New Season. New Features.

Here’s what we’ve added for baseball and softball teams for the 2014 season.

New Softball Field View

New Scorebook View

We’ve redesigned the scorebook on the website to look better and more traditional. It’s also more printer-friendly, so you can easily send it in to your league president. Learn more.

Lineup Card PDFs

We’ve made it easier than ever to prepare for your game with Lineup Card PDFs that can be emailed or printed right from the app. Learn more.

Box Score PDFs

As soon as the game is over, we instantly generate a box score PDF in the app that you can send to fans or local media. Learn more.

Export Season Stats

Export season stats for every player to a sortable CSV file. You can find the export link at the bottom of your season stats page. Learn more.

New Substitution Flow

We’ve made it easier for scorekeepers to manage substitutions and lineup changes during the game. We suggest you review these changes before your first game. Learn more.

Practice Schedules

Schedule practices from the website or the app. Add arrival time, notes, or any other details that players and family need to know. Learn more.

Team Announcements

Practice canceled? Team Admins can send announcements from the app or website. Fans can receive announcements via email or SMS message for free. Learn more.

Choose Your Audience

Some things can be shared with everyone who follows your team. But sometimes only players and family need information. Learn more.

Create your Team today

Questions? Comments? Email us.

Stanley Johnson, you’re in good company.

LeBron James and Kevin Durant are both having historic season when it comes to their stat lines. They are 1 and 2 in the league in both True Shooting Percentage (TS%) and Effective Shooting Percentage (eFG%) for small forwards.

National HS Player of the Year, and soon to be Arizona Wildcat, Stanley Johnson is right up there with them. During his senior season, in which he led the Mater Dei Monarch to their 4th state championship.

James: 66 TS%, 61% eFG
Durant: 65 TS%, 56% eFG
Johnson: 61% TS%, 58% eFG%.

TS% is what a player’s shooting percentage would be if we accounted for free throws and 3-pointers.

eFG is a statistic that adjusts FG% to account for the fact that a 3-point field goal is worth one more point than a 2-point field goal.

The chart below shows Johnson’s Shot Zones over course of his 2014 high school season on GameChanger.

GameChanger provides free scorekeeping and stat management tools for amateur basketball teams. Learn more at www.GC.com/basketball

Add your team to GameChanger: www.GC.com/create
Attend a live online demo: www.GC.com/demo

How Mater Dei claimed their 4th State Championship

The awards keep pouring in for the 2014 Mater Dei Monarchs.

National Coach of the Year – Gary McKnight
National Player of the Year – Stanley Johnson
National Champions – 2013/14 Mater Dei Monarchs

This was their 4th consecutive California state championship , but their first national championship. The Monarchs were led by the outstanding play of their All State Trio, Stanley Johnson, Rex Pfhluger and MJ Cage.

Mater Dei used GameChanger Basketball to keep score, manage stats and stream live play-by-play throughout their 35 – 0 season. We analyzed the shot charts and shot zones from their starting 5 to see where each player shot most efficiently.

We charted each of the starters’ sweet spots and created the chart below. A good starting lineup won’t have much overlap when it comes to where each player shoots most efficiently from. To state the obvious, Mater Dei has a good starting lineup.

Looking to get started with GameChanger? We’d love to train your scorekeepers and stat managers in an online demo. Sign up here: www.GameChanger.io/demo

A Few Updates and a Word of Thanks

It’s hard to believe it’s been five years since Kiril and I started GameChanger Media, Inc.

Back in the spring of 2009, we spent our days working out of my apartment in Lower Manhattan and our evenings down at the Battery Park ball fields. I’d coach my 12U Little Leaguers while Kiril sat in the bleachers, hacking together an early version of our baseball and softball scorekeeping app.

While we weren’t certain what would come of this little project, we did know one thing for sure: the amateur sports experience for coaches, scorekeepers, players, parents and fans could be a lot better.

We introduced GameChanger to the coaching community a year later at the American Baseball Coaches Association convention in Dallas – and in the four years since, over 150,000 amateur teams have scored 4 million games and 1.1 billion plays on the GameChanger platform.

