Club databases: are they a useful tool?
In academies it is important that there is communication with coaches on a daily bases. It is not only important to talk with them face to face but also offering them the tools to be accurate in their work over a longer period.
I am referring to databases within clubs that are managed by all coaches of the academy, medical staff, video analysts and management.
In these databases it is for me the best if all is as practical as possible and close to your philosophy in football. The last clubs that I worked for I have always build databases on my personal wishes and demands towards the coaches that I have to work with. At FC Shakhtar I build one and also at FC Kairat I have created a personal database for the coaches of the club.
Why I decided to create one myself and not just buy one that is already working? The answer is very simple; they have never all that you want and have a lot of features that you will never use because they don’t match with your football philosophy.
Things have changed because now there are some programs that have it all. In those databases you can store the sessions of all coaches, you can make match reports, player reports, coaches reports, contract information if you are a director but also video analyses within the same program. Before I was using for all different programs.
Why you need it? Well, for me as an academy director and later as a sport director it is important to know all! The problem is that you cannot see it all live or meet everybody in person!! When I started working with a computer database it was possible for me to monitor the coaches and players from a distance because there were daily updates about sessions and matches.
The player and team development was online accessible for all employees of the club. I could give coaches attention without being able to see them every day but I was aware of what they were doing. I checked them, commented them or complimented them and referred to those comments the next time I would see them.
Were the coaches happy with the extra work?
At the beginning not but when they understood they were able to see what other coaches were doing in their training sessions, they could get inspiration from each other, they could read each other reports to be aware of how they write about players and matches. This was also a start of an internal development of coaches through the database. So, from no interest because it was judged as extra work it became interesting for them to receive new information from their colleagues. At FC Kairat we had all coaches from the academy and the satellites working together in this system.
I am now at a point that I don’t need to create a new system for my club because you have databases that are custom made for your club and include all!
One of these databases is from See SharpSports. It has it all captured in one program! Go check it out on www.seesharpsports.com
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