The impact of multiple lockdowns in the last year has devastated almost every industry imaginable, and grassroots sports has been no exception. With ever changing lockdown rules and social gathering restrictions, coaches and amateur sports teams across the country were left unable to practise or play as a team. The impact was so significant on amateur teams that some were left predicting that 25% of grassroots sports clubs might not return once lockdown eased. Activity levels among young people dropped by 2.3% in the summer of 2020, equating to 2.3 million children in England failing to complete an average 30 minutes of activity a day.
In January 2021, when the UK entered yet another national lockdown, Coach Micheal Case of the Manchester Kings Basketball Club and Manchester Valkyries Basketball Club decided it was time to take action and make a change to the way the team trained and practised together. Concerned that team performance and development were at stake due to a year of restricted practise and play, Micheal decided to pilot an app he had recently been introduced to - TeamSportz.
“TeamSportz was a game changer for us, it enabled both teams to stay connected, challenge one another, and improve player and team development - even from a distance.” said Micheal.
As the first AI sports performance tracking app that is multi-sport and built specifically for the amateur market, it is designed to be both accessible and affordable. TeamSportz enables players, coaches and teams to improve their performance and understanding of the game whilst enhancing their health and wellbeing.
21 players from the Manchester Kings and Valkyries piloted TeamSportz from February to April of this year. During the pilot, the players completed a total of 1,300 exercise sessions and 18,300 reps! Analysis of the data from the 3 month trial reveals that the month of March was the highest performing month in terms of activity, with each player completing an average of 3 sessions per week, with a peak of 133 separate exercise sessions done one a single day. Of course with TeamSportz being a new product and therefore experimenting with new technologies, the activity levels had a slow start (depicted in the first February chart below), but picked up as the months progressed.
The below chart illustrates the players who engaged with the app in March. They started to become more active with the introduction of the TeamSportz leaderboard where players could see each other’s activities, which in turn drove the engagement up.
In the next chart, as mentioned already, there was a bigger jump on the charts indicating the level of activity by the players on the app.
In analysing the exercise distribution on a weekly basis for the duration of the trial, we found that the beginning of the week was the most popular time for players to exercise and practise their drills on the app.
With the pandemic leading to an unsurprising decrease in physical activity in the UK, TeamSportz has been the difference between the 2 teams training and competing together, ensuring that I can keep my players accountable and helping me to push them along in their training.
‘Before lockdown, grassroots sports clubs and coaches had no way to connect with and motivate their players remotely. Every other sports AI app on the market has been built for professional teams, which of course comes with an expensive price tag. Either that or they had been built specifically for one sport only. TeamSportz has been designed specifically with the needs of grassroots sports teams in mind and we are proud to be the first company to offer teams professional sports tracking and performance data without the need for additional equipment and at an accessible price.’ says Francisco Baptista, TeamSportz Founder and CEO.
Even as we further away from the peak of the pandemic, the world of sport continues to adapt and evolve. However TeamSportz enables all teams to remain connected and train together regardless of what the future holds. Coaches can sign their team up here today.
