Posted by Life before the internet was difficult especially when you had to plan a weekend jam-pack with games, meals, team bonding, recovery, and much more. As a Coach, you need to inform your players of everything that they will be doing. It is much easier on days when athletes only have classes and practices because they only need to know where and when practice will be and what they should be wearing. Gamedays and travel weekends are a little more difficult because a lot more planning goes into the events. For example, Coaches need to inform their players on the where, when and what of every single event that takes place during that trip (which is much more than you would expect).
Before the internet, Coaches had many other ways of informing players of upcoming schedules. It was not a big deal at first, they would print out paper calendars that had all the sports-related activities on them that they needed. If they were going on an away trip there would be a long-detailed itinerary that they would hand out before the trip.
If there needed to be a change to any events on the itinerary, they had to play a game of telephone to inform everyone of changes that were made. The coach would call the first player on the roster and alert them of the changes. Once the first player knew they would call the second player on the roster, and then the second player would call the third, and so on and so on. This was very time-consuming and if it was a change to an event happening in a crunch of time, everyone would not always know the new details. This happened when players were not all in the same location where they could easily make a big group announcement. If the team was coming into a locker room, coaches could write a note on the whiteboard to shed light on any changes. This however was not always beneficial because players could miss the note and/or it could be hidden in with other notes also on the board.
Now there is an app that makes planning easy for elite athletic teams. Teamworks is an app made by athletes for athletes. It makes scheduling easier with a detailed calendar that is clear and easy to read. It also allows coaches to insert team files right on the app, no more handing out paperwork that will just get lost in the bottom of a bookbag. Now athletes get alerts about new events, changes of events, reminders, and much more all from the app. All the coaches have to do is insert the information and when it is occurring, and all the players will be notified.
Players can get a daily view of their schedule with what time events start and how long they will be. If they go in to click on the specific event, they then can see further details like who will be attending, what they should be wearing, when they need to arrive, where it is, and much more. For example, the app would tell a player what event they have upcoming- practice. When the event was taking place- 7 to 10 am. Where it was taking place- Homewood Field. Who needed to attend- Team Function. As well as any other details I need to know about the event (bring out certain equipment, practice plans, etc.) The events can be as detailed as they want and if there is ever a change all they have to do is make the small change and all players will get a notification with the new details. The invention of this app made everyone’s lives much easier. Players and Coaches could now spend more time focused on their practice and game instead of making updated schedules and informing others of changes.
With the invention of Teamworks and more than 2,000 Division 1 schools using it, it has made a huge impact on the internet. Teams no longer have to send out paper calendars and itineraries of their season. There are no more calling teammates to inform them when there has been a scheduling change. Everything is now at the tip of our fingers and with a new app or service our lives have been made substantially easier.
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