In the past, a lot of volleyball coaches used to lug around a lot of paper. Nowadays iPads offer a lot of functions that can help you to take your team to the next level. You can collect a lot of data that allows you to see the performance of the team and each player objectively. If you don’t have this data, it is easy to forget a lot of nuances. It is even possible to add a video to the statistics so that you can see the progress of your players over time. You can also send a report to each player after the match. This can be very motivating for players as they know what they can work on.
Let’s take a look at the most popular iPad apps:
This app has a really good-looking user interface that makes it easy to input data and see statistics. You can even add the direction of the ball, which is a quite unique feature.
The app can be used for indoor volleyball and also one for beach volleyball, making it easy if your team plays both. You can also filter the statistics based on each player.
Overall the app is quite affordable (around 29 USD). You can get started with the free version and upgrade once you need the paid features (such as exporting the data). There are apps that offer more statistics but given the nice user interface, it can be a great app to get started. You can always switch to a more advanced app later on if needed.
The app gets regular updates so there is still support. This is good to know as bugs will get fixed if they are present. There is also an Android app, making it easy to switch if you decide to buy another tablet or work with someone that has an Android phone or tablet.
2/ TapVolleyball stats tracker
This app is more advanced and has been designed for college volleyball. Reviewers note that there are not a lot of instructions included so this might be an app for more advanced users. It tracks the following actions:
ATM: Service
SA: Service Ace
SE: Service Error
K: Kill
E: Error
AT: Attack Attempted
AST: Assist
D: Dig
DE: Dig Error
ATM: Service Reception
RE: Reception Error
BHE: Ball Handling Error
BS: Block Solo
BA: Block Assist
BE: Block Error
This app is older and the interface is quite dated. You can see the passing rating, serve rate, and also the hitting, blocking, and dig attempts.
This provides stats such as side-out percentage, point-scoring percentage, and differentials. What is great about this app is that it shows the data on an individual as on a team level.
The app is recommended by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) according to the description on the website.
You can backup the data to the cloud so this ensures you that you won’t lose data. The app has good reviews so it is one of the best options that we will discuss here. I have used it before and enjoyed using it. It takes a lot of discipline to track all this data but can be useful in the end.
If you want to collect a lot of stats, this is an app that could be interesting. You can add 100 buttons to each playing position. This can make it quite overwhelming but you can choose if you want all these options or not. You can collect over 70 statistics in total. This is also great if you have a video of a match that can be analyzed later on as you can pause the game if needed.
This app can support beach volleyball and indoor volleyball, making it easy to track both if your team needs this.
This app is also available on Android devices and you can sync the data to Dropbox or email. It is always annoying to lose data so it is great to see an export function.
Some people might not like the user interface as it looks quite dated. This comes down to personal preferences. The app hasn’t been updated for a while so bugs won’t get fixed. This is a drawback as the app might become unusable over time. If you have all your data in the app, this could really affect your data management system. You can lose a lot of data if this happens. For now, the app provides a lot of data and seems to work quite well. There are in-app purchases but these are very affordable.
5/ iStatVball3
This app has a really nice user interface that allows you to input a lot of complex statistics without a lot of effort. You can add a picture of your players to make sure that you select the right one. A unique feature is the heat maps, these are statistics per court area. This can provide a lot of insights into how well the team defends. If they leave a certain area open, you can mention this during a training session and make sure that it doesn’t happen again.
You can also add a video of the match. This makes sure that you can rewatch the replay and see al the details.
This app is being updated frequently. It is slightly more expensive than other options but the app is well made and it is worth the additional expense.
To conclude, that there are several great iPad apps that allow volleyball coaches to track statistics. From adding video, heat maps to adding the trajectory of the ball, these apps offer a lot of options. It is important that you don’t get overwhelmed. A lot of coaches start tracking a ton of things but don’t have the time or discipline to keep doing it. It is often better to track a few metrics consistently than a lot that you only track from time to time. It takes a lot of dedication to do this for every match but it can give your team an edge. You can get a lot of hidden insights from tracking all these statistics. This will make your players and the team better.
