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To kick off, Jim looks at the use of smartphone and tablet apps in coaching at all levels of sport.

By Jim Dickin

Nearly everybody has a mobile phone of some sort and these can be great tools in coaching. In fact, they have become irreplaceable for all coaches today, most basically for communication and video.

Smartphone and tablet apps, a couple of which I cover below, add a whole new dimension.

The issue: Measuring the effect of coaching

A while back, I made a conscious decision to use my smartphone in my own coaching.

At the end of the 2011 season the management team of the University Rugby Club did a review. The season had been relatively successful - the team had reached the semi-final of our competition and lost to the eventual winners.

The review was complementary, however, in self review I questioned whether my coaching had directly improved any of the players' personal skills.

Some had improved as a result of age and experience and many achieved representative teams and progressed to higher levels. But the harsh reality was that I didn't feel my coaching had made a one-on-one impact on some players.

I'd implemented systems and managed the players within those systems. I ensured that players understood their role in the team and encouraged their contribution. But had I improved the technique of a player directly through my coaching?

Video analysis: Coaches Eye and Ubersense

I decided to introduce an individual skills session at the start of training each week, using video to make this more efficient.

Players performed skills drills, either personal work-ons or drills negotiated with the coaches, which were videoed using various video devices owned by players and coaches.

Next, the coaches used the apps Coaches Eye and Ubersense to analyse the video.

Coaches Eye

• Android and iphone
• Cost: $5.49 for IOS. Free on Android, with add-ons extra
• Download: iOS (ie, Apple) or Android

Ubersense

• IOS only
• Cost: free, with an optional "elite" upgrade costing $US24.99 annually. (This upgrade is storage only at the moment doesn't affect functionality.)
• Download: iOS

What they do

Both apps let anyone (athletes, injured players, assistant coaches, coaches) video the player taking part in a skill, then review their performance using a slow-motion fly wheel.

Video can be discussed with the athlete straight after taking it, or uploaded and shared with them, and others if desirable, in the apps' online communities, or somewhere like facebook or dropbox. You don't need to have the app to view the videos, so someone without a smartphone or tablet is not excluded.

Within the app you can compare your video with other athletes either from your own storage or downloaded from You Tube or the apps communities. This gives you the ability to compare your athletes with professional athletes and give them a really valid comparison of their skills.

You can tightly restrict viewing, or you can open up for comment from the community members world wide. As well as uploading directly from the app, videos can be downloaded and viewed anywhere.

The verdict

The apps certainly introduced a different emphasis in my personal coaching and a got really positive reaction from the players involved. I regularly use Ubersense in rugby and athletics coaching, as well as my PE teaching.

There's not much difference in functionality between the Ubersense and Coaches Eye, making the decision more about cost and what type of smartphone or tablet you own.

These apps give we coaches the opportunity to ensure that we're improving our players. I'm very keen that the use of technology should not interfere with the relationship between player and coach. However, I believe these apps can actually promote this relationship, while giving the player invaluable visual cues about improvement of their technique - surely the aim of coaching in the first place.

I urge you to try to incorporate one of these apps into your coaching workflow, and look forward to hearing how you feel the process has gone.

Keen to start?

It would be great to build up a battery of New Zealand-relevant videos to share from the Sport NZ community, both from coaches exchanging opinions on player technique and some perfect models from New Zealand's best performers.

This would also be a great resource for coach education, and help address New Zealand problem of long travel times.

Let me know below if you are interested in helping build up a collection of resource videos and I'll set up and share a dropbox folder with videos in.

What's next?

As an extension to this article I'll share on twitter a number of other apps I regularly use in my coaching process. Twitter details below.

As I continue to write articles on technology in sport, I'm interested in what the coaching community would like to discuss. It'd be great to hear from you, and I look forward to feedback and interaction with coaches from New Zealand and the rest of the world.

Get in touch

• Twitter @tech4coaching
• Email j.dickin@kingscollege.school.nz