Coach DJ Taylor is like a lot of coaches. In his multiple roles as the founder and director of Athletic Foundations Inc, S&C contracted coach for high school sports, and co-owner of Blockout Strength and Conditioning, Coach Taylor was using Google Sheets and CSV files to track his athlete’s data.

With inputs from SmartSpeed, SmartJump, Force Plates, and other third-party systems, the sheer volume of data made this process untenable, so Coach Taylor began searching for an alternative. “I was looking for a platform that would allow me to bring all of my data into one place.”

A Better Way

Coach Taylor was pulling in data from numerous third-party inputs, as well as using Google Sheets for athlete self-reporting. Aggregating these inputs into CSV files, uploading to Excel, color-coding the data, creating screenshots, then sending the right information to the right end users (athletes, coaches, ATCs). This was just too burdensome and time-consuming.

There had to be a better way.

That’s when Coach Taylor found RockDaisy AMS. The athlete management system platform that streamlines the entire data collection & analysis and distribution process.

“My process before was very piecemeal, I always had to ensure congruency in the presentation of data, RockDaisy helps me check all the boxes.”

— Coach DJ Taylor

Automation

The platform automates numerous manual processes, like sending out forms and questionnaires, and centralizing and connecting all data points. Once data is inputted by coaches and/or athletes, it is immediately available in all reports.

“RockDaisy has been a time saver and a game changer across the board.”— Coach DJ Taylor

Body Map Forms

Coach Taylor’s two favorite RockDaisy tools are the body map and readiness forms.

The body map is exactly as it sounds—a full figure map of the human body, which allows users to identify exactly areas of tightness, soreness or any other forms of pain. Often, athletes won’t describe their symptoms properly, which can lead to confusion amongst Coaches and ATCs who are looking to resolve the issue. With the body map, an athlete can pinpoint the exact location of tightness or soreness, eliminating any ‘lost in translation’ issues that may arise.

Readiness forms

Readiness forms  – also helped Coach Taylor visualize trends and developments over time. Coach Taylor uses the form scheduler to distribute data collection forms to his athletes, which they use to provide quick feedback via the Athlete Readiness dashboard.

“If someone reported soreness, we jumped right on it and were able to take care of it before it trickled into something else.”

— Coach DJ Taylor

The moment the athlete fills out the form—typically on their phone—the data is available in the system. This ensures consistency and reliability. It also enables Coach Taylor to recognize issues as they are arising, instead of after they’ve already happened.

“Being able to see how different practice and training intensities were received and how the athlete perceived it from a stress standpoint was really helpful in pushing the gas or pulling off the gas.” — Coach DJ Taylor

A Customized Solution

Prior to using RockDaisy, Coach Taylor had to dive into Excel to tweak a formula, cross-check various data points, and ensure consistency and reliability. With RockDaisy, Coach Taylor can simply export a RockDaisy sheet and ensure everything is aligned—he doesn’t have to go cell-by-cell, which is a huge time-saver.

“RockDaisy reports make it so easy. With Excel, one little mistake somewhere and you’re searching forever to find it!” — Coach DJ Taylor

Is there anything else I should know?

One example of how Coach Taylor customized his RockDaisy platform involves athlete reporting. He likes to include an open-ended question: “Is there anything else I should know?”

“We’ve been able to get ahead of a lot of problems on nutrition, academic, social—off-the-field problems, just based off of that one question”, explains Coach Taylor.

Placing the power of data visualization and analysis at your fingertips

Coach Taylor also collects attendance data for practice, which can be leveraged for weight training or any other training modules. This provides a quick and easy way of viewing athlete compliance.

“Placing the power of data visualization and analysis at your fingertips—that’s what RockDaisy does best.” — Coach DJ Taylor

Security

Athletes were concerned if coaches would see the answers to their questions. To address this concern, Coach Taylor customized his RockDaisy dashboards to ensure that athletes, coaches and ATCs all had access to their own reporting, and couldn’t view another end-user’s dashboards. This helped alleviate athlete concerns, which led to more honest reporting that helped staff  get ahead of many of the off-the-field issues.

A Proactive Approach

For Coach Taylor, RockDaisy’s biggest selling point is the ability for athletes to access their own data. Coach Taylor sends a wellness questionnaire out two or three times per week, and athletes can simply view the data on their phone to see how they are trending from a wellness/readiness standpoint.

This enables athletes to take ownership of their sleep hygiene, nutrition, recovery, and other off-the-field variables. “They can be proactive about it,” says Coach Taylor, “instead of waiting for Coaches and ATCs to consult with them.”

About RockDaisy LLC

Founded in 2014 by the two developers of the NFL’s analytics services. RockDaisy is a New York based company and is proud to be the analytics & visualization platform for a growing number of sports organizations across the NFL, NBA, NHL, NCAA and other elite sports leagues around the world.

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Coach DJ Taylor

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