Northern Nevada Juniors Volleyball Club Success Story
Northern Nevada Juniors Volleyball Club Establishes Player Development Program Using TeamGenius
Sparks, Nevada
20+ Teams
400+ Players
The Challenge
When Ray Batalon joined Northern Nevada Juniors Volleyball Club in Reno, Nev., their tryouts lacked organization.
“It was almost utter chaos,” said Batalon, the Associate Director in Charge of Coaching and Player Development.
They had a registration process and forms, but they lacked formal criteria for evaluating players.
Using spreadsheets, the evaluators scored the athletes on six core volleyball skills using a scale of Excellent, Satisfactory, or Needs Improvement. There was also a comment box if the evaluator wanted to leave feedback or explain the score.
Because there were so many players at tryouts, not every athlete was evaluated under this process. If the player participated in the league previously or attended a camp or a clinic, the evaluators had some knowledge of their playing ability to place on a team, but there were numerous athletes the club didn’t have any knowledge of and didn’t know where to place.
“We missed quite a few kids during the tryouts process that were misplaced,” Batalon said.
A tech-savvy organization, the club knew it needed a way to both organize tryouts and create a way to keep past evaluations of players on file so they could track player development.
“It was almost utter chaos,” said Batalon, the Associate Director in Charge of Coaching and Player Development.
They had a registration process and forms, but they lacked formal criteria for evaluating players.
Using spreadsheets, the evaluators scored the athletes on six core volleyball skills using a scale of Excellent, Satisfactory, or Needs Improvement. There was also a comment box if the evaluator wanted to leave feedback or explain the score.
Because there were so many players at tryouts, not every athlete was evaluated under this process. If the player participated in the league previously or attended a camp or a clinic, the evaluators had some knowledge of their playing ability to place on a team, but there were numerous athletes the club didn’t have any knowledge of and didn’t know where to place.
“We missed quite a few kids during the tryouts process that were misplaced,” Batalon said.
A tech-savvy organization, the club knew it needed a way to both organize tryouts and create a way to keep past evaluations of players on file so they could track player development.
“We missed quite a few kids during the tryouts process that were misplaced”
- Ray Batalon, Assistant Director
The Solution
During an internet search for athlete evaluation tools, Batalon came across TeamGenius. He signed up for a free trial and started following the tutorials and tips provided. He was able to recreate the previous year’s tryouts in the app and show it to the club’s administrators and coaches to get their feedback.
“I asked them ‘how can we make this better,’” Batalon said. “What are some things we can do from a user standpoint that would make it easier for you to visually see the evaluation sheet and the players on the court?”
He took their feedback and incorporated it to make tryouts run more efficiently and to assist with their player development program.
“I asked them ‘how can we make this better,’” Batalon said. “What are some things we can do from a user standpoint that would make it easier for you to visually see the evaluation sheet and the players on the court?”
He took their feedback and incorporated it to make tryouts run more efficiently and to assist with their player development program.
The Result
When Northern Nevada Juniors Volleyball Club implemented TeamGenius, it greatly improved their tryouts process, as well as their player scoring and ranking system.
With those processes improved, they then took the app one step farther and used it to enhance their player development program. Starting with a group of about 110 players in 5th through 8th grade, the club began tracking each player’s evaluations to mark their progress. The long-term goal is to be able to look back at a player’s scores through the years to see how the athlete has evolved.
It also has immediate benefits. Because the club doesn’t allow parents into the facilities due to COVID-19 protocols, it got a lot of phone calls from parents asking how their daughter was doing and what does she need to work on. Now, by using the TeamGenius app, the club can send evaluations to each player and their parents so they can see her strengths and weaknesses. This lets them know what she needs to work on during the season, or before next year.
Northern Nevada Juniors Volleyball Club feels like doing this will help them stay ahead of their competition and will show families that they have a vested interest in their daughters’ development.
The club, which gravitates towards new technology, loves that TeamGenius keeps data from tryouts and player evaluations in a central location that can be accessed throughout an athlete’s development process.
“For us, that’s the biggest draw,” Batalon said of the TeamGenius application.
With those processes improved, they then took the app one step farther and used it to enhance their player development program. Starting with a group of about 110 players in 5th through 8th grade, the club began tracking each player’s evaluations to mark their progress. The long-term goal is to be able to look back at a player’s scores through the years to see how the athlete has evolved.
It also has immediate benefits. Because the club doesn’t allow parents into the facilities due to COVID-19 protocols, it got a lot of phone calls from parents asking how their daughter was doing and what does she need to work on. Now, by using the TeamGenius app, the club can send evaluations to each player and their parents so they can see her strengths and weaknesses. This lets them know what she needs to work on during the season, or before next year.
Northern Nevada Juniors Volleyball Club feels like doing this will help them stay ahead of their competition and will show families that they have a vested interest in their daughters’ development.
The club, which gravitates towards new technology, loves that TeamGenius keeps data from tryouts and player evaluations in a central location that can be accessed throughout an athlete’s development process.
“For us, that’s the biggest draw,” Batalon said of the TeamGenius application.
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