CoachPaul has suggested starting a new thread, and since I’m interested in what he and others have to say on this topic, I’m doing that. So I’ll respond to his last post here.
All comments are more than welcome.
You’ve got to retire like me so you can sit at home in front of a big screen monitor and full keyboard, with a cool beverage close at hand.
I don’t know that its scorekeeping, which is pretty straightforward, but rather I think its statistics, how they’re done and what they’re used to do. FI, according to the rules, there’s only one way to make a ground out to short. 6-3. But when us wonks get our filthy fingers on it, all kinds of things start to happen. It might be G6-3, HG6-3, RHB6-3, LHP6-3, 5/6-3, and it goes on and on for as many ways as people figure out ways they want to see what happened on the field be represented.
[quote]To wrap up…
Currently coaching 13-15 year old Babe Ruth in the Spring. I umpire in Summer and coach a developmental team of 12-13 year olds in the Fall to get them some experience on the full sized field. [/quote]
Interesting. Do you do anything with HS players? That’s a selfish question.
Maybe this will help. Its something I threw together a couple years back when our local LL decided to try to teach scorekeeping.
I don’t doubt you see a lot, and in some instances maybe even more than I as an SK see from behind the plate, or as close to it as possible, but most coaches who are in the position of “calling the shots” for the team, can’t carry a book all over the place with them. But the point isn’t that you or anyone else can’t or don’t keep a good book!
The point is, that isn’t your job. In theory you’re thinking about defensive positioning, game situations, who’d batting and their capabilities, who’s pitching and their capabilities, what you’re gonna do if “A” happens and what different if “B” happens, as well as keeping a bunch of pubescent and barely post-pubescent boys in check and working together, not to mention trying to keep the parents at bay. Spending a few hours training a SK could give you back 10 times the hours you invest.
I’ve always been very much against having players or coaches keep the book, at any level. Of course that’s assuming the statistics are being used to make important decisions. The vantage point of scoring a game from the dugout starts out causing inconsistency. But more importantly, the built-in bias is simply not acceptable to me. I realize there are times when it can’t be avoided, but I’ve taught 3rd and 4th graders to keep a basic book in very little time, so I know its not an insurmountable task.
If you’re the only guy doing it, I have no doubt about the consistency of your book.
I’m with you on the apps! They’re great for some people because they’re a quantum leap above what they had previously as far as stats. When I decided to come into the new age of electronic scoring, I tried 2 of the most popular apps. The 1st thing I found was, using them on a phone wasn’t getting it. It was too small for these old eyes. Using them on an IPad was much better, but as you noted, there were too many things needing to be done, not to mention going back to change something.
That’s why I ended up writing my own. It does exactly what I want, in exactly the order I want them done, and it does it on a laptop. But importantly, I made it forgiving when it comes to changing things. Even more importantly, mine allows me to integrate all the past data in order to compare players and performances from the past. I helps keep things in perspective.
LOL. If all you’re spending is 20 minutes after a game, I’m jealous. Before I converted to electronic scoring, I was spending between 40 minutes to an hour and a half of data input.
Would you mind sending me a copy of your SS? Personally, I don’t use a SS, but I have dozens of examples of them from coaches all over the country. Every once in a while I find something I don’t do that I’d like to incorporate into my system. If you go to http://infosports.com/scorekeeper/ there’s a link that says “Contact Scorekeeper” that will send me an e-mail. You can attach a copy of the SS and fire it off. I’d really appreciate it.
Do you “publish” the numbers?
I’ll go ahead and start a separate thread, but to me its really all the same thing. Control vs. velocity has no meaning unless it can be measured, and it can’t be measured without some form of data tracking.