Community basketball pushes technology boundaries.
Community basketball is pushing the boundaries in the use of technology. that enhances participants experience and creates efficiencies for administrators.
Since 2009, the Kilsyth & Mountain District Basketball Association (KMDBA) in Victoria has been using ‘stadium scoring’, the latest product in SportingPulse’s internationally renowned suite of technology solutions for sport.
Until the arrival of ‘stadium scoring’, basketball games were traditionally administered by a paper sheet.
In simple terms, stadium scoring enables the electronic management of game scores and results courtside, and the integration of that information with the competition management systems, FIBA (the International Basketball Federation) Organiser.
Stadium scoring means that participants score games electronically, not on paper, using touch screen, notebook or PDA type technology.
Now officially part of Basketball Australia’s ‘The Basketball Network’, stadium scoring is operational at the Nunawading Basketball Association, Parramatta Basketball Association and Ringwood Basketball Association with many other Associations planning to benefit from stadium scoring in 2011.
Nunawading Basketball General Manager Dennis O’Brien is impressed by the technology, summing it up as being “accurate, cheaper and it offers better communication.”
O’Brien adds “stadium scoring has revolutionised the way our association operates, we have reduced manual data entry, increased accuracy, improved communication to participants and ultimately it has saved us dollars.
“The solution is easy for scorers to understand, simple for referees to complete the necessary game administrative tasks and more efficient and accurate for grade secretaries to oversee competitions with relation to results and qualifications.”
Stadium Scoring has changed the way basketball operates at both the administrator and participant level.
For the first time community basketball players are able to access their Game, Season and Career Statistics online or on their mobiles.
Participants will soon be able to compare their averages against other players in their association, state or country with the introduction of aggregated statistics.
From an administrator’s point of view, stadium scoring has benefits for associations both small and large.
For a relatively small investment in the hardware, (stadium scoring is a free solution offered through Basketball Australia’s commercialisation agreement with SportingPulse) associations will generate hours of timesaving for both volunteers and paid staff as well as the benefits of improving customer service.
Stadium Scoring is fully integrated with FIBA Organiser and association websites to ensure an accurate and efficient process of data management.
KMDBA (the largest basketball asssociation in Australia – with 1,015 teams participating during the 2010-11 summer season) has generated weekly timesaving of around 40 hours of manual data entry.
The time saved, has been reallocated to other tasks and projects that better engage staff and serve customers.
KMDBA Competition Manager Helen Harris manages the largest basketball competition in Australia, with a team of volunteers who support her with grading, player qualifications and general administration.
She explains that “stadium scoring... has made processing results more efficient and games more exciting and meaningful for participants.
“Players are eager to beat their high score or scoring average each week, Stadium Scoring has added a new dimension to the game.
“Results administration was previously completed by a team of five volunteers and myself prior to the arrival of Stadium Scoring and took a number of days to process, now game results can be available online as soon as the game finishes.”
For users, stadium scoring is easy to learn, has a userfriendly interface and has resulted in an increase in the number of parents wishing to score during games.
Parents who were previously intimidated by having to complete the score sheet are now lining up to score on the latest technology.
In addition to all the administrative benefits, participants are the biggest winners from the introduction of stadium scoring as they are now able to follow a series of their statistics online, share their statistics on Facebook and compare to other players across leagues and associations.
Jason Taylor, a coach and player with the SEBC Saints (arguably the largest basketball club in Australia with 100 teams playing in KMDBA competitions each week), explains “stadium scoring is fantastic from both a coach and players point of view, very few community sports enable you to check your own stats online after each game and as they accumulate throughout the season.
“As a coach I am able to check out next week’s opponents and prepare my team, while my players feel like professionals, being able to check their stats online.”
Participants have shown their approval for the solution by way of their online footprint.
Web traffic to KMDBA Fixture/ladder/Results pages have seen a 120% year on year increase in web traffic from 120,000 to 264,000 page views per month.
Complementing the introduction of Stadium Scoring in community basketball and across most sports in Australia has been the introduction of an integrated online registrations and payments – SportingPulse Payments.
Stadium Scoring is a free solution available through The Basketball Network. For more information contact SportingPulse on 1300 139 970 or visit www.basketball.net.au
Ben Turner is FIBA Project and Services Manager for SportingPulse International.
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