PlaySmart
What if youth sports wasn't based on coach's intuition?
I designed PlaySmart’s core features to turn subjective youth coaching into objective insights. This project has secured thousands in seed funding and is now being beta-tested in 15+ local high schools.
5 minute read
Role
Founding Product Designer
Context
SportsTech Startup
Timeline
November 2024 - April 2025
Background
Ever wonder why "the coach's kid always plays"?
Youth competitive sports often lack objective, performance data for their players. Instead, development is typically based on subjective coaching judgment and wins/losses.
Unfocused training
Coaches struggle to identify which practice routines correlate most positively to in-game performance.
Lack of clarity
Players and parents/guardians are often left unsure about progress or areas needing improvement.
"It's like paying for a tutor but never receiving a report card."
Missed patterns
Areas for improvement are overlooked because coaches don't spot unique patterns across individual player performance.
Pain Point
I aimed to turn piles of performance data into a tool coaches could actually rely on.
Many high school basketball coaches use existing platforms like Hudl to show basic game stats but it's difficult to quickly analyze player performance.
Through our market and user research, we learned that while coaches believed these platforms provided plenty of data, most found them unusable because they lacked the time or expertise to analyze the data effectively.
Screenshots from Hudl showing complex player stats and game footage.
Feature Highlight
We analyze each player’s performance in recent games and progress toward coach-set goals.
I designed this view to give coaches a clear, at-a-glance understanding of individual growth without wading through raw stats.
Feature Highlight
All player performance is aggregated into a dynamic, interactive database.
Coaches can instantly compare stats game-to-game and identify areas of strength or concern.
Coaches currently rely on memory or notes to track performance, which makes it hard to identify weaknesses and individual patterns over long periods of time.
Feature Highlight
Smart Insights turn raw performance data into actionable coaching recommendations.
Newer coaches often struggle to see what’s really driving results. Our "north star" AI pinpoints exactly what’s working, and what’s not, so users can coach (and play) smarter.
Next Steps
PlaySmart is now moving from prototype towards real-world use. 🚀
We are launching the MVP and partnering with local schools to beta test the platform, continuously gathering feedback to refine features and ensure usability.
Real example of our PM walking through an updated alpha build
