Many advantages of a 1:1 environment extend beyond the classroom. Shared devices, apps and tools create more ways to connect, communicate and evaluate. For athletics, record keeping and feedback in regard to performance and statistics are time consuming. Technology can offer more ways to collect and record data for statistical analysis and to analyze physical performance. In addition, student organizations are often paper-drive and require communication with busy students. Technolgy can be used to create paper-less solutions and any-time communication. Featured below are some examples of how athletics and extra-curricular activities are taking advantage of available technology.
Featured iPad Apps
Statistics, statistics, statistics. Coaches are continuously gathering and analyzing data to evaluate athlete performance. Apps can be found that are designed for specific sports or more generalized use. Highlighted below are 3 apps coaches have found useful. While the featured apps are not free, generally the paper and time that is saved can still result in cost benefit.
iStats Wrestle seems a bit pricey at $39.99, but there are some features that make it well worth the investment, according to Varsity wrestling coach Brian Ranger. First, the app is not subscription based, so there is no renewal fee. Second, the app syncs across multiple devices, making statistical tracking during tournaments seemless. According to the app developer's description "iStats Wrestle is a robust application that lets you manage and track statistics for a wrestling team and sync stats between multiple devices. Simply input your wrestlers, enter stats as a match happens, and the app does the rest. It will score every match, keep all matches chronologically ordered, organize matches into events, and generate statistics for each and every wrestler on your team." 
Varsity girls basketball is using an app called GameChanger. The app also has versions for baseball and softball. There is no charge for coaches and statisticians. Instead the designers finance the upgrades and support through fan purchase of premium accounts that allow tracking of teams and individual athletes.Coach Matzka has is using the app this season and feels that it has assisted the process of data tracking.
Several teams take advantage of Hudl as a way to view and analyze video game footage. Football, basketball and wrestling have found this tech tool has increased access for athletes to highlight film, both internally and for studying opponents. The app is free and allows analysis of film that has been uploaded as well as capturing video with your device. Hudl has it's own YouTube Channel of support and training videos, allowing less tech savvy coaches to integrate the tool. The video below demonstrates how coaches can take their information on Hudl and make it available offline. Great for travel, outside practices and areas without wifi.
Varsity Cheer coach, Minna Turrell, has found the app Coach's Eye to be a game changer this year. Developed by Tech Smith, an industry leader in screen capture and recording software, the primary function is to analyze physical movement in many forms. Coach Turrell goes beyond this basic function and uses the slow-motion feature to analyze timing, arm position and formations. In addition, the app allows recording of complete routines with voice over capability allow feedback from coaches on athlete performance or creating video examples with voice instructions for cheerleaders to follow when learning routines. The app is only $4.99 and has in the past been offered for free for a limited time.Maximizing Google
Communicating with parents, athletes, students and the community is a vital part of successful programs. Google has several apps and features that assist with communication, but one of the most powerful is the blog. In fact, this tech blog is a Google Blogger site! Blogs provide communicators a way to quickly share information, including images, video and text with the all the advantages of a web-based tool. With options of instant update notifications for followers, to the ability to broadcast through other social media like Twitter, Facebook or even linking to web pages, blogs provide a quick and easy solution to communication issues.
AHS Athletic Director, Mr. Jamie Thiede, recently began a blog for AHS athletics. The blog provides a way to communicate information, explain procedure and policies and highlight athletic success. Check it out today! http://algonacmuskratathletics.blogspot.com/
Getting the Most Out of Your Learning Platform
Many learning management systems, including Edmodo and Moodle, have assignment options that can be used for voting. At AHS, Student Council and NHS have used the "Choice" activity when voting for officers. This is easily transferable to the classroom, any time a student needs to make a "choice". Because the management system requires a login, it creates a secure voting system that is automatically tallied. Online voting or polling allows voting to occur over a time period instead of at one designated time. Great feature for our students with busy schedules. The screencast below demonstrates how to set up the Choice activity in Moodle.
If Edmodo is your learning platform, you couuld use the "poll" activity for voting or making a choice.
Twitter Friday Follow
Schools are coming around to the idea that if you want to communicate with students and parents, you have to make it available where they are already engaged. Twitter has become a great communication tool for athletics and extra-curriculars. Some coaches set up an account specifically for the team or sport while others choose to ask their athletes and parents to follow their professional account. Many of your favorite teams, sportscasters and athletic organizations are also on Twitter. (My favorite is Jim Brandstatter: @brandymancan). Here are some suggestions for all things Athletic at Algonac High School:
General athletic news and information (including blog posts!): @AlgonacSports
Sport and team specific (not an exhaustive list, check with your favorite coach or sport web page):
Wrestling: @brianrangerahs Football: @Algonacfootball Cheer: @TurrellAHS
Varsity Girls BB: @MrMatzka (bonus: Coach Matzka tweets out cool sport related quotes)
Library News
Getting kids reading can sometimes be a challenge. That is why a good library collection is necessary. By the time many students are in middle school and high school they have stopped reading for pleasure. Their only reading is of the analytical, literary deconstruction type that is part of an English curriculum. This is where the connection between reading and sport can be powerful. Here are some offerings in the AHS collection for our sport-minded students. And coaches.
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