Seeing the Full Picture with GameChanger Coaching Tools

The Modern Coach’s Secret Weapon: Building Bonds Through Data and Video

Jenny faces a situation every softball and baseball coach dreads: making a lineup change she knows is right for the athlete yet may be hard for her to understand. Currently, she’s considering moving third baseman Cheyenne to right field and shifting her from batting third to fifth. Data supports the move. Cheyenne’s speed plays better in the outfield, and a later lineup spot may help her settle in at the plate. These kinds of decisions are part of coaching, but communicating why they matter can be challenging. 

That’s where GameChanger comes in. It brings the critical data behind a coach’s choices to life, helping players and families clearly understand their reasoning while building deeper trust and connection across the team.

Coaching Tools that Promote Player Performance

Enter GameChanger Senior Marketing Manager Anna Nickel. Anna is intimately familiar with both sides of the player-coach relationship. After a softball career that included pitching at the college and even professional level, Anna became a pitching coach at multiple levels of youth sports before joining GameChanger. 

For all these reasons and more, she knows firsthand how GameChanger features help coaches connect with players to help promote greater performance. Anna’s primary goal as a coach is to “help my players reveal, harness, and enjoy the pursuit of letting themselves shine.” To this end, she uses GameChanger stats to show her pitchers there are many game aspects worth focusing on to better achieve their goals. Her message is simple: “Not everything is predictable but there are things we can measure that lead to success.”

Making Data-Based Decisions Using Stats

As a pitching coach, Anna further uses GameChanger stats to reveal standout performances and show athletes the work they put in is paying off. And although she has access to a wide variety of data available in the GameChanger system, she often stresses the importance of limiting walks to reduce the number of runs allowed, looking at stats like WHIP and strike percentage. “It’s a huge confidence booster,” she says. “By limiting runs, it keeps player morale up and gives our offense the best opportunity to support.”

Like Coach Jenny, Anna often has to coach her players in ways that can cause friction, such as choosing who to start or when to throw a pitch the pitcher may not be the most confident in. The difference is that Coach Anna is equipped with GameChanger stats. This is helpful to show her approach isn’t based on hunches or guesses — every decision is data-backed, with mindful changes to produce measurably positive results, thanks to helpful technology.

Showcasing Skills and Areas of Improvement Through Video

Anna is well aware that not every athlete or parent is a statistics expert. That’s why she stresses the importance of GameChanger’s video highlights. These can be posted to social media so the whole team and fanbase can appreciate pivotal moments and standout plays. She points to Maylie Corbitt on Instagram as a coach who effectively uses such videos on social media to not just celebrate players but also highlight winning performances.

Video highlights are especially powerful tools for plays that may be more nuanced than a classic homerun. Yes, a spectacular hit is instantly recognizable, but a double play is far more nuanced and can even change the course of a game. Posting a video of this type of play can have a much bigger impact on players and families than just a verbal or written mention.

Anna further told us the secret to coaches effectively using GameChanger video is repetition. “Making a habit out of reviewing video throughout the season has the biggest impact on highlighting how the athlete has grown.” You can tell Anna has done her share of coaching!

Insights That Help The TeamPlay Their Best

Overall, the depth of video and stats available via GameChanger helps coaches clearly communicate the reasoning behind lineup or position changes. When either or both reveal how a player can achieve their best through a change in position or order, there is little pushback. In this way GameChanger enables coaches to achieve their best results too. 

Beyond video, GameChanger also offers resources to help coaches understand and communicate what’s happening on the field in real time, like the latest addition to the coaching toolkit, Game Insights. After the final pitch is thrown, the new Insights tab provides the top offensive and defensive insights, featuring strengths and areas of improvement. This helps coaches gain a more informed perspective even if they are too busy to deeply dig into intricate game stats right away. 

Whether providing quick coaching points between tournament games, prepping for the next week of practices, or even teeing up lineup changes, insights gleaned from stats, video, or post-game Insights, provides coaches with helpful information to enhance performance. The benefits extend beyond the invaluable relationships between coach, player, and family. They apply to youth athletes’ growth and development. Such clarity helps athletes stay motivated and more connected to their long-term growth. 

Talk about hitting it out of the ballpark!

‍