We live in a time where technology has overtaken almost every aspect of our lives and it doesn't look like that will be changing anytime soon. After speaking to several parents and thoroughly using and researching multiple apps, we have narrowed it down to 5 essential apps for baseball/softball parents and coaches that lead busy lives:
1. Team App
This app is the world's #1 sports team app, which allows you to communicate and coordinate timely information between you, the coaches, players and other parents on the team.
Pros:
- View and manage player availability.
- Easily manage membership payments.
- Create and promote mobile sponsorships.
- Sell your team's merchandise.
- Follow your team's live scores.
- Members can enter their availabilities for upcoming dates.
- Share photos with your team.
- Coaches can look at player profiles for recruiting.
- Has privacy settings so only your team can have access to photos and information.
- Parents and coaches can coordinate tournament and practice responsibilities.
- Is not limited to baseball and softball. Can be used for virtually any sport.
- It is supported by Apple and Android phones.
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Cons:
- Crashes on some Android phones that have not been updated.
- Only share 3 photos per upload.
- Can take up a large amount of your battery life.
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2. Periscope
This free app allows you to broadcast live video to everyone and/or anyone you choose in the world. This comes in handy when you can't make your kid's game or you're a coach trying to scout other players that you cannot see directly.
The way the app works is in two different ways:
You can broadcast live and/or
watch others live broadcasts.If you are broadcasting, all you do is press the camera button and you are live! After broadcasting a video, your followers will get notified, keeping the viewer updated in current time. You will be notified every time a parent on your kid's team posts a video.
Pros:
- It's user friendly. Just 4 action buttons on the bottom of the dashboard page.
- Viewer interaction and feedback. You no longer have to be a passive viewer. You can like (in a form of hearts) and even comment on videos.
- 24 hour playback: Broadcasts are saved for 24 hours in case you weren't able to view it in real time.
- It is supported by both Apple and Android phones.
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Cons:
- Crashes on some Android phones that have not been updated.
- If you are not careful, the location settings on Periscope can be extremely accurate and public viewers will be able to see where you are. Make sure you edit the location settings to protect your privacy.
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3. Game Changer
It's in the name. This app will change your life if you are a coach, parent or player. If you like having accurate, up-to date stats of your players, this might be worth the download. Watch the video below to learn more.
Pros:
- Parents can follow players stats.
- Manage membership payments.
- Pro-level spray charts and stats.
- Follow your team's live scores with GameStream, a premium feature.
- Follow live stats, and get play by play views of the action.
- Game changer will recap games stats to recreate a story you can share with fans, and the local news.
- Organized portal for coaches to calculate and automatically save stats.
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Cons:
- Requires IOS 8.0 or later and is only compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
- Free version is a bit limited. If you want access to GameStream, in game alters, game recaps, and complete box scores you will have to pay a subscription fee of $7.99 a month.
- Will eat through your battery. This will especially happen if you are using data for live streaming.We would suggest purchasing a mobile battery pack for on the go stat recording.
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4. Yelp
This app may seem out of place with the apps we have listed above, but if you are a team mom you know that eating out with team after tournaments or in-between games is an event in itself. Yelp makes it easy to find restaurants nearby that fit your cravings.
Pros:
- Be able to read and write reviews to restaurants with descriptive comments and star ratings.
- Using the filter option on the Yelp app allows you to search for restaurants that fit your needs.
- Yelp also categorizes restaurants based off of how expensive a meal there is. Price range is the approximate cost per person for a meal including a tip, drink, and tax.
- Supported by Apple and Android phones.
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Cons:
- Like any free app, there are spammers, that will purposefully bad mouth or overhype an undeserving business. This could be misleading.
- Some restaurants are not listed on Yelp.
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5. Go Fund Me
Go fund me is a crowdfunding platform that allows you to easily create a campaign for an event, a friend, a team or cause and collect donations from friends, family and strangers. It's free to use and worth creating to help fund your kid's team with anything they might need whether it be equipment, tournament entry fees or even travel costs. Watch the video below to learn more.
Pros:
- You can easily share your campaign on social media platforms to help you get more donations.
- You can send thank you notes to supporters.
- Easily post photo updates from your phone photo gallery.
- Creating a campaign is effortless.
- Uses secure payment encryption technology so your donators and you can can feel at ease.
- Easily track campaign results
- Supported by Apple and Android phones.
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Cons:
- Go fund me deducts 5% of each donation for providing a fundraising platform.
- The desktop platform has been know to be more functional and consistent than the app.
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