In preparing for the upcoming season or the next game, players review a lot of information, but they may not be absorbing as much as they could be. Information can get lost if it is not presented in a way that clicks for players. For your team to learn effectively, they need to be engaged.
In today’s digital world, traditional pen and paper learning is no longer the best way to engage student-athletes.
Compared to traditional in-person training, studies have shown that e-learning can increase retention rates by up to 60% and that people can learn up to five times more material in the same amount of time. In addition, flipped learning, in which students engage with instructional content online before class, is a growing trend in higher education.
“This is how our guys are learning when they go to class everyday,” said Kevin Carty, head football coach at Hillsborough High School in New Jersey. “Why not carry that over to the practice field?”
Interactive e-learning is at the core of the Just Play system, which is bridging the gap between a generation that often consumes information on paper and a generation that lives in 140 characters.
Here are three ways in which Just Play allows you to create a more engaged team.
- Prepare more focused information — in less time.
Just Play makes it quick and easy for you to prepare each week. You can build gameplans, installs, and scouting reports in minutes and take advantage of time-saving features, such as automated personnel reports. You can assign these materials to position groups or individual players to personalize a player’s preparation.
“When you push that information out to [players] ahead of time, they come prepared and it saves you a lot of time,” said Jason Eckert, offensive coordinator at New Richmond High School in Wisconsin.
- Make learning interactive.
Players learn best when they are able to interact with the material you provide them. Just as they practice physical drills over and over again, they need mental repetition to make information stick.
With Just Play, you can provide players with dynamic playbooks and scouting reports, guided video study, and quizzes, all on the mobile devices they use every day.
Brandon Allen, a former quarterback for the University of Arkansas who is entering the 2016 NFL draft said, “The layout of the Just Play app and the way it brings different types of information into one place is really good. And the unique video quiz feature trains players on how to study, rather than just stare at film.”
- Keep your team accountable.
We know that coaches sometimes have issues with keeping players accountable. Almost every team has a few players that try to take short cuts and convince their coaches that they are studying more than they actually are.
Most digital sports apps provide only an overview of player usage. You might be able to see that your starting running back was logged into the app for an hour, but you don’t know if he was studying next week’s opponent, watching highlights of himself, or playing video games.
With Just Play, you can track players’ activity with the most in-depth analytics on the market. Just Play tracks every page visited, the time spent on each page, and player quiz performance. The advanced analytics feature provides customizable metrics so that you can compare usage among players and groups.
“Being able to see exactly what our kids have checked out and for how long is awesome,” said Aaron Danenhauer, offensive coordinator at Bentonville High School in Arkansas. “Just Play has totally done away with paper copies of our playbook, and our kids love it.”
To see more about how Just Play can help your team, schedule a demo here. For more time saving tips, check out the Just Play features here, or follow us on twitter.