In 2010, it’s no new news when yet another network-style community pops up on the internet. When the just-founded website goes online with a bent toward basketball statistics, however, it’ll tend to get a serious fan’s attention. And when said online community gets an endorsement from Team Germany head coach Dirk Bauermann, then it might be time to stop the proverbial presses.
Please do so today, then, for a website called BallSide.com. Developed at the German Sport University Cologne in 2009, BallSide.com went live in February 2010 with the aim of connecting youth and amateur teams via the magic of internet networking. (And statistics!)
See, beyond merely connecting with other coaches within your country and around the world (more on the internationalism of the ‘site in a moment), BallSide.com is also packed with web-based applications – real Software-as-a-Service type stuff. Once coaches (or players or enthusiasts, for that matter) register at the website and enter a few player stats, BallSide offers any number of wonderful number-crunching opportunities: You can create lineups, study individual matchups against the competition, analyze trends, and get the latest results.
As is the case with all respectable online networking sites, there is no charge to register and/or use BallSide.com. Best of all, coaches may actually *get paid* to use BallSide responsibly. As one BallSider explained to BiE: “when the coach uses this technology, he gets paid.” Well, all right, then.
BallSide.com additionally touts the website’s database aspects for players, for BallSide “allows youth and amateur basketball players to share their performances with friends and fans and showcase themselves internationally.” Not to mention provides material for trash-talking on, say, Facebook. Plus, “though primarily targeted at coaches and players, every basketball enthusiast can be part of the BallSide network and play an active role in the development of his/her favorite local team.”
But hey, a picture’s worth a thousand words and a video perhaps thrice that, right? Check out the nifty presentation of BallSide.com:
Though the folks behind BallSide have ambitions of ultimately going international with their product, the focus at present is on Europe. As of this writing in April 2010, BallSide.com is nearing 700 users from all over The Continent and some 100 teams are registered and active at the website.
Oh, and Bauermann. Thanks to the German Sport University connection, the ambitious BallSide programmer/designers/mad geniuses were able to gain an audience with the Team Germany leader. Describing the project as “exciting,” Bauermann went on to espouse BallSide.com as “*the* analysis tool for coaches on all levels.”
Proclaimed the coach, “Finally, a website that assists coaches and gets kids excited about playing basketball.”
Go ahead, coaches, try it. Have a look at the demo clip above, register and poke around on BallSide.com for a while. Tell ‘em BallinEurope sent you. Oh, all right, and that Bauermann guy, too.
