Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Technology in Sports Education: Scorekeeping with GameChanger

Little known fact:  I have also coached baseball at the American Legion, JV and Varsity High School levels... oh yea, and there was that year of T-Ball, too :).  In that time I've watched how the business of youth baseball has morphed and changed over the years.  I recently posted about using Coach's Eye to help elevate your players performance, and that is just one thing that we've come to rely on when we are taking care of business on and off the field.  One of the big elephants in the room is scorekeeping.  Youth sports have become almost as heavily followed as college athletics in some areas, and the GameChanger app for iOS is the industry leader is keeping the score, and telling all the fans about it!  The app currently works for baseball, softball and basketball.



GameChanger is easy for you to get into.  The App itself is free.  This allows you to input your rosters, your opponents, location of game and then you keep score.  It is that easy.  Could it be easier?  Yes -- it could, and GameChanger is all over it.  Because, not only does it allow you to do all the advanced statistical score keeping that every coach really wants and needs, but it takes advantage of the touch interface to do it!  That's right -- you draw on the screen to tell it what happened!  Did Bobby just hit a single to right field?  Draw a line into right field, then draw a line that moves Bobby to first -- that's it!  It records that on a 2-1 count, with 2 outs, Bobby hit a shallow single to right field.  This allows you to project exactly what Bobby's batting average is on 2-1 counts, and with 2 outs... and how often he hits the ball to right field!  Did Bobby steal second on a 2-0 count?  Chart that pitch, and drag Bobby to second -- it will ask if it was a Passed Ball or Stolen Base and that's it!  Same stat keeping depth!  And what's more, anyone can do it!  They don't have to be a baseball expert to keep score!  

Now you are saying, "WOW!  This is too good to be true!  Do you mean my managers can keep accurate score of my game for me -- and it is free?!?"  Yup.  That's it.  But it gets better.  Not only that, but if you are connected to the Internet while scoring the game (and many of us are these days -- plus it does work on iPhone), it will update the score and at-bats in REAL TIME!  Parents who can't be at the game can follow it pitch by pitch, and at-bat by at-bat!  And after the game, it generates a box score for everyone on your fan list to view!

Is this all free?  Well, no... all of that is not free.  The score keeping is.  For the other features there are membership plans on GameChanger.Com that really bring it all together, but the cost is low and the good will you will generate for your athletic program is priceless!  Check out the video below -- and get your Game Changer!





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Bruce has worked in educational technology for over 18 years and has implemented several 1:1/BYOD programs.  He also has served as a classroom teacher in Computer Science, History and English classes.  Bruce is the author of five books: Sands of TimeTowering Pines Volume One:Room 509The Star of ChristmasPhiladelphia Story: A Lance Carter Detective Novel and 
The Insider's Story: A Lance Carter Detective Novel.  Follow Bruce's Novel releases by subscribing to his FREE newsletter!

Be sure to check out Bruce's Allentown Education Examiner Page, his Twitter and his Facebook!

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