Digitalization in sport

Digitization! We hear about it constantly and everywhere. Schools are to be digitized, work has been digitized for years. And sport is also on its way to becoming more digital.

But what exactly does digitalization mean? Is it enough to have a cell phone or tablet and the Internet? Is it enough, as with schools, to equip them with Wi-Fi and tablets? Is that already digitalization?

Wikipedia writes: Since around the 1970s, the term digitization has referred to the conversion of analogue values into digital formats and their processing or storage in a digital technology system.

It is therefore about digitally capturing, storing and processing data. Data that was previously available in analog form, i.e. as notes, images or tables.

What is digitalization in sport

Laptop, Tablet, Smartphone, Apps und Software haben längst auch bei Trainern und Vereinen einen festen Platz. Denn mit modern technology and digital aids, many things in everyday training, team organization and club management are faster, easier and simpler.

Not everyone is so keen on digitalization in sport: "It was possible without it before. "That's something for the big boys. "These are sentences that are still heard by those who want to establish digital helpers in their club.

And yet, many coaches are already using a number of tools for their day-to-day work. Starting with communication via WhatsApp group(s), email and the countless websites with training exercises. Video is also increasingly being used thanks to cell phones. Recording training sessions or matches is now absolutely easy.

Almost every club, and probably almost every coach, now records and stores data digitally. But has the potential of digitalization been exhausted? Are you as a coach or is your club already taking advantage of the possibilities for improving training work, the targeted and individual training of each player or the preparation and follow-up of competitions?

Whatsapp & PlayerPlus - There's more!

For communication with players, parents or coaches, the advantages of digitalization have already been recognized and are being used. Dates and information are announced via email or in the WhatsApp group. Nobody longs for the days of telephone chains or wants to go back to the stress of having to pass on important information to the team at short notice. Cell phones and the internet are a huge help here. But in addition to the simple possibility of providing information or simply recording attendance, digitalization in sport can offer coaches and athletes even more help.

Wearables for digitalization

In addition to communication tools, wearables and tools have also found their way into training. Running with a heart rate monitor or chest strap coupled with the app on a smartphone is now standard practice for athletes. This documents the distances run, but also records bio-data such as heart rate or speed and makes it available in diagrams for evaluation. Individual training plans can also be created and monitored for the athlete using smartphone apps such as Runtastic in conjunction with trackers. In team sports, trackers are also increasingly being used in training and games.

In addition to biometric data, they record running performance or heart rate curves as well as runs and their speeds or even the zones on the pitch where the athlete had the most action.

Collecting and analyzing data

All wearables and trackers provide data. But even training or a game without the use of such tools provides the coach with lots of data. Data on each individual player, from their motivation and fitness levels to goals scored and tackles lost.

Data is also collected for the team. Was the system implemented as prescribed and trained? Was the mentality and self-confidence right? Was the positioning chosen correctly? Data is always collected. And all this data, especially in combination with the data from the wearables, can provide important impulses and starting points to make the players individually and the team as a whole even better.

To do this, it is ideal and necessary to bring together as much data as possible and combine the individual isolated solutions.

Software such as proSports.Zone provides the solution here. It can combine various data, including from other tools, in one solution and offers coaches the opportunity to record their own data and values. It therefore bundles several data sources and combines them into a large data pool for the coach, which he can then evaluate and analyze as he wishes. Only with the targeted connection of the various data sources and the targeted evaluation of all data does digitalization in sport reach its full potential as an aid for athletes and coaches.

Alongside all gadgets, tools and wearables, the software for recording, storing and evaluating all available data remains the core element on the path to digitalized sport. Despite all the digital support and all the new possibilities, one thing remains irrefutable:

The coach was, is and remains the decisive factor!

The digitalization of sport should help, not be an end in itself! Despite all the digital aids, new training tools, state-of-the-art analysis methods, kinetics and other things: In the end, it's the coach who makes the difference! They see the players, see their mistakes, their strengths and weaknesses and have to find the right training forms and methods and intervene to correct and motivate them.

But digital assistants are particularly important for this work. They relieve trainers of time-consuming work and provide them with meaningful data. Whether for load control, competition and training evaluation or video analysis. Software helps to make more athletes even better.

With proSports.Zone, we provide coaches and clubs with a professional and holistic solution that brings together all the data from players, coaches and teams. From young talent to active players.

The digital player file on proSports.Zone provides a comprehensive, detailed and complete overview of all developments. The absolute strengths of the solution are particularly evident in the training of youth athletes and talents. Digitalization in sport should help, that is our claim for proSports.Zone.

Data instead of gut feeling, for more and better top players.