We’ve moved offices four times (not including my apartment) to accommodate our ever-growing team of thirty full-time employees. Together, we’ve built a mobile and web platform for scorekeeping, stats, team communication and live game updates. We’ve also scaled our technical infrastructure to support the scoring and streaming of the equivalent of fifty MLB seasons at the same time. We’re proud to work with the most respected names in amateur sports including Little League®, Perfect Game, Babe Ruth, Max Preps, USSSA, National Pro Fastpitch and the Ripken World Series.

When we debuted GameChanger Basketball in fall of 2013, it took just a few months for teams to score over 120,000 games on the product.

Yet with all this change, one thing remains unchanged: our mission. We still spend every day working to help every amateur sports team be more efficient, informed and connected.

Looking Forward

And we’re only just getting started.

That’s why we recently raised $6.8 million in financing to help us improve our existing products and expand into other sports. The outstanding team at Seattle-based Trilogy Equity Partners led the round, with several existing investors, including Tenfore Holdings and Costanoa Venture Capital, also participating.

The majority of that money will go toward hiring full-time software engineers and product designers, plus additions in finance, operations, marketing and sales. We plan to add about twenty people to our team this year.

With a bigger, stronger team in place, we can create an even better GameChanger experience for customers, old and new alike.

Many Thanks

It’s been a blast so far.

Of course, like any entrepreneurs, we’ve faced countless challenges, and Kiril and I are grateful for all the help we’ve received along the way – from our customers, partners, investors, employees and their spouses, and our families.

Without you, we’d still be hacking from the sidelines in Battery Park (although Kiril will be returning to those same bleachers this spring for another reason: to watch his five-year-old son play his first tee-ball season).

Thank you to all, and stay tuned for exciting progress from the GameChanger Team.

– Ted

Introducing Game Flow and Lead Flow

Pinpoint swings in momentum during the game with our new Game Flow and Lead Flow charts.

The Game Flow shows you how the game has progressed, and the rate at which each team is scoring points. Did you have trouble scoring in the 3rd quarter? Maybe it’s time to make some adjustments.

The Lead Flow shows you how each team is scoring relative to the other team. While the game flow can show you when you’re scoring points, the Lead Flow is better for showing when the changes in momentum are happening throughout the game.

Both charts can be found on the GameStream page.

Create your Team today

Follow GameChanger Basketball on Facebook for product updates and giveaways.

Softball Features on GameChanger

We’ve specifically designed features with softball teams in mind.

New Softball Field View

Support for DP/Flex Rules

DP/Flex used to be difficult to manage during the game. We’ve made it easy. Learn how.

Softball Pitch Types

From a Riseball to a Drop Ball to a Drop Curve, we’ve added softball pitches. Turn on pitch tracking from the Settings Menu. Learn how.

Illegal Pitch Option

We’ve added the option to score an illegal pitch instead of a balk. The pitch will be a ball, and any runners advance a base.

Add a Fourth Outfielder or Rover

Does your league use 10 fielders? Add a fourth outfielder or a rover from the Settings Menu. Learn how.

Create your Team today

Questions? Comments? Email us.

Scorekeeping in a Digital Age

by Jeff Kamrath (@GCSports)

Technology and Coaching

Since the book Moneyball was published in 2003, chronicling the 2002 Oakland A’s unprecedented run to the playoffs on the back of GM Billy Beane’s then-unconventional method for evaluating player value, there has been a microscope on understanding the importance of certain statistical measures in major professional sports. And until recently, the tools used to gather these stats have only been available to professional and elite DI collegiate programs who have the budget and manpower to invest in integrating these systems.

Advanced tech for all

Only recently have the technology and infrastructure become available for all amateur teams to utilize the same tools but at a fraction of the cost and manpower. In fact, there are many free options available to coaches, depending on what goals they are looking to accomplish, such as:

• Improving their team;
• Enhancing player development;
• Increasing fan engagement;
• Saving hours of time;
• Winning more games.

For instance, YouTube is a simple, efficient and free method for video analysis. It’s mobile and social, allowing your players to review film of a bad habit or a teaching point as many times as they wish after it’s happened in practice or a game.

