Blog
Blog

28th June 2021


decentralized-athletes-blog-feature-image

Decentralized athletes are a problem that affects sporting organizations of all kinds. For international outfits, players are coming and going from their club teams constantly; in college, student-athletes have the freedom to go home in the summers; and in the pros, you may be responsible too for minor-league players who compete in different cities, states, or even countries.  

These trends are ones we come across regularly, and pose a question that may be phrased differently depending on the person but carries a similar theme: How can we best deal with this problem? 

The answer is never a quick, end-all-be-all answer. It’s multi-faceted, dependent on personalities and philosophies, but if we were to look at a high-level overview of common solutions, these would be a couple of key helpers.  

Securely Sharing and Organizing Data  

Hierarchical systems like our Human Performance Platform enable groups to organize themselves in a way that reflects how their staff truly functions. There may be different coaches for different teams within one organization – U21 and U17; Major League and AAA ball; swimming and football teams – but through our system’s roles and permissions capabilities, still only one platform is needed to manage the comings and goings of each athlete.

Multiple teams, multiple data streams, but all of them funnel into a single system that organizes the often-siloed data where the appropriate staff members can then access it.

Strength coaches see what they need to see, as do trainers and medical staff, data scientists, and even tactical coaches. Every role can have designated access to the data that fits their position within the organization, even if the data isn’t being collected in the same place they are located. 

This is where data security comes into play, too.  As athletes come and go – whether that’s being called up, assigned elsewhere, or to compete in special events – their data stays in the same secure system, available to only the staff members who are authorized to see it. 

Standardized Benchmarks 

A centralized approach to data management can also help standardize long-term development within your talent pool. As we mentioned above: athletes are often on the move – both throughout the season and over time as they graduate, find themselves traded, or retire. Despite this reality, however, a centralized system like Kinduct stays the same, allowing each incoming group of athletes to be held to the same standards. 

These benchmarks may touch on many aspects of your organization: injury tracking, programming, or data collection and analysis. A centralized system where all of these processes live allow staff to, for example, track the progress of athletes, adjust internal protocols, and standardize end-of-year reporting – no matter where they’re located.  

What’s more, over time, a centralized system becomes a historical database. This means staff can compare current athletes to former athletes of similar age or position, which goes hand-in-hand when creating long-lasting benchmarks.  

Extending Your Reach 

Decentralization also affects the athletes themselves. So our Human Performance App has been crafted with that in mind to help support athlete buy-in and trust no matter the distance between staff and athlete.  Daily schedules, forms and questionnaires, and training and rehab programs are all made available through the app. To further those centralizing efforts, though, we also provide staff with tools to create customizable, mobile-friendly reports that can be assigned and accessed within the app.  

This medium extends your staff’s reach beyond organizational facilities. Also, through individualization, you can help athletes understand what the data your collecting means and how you have their best interest at heart even without an in-person meeting.   

Kinduct’s Human Performance Platform is used by over 550 teams, leagues, and organizations around the world. Through its secure, cloud-based system, Kinduct consolidates a wide array of performance and injury data, improving processes and optimizing performance for thousands of coaches, trainers, and athletes. Learn more today. 

 

Related articles