A sporting app crowned Best New Business at the recent South Dublin Chamber Awards could be a real gamechanger.
Surpassport is a unique sports app that addresses the issue of burn-out and safety for young players who perform across multiple disciplines, allowing their coaches and mentors to monitor them in a fully safe and compliant manner.
For the first time ever, coaches can see how club players are doing, even when those same players are playing for the county or indeed other teams.
The brainchild of Adrian Geissel, a scientist and software engineer from Naas, Surpassport provides powerful team management providing insights into workload, injury and wellbeing, and informing underage coaching for development, retention and fielding stronger adult teams.
Basketball Ireland has just endorsed it and are using it for their international teams.
Adrian told Dublin Gazette: “As a dad of a busy 10-year-old, I was curious about what constitutes a safe and sustainable level of sport
“Training provided by the GAA encourages coaching in a child-specific manner, but little detail about how to answer the above question, in particular, for my son.
“I therefore returned to published academic literature, and learnt that consistency and gradual change in workload were key, especially when the child is uninjured and most importantly, enjoying themselves.
“As a coach to a dozen or so other 10 year-olds, I wondered how I could apply this to the team.
“Was their activity history over the past few weeks consistent, or were they at risk of injury from over play? Or simply over-tired?”
Given his involvement with his GAA team Adrian says he gained deep insights that were crucial to the development of Surpassport.
“My vision for my app is to combine best practice and sports science into a comprehensive, easy to use app for coaches and parents, to help each know more about their kids and to help them make informed decisions for their sporting wellbeing,” he said.
“It builds a comprehensive picture of player athlete readiness, appropriate to their age, but most importantly, tracks ‘fun’, for every team session and game.
“After all, if kids are not enjoying sport they won’t practice and won’t stick with it.
“I am very excited about the growth of Surpassport and believe it will become synonymous with sports management in Ireland and beyond”.
