Federation International Basketball Association

Judy Smith, FIBA Oceania

www.fiba.com

SportingPulse products were used to great effect at the recent South Pacific Games in Suva, Fiji.

Sam Fewster and Craig Hood spent almost a month in Fiji running workshops in the use of Sportzware and assisting in the generation of results and statistics to individual sport websites during the Games.

Judy Smith from FIBA Oceania had this to say about SportingPulse and the service provided during the South Pacific Games.

'FIBA Oceania commenced its association with SportingPulse in 1998 and has used it's competition package, Sportzware, at two international basketball events.

At the South Pacific Games in Fiji in 2003, FIBA Oceania utilised the three-pronged basketball package provided by SportingPulse, which included the Sportzware competition program, the Cybersports statistics program and the basketball specific website.

The tournament organisation was done from the Sportzware program, which allowed us to upload the SPG database directly to our competition, so therefore reduce the data entry required to register every individual player, coach and official. Sportzware was also used to create the scoresheets, produce tournament ladders, update results and maintain player statistic records. The computerised competition package minimised the administrative work and duplication that is required by manual competition administration. When the competition information was updated, at the push of a button the information was uploaded to our website.

In preparation for the South Pacific Games Basketball competition, and at our request following our use of the tournament package in 2001, SportingPulse worked diligently to incorporate the statistics program, Cybersports, into their Sportzware results service. Through the successful integration of the Cybersports program, the results service staff were able to update team and player statistics at the touch of a button. Additionally, this program enabled basketball enthusiasts across the world to view team and player statistics on the website within minutes of the game results being verified by officials.

The use of the website provided an additional dimension to our program. With prior training by SportingPulse staff, the volunteers in Fiji were sufficiently competent to take charge of the administration of the website. This included uploading of results from Sportzware, posting stories to the website and dowloading photographs to add to the website. A great feature of the website was the ability for overseas viewers to send an email directly to their teams on the basketball site. Additionally, teams were able to respond to the email directly from the website.

The support provided by the SportingPulse staff in Fiji was outstanding. Whenever we had need of technical advice their staff attended to our needs immediately. This support ensured that the competition ran smoothly and results were disseminated efficiently.

Overall, I found the product and support services provided by SportingPulse at the South Pacific Games to be outstanding, and we will continue to utilise their products at future FIBA Oceania events.'
 

Kind regards,

Judy Smith
FIBA Oceania