FAIRMONT — Amidst all of the current changes in the sports landscape at both the high school and collegiate level, athletic departments in Marion County and across the state of West Virginia are attempting to adapt to the new reality.
As of July 1, both middle school and high school athletic programs in Marion County have now officially converted to SportsYou, an application that allows athletic directors, coaches, parents and players to communicate freely in-app and share content that pertains to their respective sport seasons.
The app, founded by CEO Brad Matthews in 2016, is one that not only makes sharing content such as schedules, team documents, and medical forms more user-friendly and accessible for users, it also gives athletic departments a more secure way to privately and appropriately communicate with the necessary parties.
According to East Fairmont Athletic Director and girls head basketball coach James Beckman, the switch to SportsYou ultimately sprang from a meeting where a vendor from the app was present and attempted to persuade Marion County Athletic Departments to consider the product.
Beckman says that Marion County School Superintendent Donna Heston was searching for a platform that would guarantee “protection and security” for coaches, parents and athletes.
Despite being in the experimental phase, Beckman says that so far, he’s received nothing but positive feedback from all parties regarding the application.
“The app stores messages for nine years, it has calendars for our coaches, parents, and administration to use, and there’s a feed where we can send messages back and forth which is nice,” Beckman said. “I ran this idea to our Assistant Superintendent, Mr. [Chad] Norman, and gave him all the information, and he and Dr. Heston got on board.”
“So far, I’ve received nothing but positive feedback and no complaints with the way things are working.”
Beckman said that as a coach, the app is one that he finds extremely useful for situations where he needs to remain in contact with both players and parents, but also finds it helpful when considering the current sports landscape and navigating the pros and cons of social media use.
“Any posts our players and parents make, they have to be approved first by the administration,” Beckman said. “We get to see messages coming through first, and we have the option to approve or decline them. We can control pictures, polls, and host as many groups as we want as far as communication.”
“Our girls basketball program has been using this since May, but things went into effect and were made mandatory for Marion County Athletics July 1st. I wanted to have a heads up on it, so I introduced it to my players before introducing it to other coaches at the end of May.”
While SportsYou was ultimately the chosen platform based on multiple factors including accessibility, privacy and features within the app, Beckman said there are other applications being considered by athletic departments across the state. He does believe, however, that the use of these apps is gaining more traction in order to adjust to new realities, especially in high school sports.
“We were in limbo as far as choosing between SportsYou and ThrillShare, but after doing research we found SportsYou to be more user-friendly,” Beckman said. “For SportsYou, with where we’re going as far as athletics in the public school system, it seemed like the right fit.”
“From talking to other athletic directors across the state and especially after talking to the SportsYou representative, it does seem as if the app is gaining a lot of steam.”
Fairmont Senior High Athletic Director Jeremy Laird called the app a “major step forward” within high school athletics, ultimately echoing Beckman’s sentiments that the decision to use the platform has brought nothing but positive feedback overall in its early stages.
“The transition to the SportsYou app has been a major step forward for our athletic and band programs,” Laird said. “Coaches, the band director, parents, student-athletes, and student musicians are all getting acclimated quickly, and it’s already proving to be an invaluable tool.”
“It really serves as a one-stop shop for schedules, updates and communication, making it easier for everyone to stay informed and connected. It streamlined how we operate and strengthened the way we support our teams and performers.”
According to Beckman, SportsYou is also now the hub for student-athletes to store individual paperwork such as physical exams and medical records that are required to compete in their respective athletic activities.
If things continue trending in a positive direction, it appears that everything athletics-related, at least in Marion County, will be able to be managed by one application.
SportsYou can be downloaded on any electronic device, and prohibits the sale of any data that exists within the app.