If you’re interested in helping your social community connect with your team, Facebook and Twitter (also free) are the best tools available. Facebook is a fantastic aggregator of team specific content, such as: news, announcements, photo/video and events. Meanwhile, Twitter is great for “live” engagement and allows current fans of your program to easily share team specific content with their own networks.

Player development and the numbers

It’s important to have the right data at the amateur level so that young ballplayers can learn to evaluate themselves using controllable metrics that evaluate their positive impact on the team. But as mentioned earlier, only recently have the tools been available and affordable for amateur teams. In fact, most coaches still equate these powerful tools with high cost with the perception that they simply must be expensive to build. And while the assumption is correct (these tools are expensive to build), innovative companies have proven adept that they can in fact provide power software and technology to the coach at little or no cost.

Here at GameChanger, we believe coaches shouldn’t have to pay for access to their own stats. In fact, we want to give a coach the best tools possible to enhance his/her own experience, saving them hours of time, all while helping them maximize the potential of their own team(s).

Furthermore, we also understand that, usually, parents and fans are your economic engine.  Team registration and booster club fees fuel sports programs.  And building stronger connections to those groups increases their willingness to financially support your program, giving you the opportunity to make your program more successful.

Benefits of GameChanger:

• Instantly calculated advanced metrics that can positively impact your team.
• Live GameStream updates connect family and fans around the world.
• Saves you hours of time you’d spend calculating stat.
• Aggregates data on your opponents.

Some of our Big League metrics and data include:

• Hard hit balls
• 6+ pitch ABs
• Quality At Bats
• 1st pitch strike% + results
• ≤3 pitch ABs
• Lead-off BBs that score

Recap Stories

In addition stats and spray charts, GameChanger produces an automated recap story as soon as you finish scoring your game using actual data from your game.

Copy and paste the story in an email to the sports department of your local paper or have them follow your team on GameChanger.

Here’s how to get started:

1. Create an account on GameChanger. VIDEO
2. Download the scorekeeping app here.
3. Create your team here and score a game.
4. Review your stats and spray charts. VIDEO
5. Connect with your community. VIDEO

Change is good

“The Information Age hasn’t just transformed baseball. It has practically revolutionized it, and in less time than it takes Ronny Paulino to finish a home run trot.”

Jason Stark (ESPN.com)
Welcome to the Information Age, August 30, 2011

Summary

While GameChanger and the other social tools like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter aren’t the only technology options, they are proven and free.

Engaging your players and fans on their level helps you build stronger bonds, saves you time and helps to keep your program on the cutting edge of technology at no cost.

Coaches talk about GameChanger

Print or Email Basketball Boxscore PDFs after every quarter. Export season stats to a sortable CSV.

GameChanger can solve all your stat needs.

In-Game Boxscore PDFs

Our latest version of the GameChanger scorekeeping app has Boxscore PDFs that can be automatically generated at any time. Easily print or email the boxscore right from the app after every quarter, at the half, or after the game.

To find Boxscore PDFs, just tap the Stats tab in the game, and tap PDF in the top right. From here you can choose to print it directly to a compatible printer, or email it to coaches, an assistant, or local media.

Update your app

Export season stats to a CSV

If you need a more in-depth look, you can easily download a CSV file that contains all your season stats.

Just click on the “Stats” tab, and you’ll find the link at the bottom of the page.

Questions? Comments? Email us.

New in Version 5.0

New Team Management tools make it easier than ever to keep your team organized.

Schedule Practices

You can now access your team’s practice schedule from the app. Team Admins can edit the entire schedule right from their mobile device.

Update your app

Post Announcements

Game delayed? Practice canceled? Team Admins can let their team community know by posting an announcement. And now that it can be done in the app, coaches can tell their team right from the field.

Update your app

Redesigned Navigation

We’ve updated navigation in the app to be more functional and more compatible with iOS 7. It’s easier to switch between the homepage, schedule and roster, so making changes should take less time.

Update your app

Updated Icon

Simple, and it works with any team’s colors. We think it looks great. We hope you do too.

Update your app

2014 GameChanger Event Roadmap

Questions? Contact us.

Baseball: kam@gamechanger.io
Softball: kyleigh@gamechanger.io
Basketball: wells@gamechanger.io