Technology plays a larger role in sports and fitness these days, thanks to a huge range of performance trackers, diet and exercise apps, and even tools specific to the skills and practices of different sports. While these tools have become very useful to athletes all over the world, they also hold great value for trainers and coaches, in volleyball and in other sports. With that in mind, here’s our look at four fitness/sports-related apps any practicing volleyball coach should utilize or at least take a look at.
1. MapMyFitness
This is a great app for assisting a coach in designing workouts for players. While your primary practice will likely take place in the gym or on a court, it never hurts to have a few scheduled runs each week, just to further work on your players’ cardio. MapMyFitness can help you do just that, simply by helping you to plan routes and keep things interesting for the team. As described in Men’s Fitness, the app lets you “pick a pre-planned interactive route for pretty much any outdoor workout using your smartphone’s GPS.” A few outdoor runs now and then can keep athletes healthy, relaxed, and in fine cardio shape without burning them out on practice drills and scrimmages.
It’s often hard to find effective fitness apps that don’t fall under the categories of cardio-mapping tools (like MapMyFitness) or calorie-counting apps, which are a bit excessive for a coach to put to use. Occasionally, however, an app is very worthwhile simply in teaching and demonstrating exercises. That’s exactly what we have with Fitness Buddy. In covering the app as part of a “10 Great Fitness & Weight Loss Apps” article, Verizon Wireless quoted a review of the app that declared it the “Swiss Army Knife of fitness apps.” Really, that’s the best way to think of it. Featuring over 1000 exercises and 45 full workouts, Fitness Buddy can help any coach to design effective exercise routines to relay to his or her athletes.
An app available in the Google Play store, Volleyball Scoreboard is a nice tool for coaches who want to track practice scrimmages. While in a real match you’re likely to have a scorekeeper on hand, this tool allows you to easily keep score during practice sessions. It’s easy to use and lets you track not only points in a set, but total set scores. There’s also a specific beach volleyball mode for those who play or practice on the sand! The Scoreboard app is a nice, similar alternative for iOS users. While it isn’t designed as a volleyball-specific app, it does allow users to choose sports, adjusting the scoreboard as needed.
Listed in an App Crawlr article as one of the 10 best apps for volleyball coaches, Volleyball Ace is probably the definitive stat-tracking tool for any serious coach. Unfortunately, this shows in the price (a hefty $19.99). However, if you’re interested in the most advanced, manageable statistical analysis of your athletes, it’s a tool you ought to look into. The app allows you to input your players’ names, easily keep track of all stats, and then organize them into ratings and use them to recognize the trends and tendencies of the athletes. The app syncs your statistical tracking to your desktop computer as well, meaning you can track during practice, and analyze later. If you’re interested in a free alternative, Tap VolleyBall Stats offers similar benefits, though it’s a bit less polished. Together, these apps can help any coach to take a more organized approach to training and tracking athletes.
