Post by Brandon Dyksterhouse, former Head Coach US Women’s Ski Team
We’ve all been there before, 15 athletes on a course, taking 8 runs each….it’s inevitable that at some point during the session one run starts to blend into the next. It’s not a lack of interest, but simply a lack of bandwidth to provide constructive insight each and every run.
Sure, we have a timer and sometimes we even have splits to help validate what we are seeing. As coaches, our section on the hill typically doesn’t coincide with the start and stop of a split and rarely can we see the course in its entirety. We are constantly in a situation of extrapolating incomplete data points to make a conclusion. While coaches are asked to wear many hats, being a psychic isn’t one of them.
Countless applications
If you read my first blog post (Single Best Technological Advance Since the Video Camera), you would already know that I am a huge fan of protern.io. There hasn’t been a day in the last six weeks where I wasn’t daydreaming of a new on-snow application that I want to try when training commences in Colorado this year.
Today’s application has to do with coaches placement along the side of a hill. If you’ve ever worked with me, you know that I am very particular about where a coach stands to take video. So much so, that I often dye a circle in the snow to ensure that ‘said’ coach is always filming from the same angle in the same location. You would be shocked how different video looks when taken just five feet apart.
Knowing that these slight variations can have such a dramatic effect on how video is reviewed, couldn’t the same be said about timing?
Until now, moving splits was quite a cumbersome process. Typically, it is only done for safety or when a timing eye died. Thanks to protern.io splits are now as interchangeable as a ‘NEW’ brush gate.
Protern.io’s web app allows for unlimited, immediate, interchangeable quantriqs. When coaches are sliding into place on the hill they can open the app and create a virtual split in the section they can see. No more smoke and mirrors about what you think might’ve happened in your section. If it’s in your field of vision, you will know entry speed, exit speed, avg. speed and time for your section, sortable by athlete and run.
Customized results for every coach
Protern.io lets coaches define virtual splits for their section of the course, allowing them to provide personalized feedback supported by data.
Another tool in your coaching toolkit
We all know that there are going to be times when you are giving feedback on the radio and miss an athlete’s run. Instead of telling a white lie and regurgitating feedback from two runs ago, let protern.io do the heavy lifting and give you and your athlete validated feedback.
Do you want to make the most of the 2021 ski season?
Contact us today to learn how Protern.io can make you a better coach.
