Why I built this.
Let me tell you how it all started.
I coach junior basketball in Melbourne. Weekends are a bench full of kids, a scoresheet, and a group chat of parents who were there for every minute and still want to hear what the coach reckons. Was my kid seen? Is this team going somewhere? What are we working on at training this week?
Fair questions. I know, because I used to ask them.
My daughters played rep for years, and most seasons the only message we got from a coach was the training time. Occasionally the training time changed. That was a big week in our house.
So when I picked up the whistle I made myself a promise. Proper wrap-up every week. Every kid mentioned. The works.
I lasted three rounds.
Here’s the thing nobody tells you. After a full weekend of games, twelve high fives and a very loud team song in the car park, there is nothing left in the tank for a thoughtful paragraph about Round 6. Nothing.
And that was the easy part.
I’d rock up to games with no real idea who we were playing, work out their best player somewhere in the second quarter, and cobble together a game plan on the fly while looking like I’d had one all along. Doing the homework properly would have cost me an evening I didn’t have.
So I built SidelineIQ.
Before the game, it pulls together everything worth knowing about the other mob so I walk in with an actual plan. After the game, it takes the numbers and whatever I remember from the bench and turns it into a wrap I’d happily send, every kid in it, no 11pm Sunday guilt. It even keeps track of who won what each week, which used to live in a spreadsheet I updated with the enthusiasm of a man doing his tax.
During the game? It stays in my pocket. I’ve got enough going on.
It started with my own teams. Now a handful of Melbourne clubs are on it, and I’m still coaching every weekend, which means it’s improving every week.
If you coach, this is for you. If you’re a parent, forward it to your coach and look innocent.
Either way, drop me a line: hello@sidelineiq.com.au
See you on the sideline.
Oliver Clarke
Founder, SidelineIQ
Coaches
You already know what happened out there. SidelineIQ helps you hand it to the people who weren’t there, and gives you your Sunday night back.
Parents
No more whole seasons of wondering. You hear how it’s actually going, from the person who was on the bench.
Players
Every kid gets seen. Not just the top scorer. The kid who defended like their life depended on it gets a mention too.
Clubs
Happy families stay. When every coach shares every week, that’s not luck, that’s a standard your club set.