Skills portfolio management system for youth

Abstract

A skills portfolio management system for youth that is capable of facilitating easy blog message posting by a multitude of people witnessing a sports event or some other public event, wherein players, spectators and others can provide comments and observation regarding that particular event while the event is going on. The present invention makes it possible to create a blog for that event with messages posted by people, where it is possible for players and others to leverage such messages blogs to create and a manage skills portfolios.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An automated skills portfolio management system for a plurality of youth, wherein the plurality of youth comprises teenagers, school students, club sports players and young athletes, the system comprising:
 a message collecting server that collects messages from the field posted by users, the users comprising the plurality of youth, their parents, coaches, teachers, trainers and others from an audience;   a skills profile database where skills profile for the plurality of youth is stored and retrieved;   a skills portfolio manager that assembles messages, recommendations, feedback, from teachers, coaches and others received for each of the plurality of youth into a corresponding skills portfolio; and   the skills portfolio manager configured to receive editing, deleting, sharing and managing instructions from the plurality of youth for their corresponding skills portfolio and configured to conduct associated operations;   wherein each skills portfolio comprises:
 a player profile of the associated youth; 
 details of sports skills of the associated youth; 
 inputs concerning the associated youth from other users; 
 recommendations for the associated youth; 
 involvement and achievements of the associated youth in other non-athletic organizations and activities; 
 feedback information concerning the associated youth; 
 achievements, awards, and other recognitions of the associated youth; 
 event performance information of the associated youth; and 
 contact information of the associated youth. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1  wherein each message in the messages comprise:
 an event information comprising at least:
 a date; 
 an identification; and 
 a location where an event is held; 
 
 a category information comprising one of:
 a sport name; 
 a games; 
 a competition; 
 a youth activity at school; and 
 a youth music program at school; 
 
 a youth information comprising at least one of name, height, weight, affiliations to clubs, academic year and grades; and 
 one or more of a video recording, a digital photo, and an audio recording. 
 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the sharing instructions comprises user identification and particulars for at least one of the users with whom sharing of a skills portfolio is expected to occur. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising:
 the message collecting server receives content for easy mobile blogging from a plurality of mobile devices by the plurality of users who are spectators witnessing a sports event; 
 the message collecting server also receives instructions for sharing of comments and observations regarding a sports event made by the users; and 
 a publishing component that generates a sports blog in an automated operation based at least on the mobile blogging by the users and comments and observations. 
 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising:
 the message collecting server is configured to selectively incorporate messages comprising digital photos, audio recording, digital video content, and text only from specific contributors directly into a skill portfolios of specific youth among the plurality of youth based on associated authorization and configuration specified by said specific youth that allows those specific contributors to contribute. 
 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising:
 the skills portfolio manager allows each of the plurality of youth to manage recommendations, feedback, and performance reviews received from others by assigning them a status of ‘accepted’, ‘rejected’ or ‘deleted’. 
 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising:
 a web server that facilitates posting of the messages from a plurality of mobile devices by members associated with one of a plurality of youth groups, wherein the plurality of mobile devices each employ a downloadable mobile app to post messages, to review messages provided by the web server and to a review blogs for any of the plurality of youth group. 
 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising:
 the skills portfolio manager providing a user account to each registered youth among the plurality of youth, wherein the user account can be configured such that messages, recommendations and feedback blogged by specific contributors are automatically included into their respective skills portfolio. 
 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8  wherein all messages from a specific user or phone number are processed and incorporated into the skills portfolio for a specific youth among the plurality of youth, wherein the skills portfolio manager provides services to the specific youth to edit them, delete them or accept them as presented. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1  wherein a web server facilitates incorporation of recommendations, performance reviews and feedback, and their management by each of the plurality of youth, wherein said youth receive audio, digital video and/or textual recommendations or performance reviews from one or more users, wherein the one or more users are coaches, teachers, and counselors. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the system retrieves messages and provides the messages for review by the plurality of youth via their respective mobile devices, wherein the messages are presented as a list of available relevant messages; and
 wherein the system also retrieves and presents for review the said relevant messages as part of a blog for a user group where said plurality of youth are members. 
 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising:
 a user group management module that is configured to create player groups for various sports groups, sports clubs and sports teams; 
 the user group management module adds members to those player groups when instructed, and maintains lists of players of player groups; and 
 the user group management module configured to add non-player users to the player groups, wherein each non-player user is required to identify a primary player for blogging purposes, for contribution of messages comprising video input, audio input, digital photos and text messages, and for the contribution of recommendations, feedback, observations and analysis. 
 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the message collecting server, for any preplanned event, selectively maintains a window of blogging during which users are allowed to submit messages related to the preplanned event; and
 wherein the skills portfolio manager is configured to receive instructions and execute operations related to addition, modification and enhancement to the messages as well as to a blog associated with the preplanned event after collecting messages from the plurality of users for the preplanned event. 
 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising:
 a web server that lists sporting events; and 
 the web server automatically creates a blog associated with each of the sporting events, wherein the blog comprises at least one or more relevant ones of said messages posted by users during each of the sporting events. 
 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 1  wherein messages posted by users each comprise a location identification, wherein the location identification is associated with an associated event or is provided by the devices that post the messages in the form of GPS coordinates, landmark or address information. 
     
