger number of players to evaluate, we needed an app that could streamline the process for us.”
“Everyone that’s used it – even the older evaluators who are used to pen and paper – have been on board and found it to be valuable”
- Josh Presbitero, Chief Finance Officer
The Solution
To make tryouts and the team formation process easier, the Minnesota Heat started using TeamGenius’ player evaluation app.
Presbitero was able to learn the software and train his coaches on it.
“There is no downside to it,” Presbitero said. “Once we nailed down (the training), it was pretty seamless.”
All the coaches and evaluators are using it, and so far, the experience has been positive for all of them.
“Everyone that’s used it – even the older evaluators who are used to pen and paper – have been on board and found it to be valuable,” Presbitero said.
Presbitero was able to learn the software and train his coaches on it.
“There is no downside to it,” Presbitero said. “Once we nailed down (the training), it was pretty seamless.”
All the coaches and evaluators are using it, and so far, the experience has been positive for all of them.
“Everyone that’s used it – even the older evaluators who are used to pen and paper – have been on board and found it to be valuable,” Presbitero said.
The Result
Implementing the TeamGenius app resulted in more accurate teams – in less time.
Presbitero said that by using the app, his club went from spending an entire week on the team-formation process to just 4 to 8 hours.
“The biggest thing for us is having all of the data in front of us as opposed to having to sift through different pages and evaluation sheets,” Presbitero said.
It also helped the club provide more accurate evaluations of the players. Previously, when forming teams, the club would call coaches and ask what they remembered about certain players’ performances, or who stood out. They had to provide information based on their memory. Now, with the TeamGenius app, the coaches can go into the platform and look at their evaluation scores and see who they graded well, and why.
It also helps answer questions from parents and players after teams are announced. If an athlete asks why he or she was placed on a specific team, the club can look at the evaluation form and their grade and explain the team placement.
The TeamGenius app also helped the club improve its registration process during tryouts. They were able to ensure all the registrations were in the system, and they could quickly take photos of each player at check-in to add to the app. That way each evaluator could see who he or she was evaluating.
“It just works seamlessly from the front of the house to the back of the house,” Presbitero said. “Everything works great.”
“TeamGenius has really helped us be more productive and just be more efficient with how we handle our team-building process, and it’s been really helpful with our success this year,” Presbitero said.
Presbitero said that by using the app, his club went from spending an entire week on the team-formation process to just 4 to 8 hours.
“The biggest thing for us is having all of the data in front of us as opposed to having to sift through different pages and evaluation sheets,” Presbitero said.
It also helped the club provide more accurate evaluations of the players. Previously, when forming teams, the club would call coaches and ask what they remembered about certain players’ performances, or who stood out. They had to provide information based on their memory. Now, with the TeamGenius app, the coaches can go into the platform and look at their evaluation scores and see who they graded well, and why.
It also helps answer questions from parents and players after teams are announced. If an athlete asks why he or she was placed on a specific team, the club can look at the evaluation form and their grade and explain the team placement.
The TeamGenius app also helped the club improve its registration process during tryouts. They were able to ensure all the registrations were in the system, and they could quickly take photos of each player at check-in to add to the app. That way each evaluator could see who he or she was evaluating.
“It just works seamlessly from the front of the house to the back of the house,” Presbitero said. “Everything works great.”
“TeamGenius has really helped us be more productive and just be more efficient with how we handle our team-building process, and it’s been really helpful with our success this year,” Presbitero said.
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