     
         16 . A method of operating an automated skills portfolio management system for a plurality of youth, wherein the plurality of youth comprises teenagers, school students, and club sports players, young athletes, the method comprising:
 collecting messages posted by users, by a message collecting server, the users comprising the plurality of youth, their parents, coaches, teachers, trainers and others from an audience;   storing and retrieving skills portfolios for each of the plurality of youth by a skills profile database;   assembling messages, recommendations, feedback, from teachers, coaches and others received for each of the plurality of youth into a corresponding skills portfolio, by a skills portfolio manager; and   receiving instructions for editing, deleting, sharing and managing the skills portfolio by the skills portfolio manager configured to conduct associated operations, in response to instructions from the plurality of youth managing their respective skills portfolio;   wherein each skills portfolio comprises:   a player profile of the associated youth;   details of sports skills of the associated youth;   inputs concerning the associated youth from other users;   recommendations for the associated youth;   involvement and achievements of the associated youth in other non-athletic organizations and activities;   feedback information concerning the associated youth;   achievements, awards, and other recognitions of the associated youth;   event performance information of the associated youth; and   contact information of the associated youth.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16  wherein each message in the messages comprise:
 event information comprising at least:
 a date; 
 an identification; and 
 a location where an event is held; 
 
 a category information comprising one of:
 a sport name; 
 a games; 
 a competition; 
 a youth activity at school; and 
 a youth music program at school; 
 
 a youth information comprising at least one of name, height, weight, affiliations to clubs, academic year and grades; and 
 one or more of a video recording, a digital photo, and an audio recording. 
 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16  wherein the sharing by the skills portfolio manager comprises:
 gathering a user particulars for at least one of the users with whom sharing of a skills profile is expected to occur; and 
 verifying the authorization of the at least one of the users during an online or mobile based access. 
 
     
     
         19 . A server for managing skills portfolio by a student, wherein the student is registered with the server, the server comprising:
 a blogging front end for receiving messages from other registered users, wherein the other registered users are friends, coaches, teachers, parents, other students and members in an audience during an event, who capture videos, photos, audio recording on their respective mobile devices communicatively coupled to the blogging front end and send them as one of the messages to the blogging front end;   the blogging front end associates each of the messages with a student identification for the student, with an event identification, with a type of sport, art form or extra-curricular activity, and with an identification for the other user if any; and   a skills database for storing a skills portfolio of the student;   the blogging front end stores the messages and associates them with corresponding skills portfolios of the student stored in the skills database; and   a web server for presenting the skilled portfolios to authorized users and authorized guests, wherein the student is provided tools to authorize users and guests for gaining access to the skills portfolio of the student.   
     
     
         20 . The server of  claim 19  wherein the web server sends requests for recommendations and feedback made by the student to registered users, wherein the web server is also configured to receive from the student authorization for automatic incorporation of said recommendations and feedback when received into the skills portfolio of the student.