System and Method for Athlete Assessment and Team Selection

Abstract

Subjective and objective assessment attributes and measurements related to athletes are captured in an athlete assessment database. Attributes can be entered and updated by at least one evaluator in the field to the athlete assessment database using a client/server software application and mobile client devices. Following capture of the assessment attributes to assessment attribute records in the athlete assessment database, at least one ranked listing of the athletes is created based on the captured assessment attribute data, for printing, display or further use. Captured assessment attributes with relation to the athletes in question can be averaged, normalized or otherwise manipulated. A drafting interface could be provided to allow for immediate or streamlined team selection in a league. The method enhances the speed and accuracy of team selection and athlete ranking processes, over current paper based processes.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An athlete assessment method which uses an athlete assessment database hosted on a server operatively connected to a computer network, said athlete assessment database comprising:
 at least one project record containing project parameters including details of assessment attributes to be captured in respect of athletes in an athlete assessment project;   a plurality of athlete records, each athlete record being linked to at least one project record and containing athlete particulars corresponding to an athlete; and   a plurality of assessment attribute records, each assessment attribute record being linked to at least one project record and to an athlete record and containing at least one captured assessment attribute of the related athlete with respect to the related athlete assessment project;   said method comprising, for a particular athlete assessment project:
 creating and populating a project record with the project parameters of the athlete assessment project; 
 creating and populating an athlete record with corresponding athlete particulars for each athlete in the athlete assessment project; 
 during an assessment stage of the athlete assessment project, having at least one evaluator capture and transmit assessment attributes for athletes to the athlete assessment database via an evaluator interface served to at least one client device from the server over the computer network; 
 storing the captured assessment attributes in assessment attribute records in the athlete assessment database, each linked to their respective athlete record and to the related project record; and 
 following conclusion of the assessment stage, displaying at least one assessment attribute of all of the athletes associated with the athlete assessment project to a user, based upon the assessment attribute records for the athlete assessment project stored within the athlete assessment database. 
   
     
     
         2 . The athlete assessment method of  claim 1  wherein the displaying at least one assessment attribute of the athletes associated with the athlete assessment project to a user comprises generating at least one ranked listing of the athletes in the athlete assessment project based on the assessment attribute records stored in the athlete assessment database in respect of the athlete assessment project. 
     
     
         3 . The athlete assessment method of  claim 2  further comprising displaying the at least one ranked listing of athletes to a user via a display interface. 
     
     
         4 . The athlete assessment method of  claim 1  wherein the athlete assessment database is stored on a server operatively connected to a computer network and in communication with the at least one client device via said computer network. 
     
     
         5 . The athlete assessment method of  claim 1  wherein the at least one client device is a wireless device capable of two-way communication with the server via the computer network. 
     
     
         6 . The athlete assessment method of  claim 1  wherein the server contains an assessment software program configured to execute the capture, storage and display of athletic assessment attributes to the athlete assessment database from the client devices. 
     
     
         7 . The athlete assessment method of  claim 1  wherein the at least one client device comprises an evaluator interface, being a user interface by which athlete particulars from athlete records can be viewed and assessment attributes can be entered for storage to the athlete assessment database, during the assessment stage. 
     
     
         8 . The athlete assessment method of  claim 7  wherein the evaluator interface provides viewing and entry access to the data of more than one athlete to an evaluator during the assessment stage. 
     
     
         9 . The athlete assessment method of  claim 1  wherein at least one assessment attribute to be tracked with respect to an athlete assessment project is a subjective assessment attribute. 
     
     
         10 . The athlete assessment method of  claim 1  wherein at least one assessment attribute to be tracked with respect to an athlete assessment project is an objective assessment attribute. 
     
     
         11 . The athlete assessment method of  claim 1  wherein the number of project records is more than one. 
     
     
         12 . The athlete assessment method of  claim 11  wherein the evaluator interface allows a user to select the correct athlete assessment project and related dataset for viewing and data entry. 
     
     
         13 . The athlete assessment method of  claim 1  wherein the athlete particulars contain physical identification of an athlete, to ease identification of the athlete during the assessment stage of the athlete assessment project. 
     
     
         14 . The athlete assessment method of  claim 13  wherein the physical identification of an athlete comprises a uniform number. 
     
     
         15 . The athlete assessment method of  claim 1  wherein at least a portion of the athlete particulars for athletes being assessed are displayed to the at least one evaluator during the use of the evaluator interface. 
     
     
         16 . The athlete assessment method of  claim 1  wherein the athlete assessment database further comprises a plurality of assessment template records, each comprising the necessary project parameters to allow the systemized selection and creation of project records in the athlete assessment database based upon preset system settings, wherein an operator could rapidly and consistently create multiple project records for similar athlete assessment projects. 
     
     
         17 . The athlete assessment method of  claim 1  wherein the evaluator interface displays athlete particulars of a plurality of athlete records to the evaluator at the time of capture and entry of assessment attributes to assessment attribute records in the athlete assessment database. 
     
     
         18 . The athlete assessment method of  claim 1  further comprising a drafting stage of an athlete assessment project, wherein:
 the number of athletes assessed in an athlete assessment project is sufficient to populate a plurality of sports teams; 
 following conclusion of the assessment stage, displaying at least one assessment attribute of all of the athletes associated with the athlete assessment project to a user comprises displaying assessment attribute records for the athlete assessment project stored within the athlete assessment database to at least one coach for each of the sports teams; and 
 providing a drafting interface whereby athletes are assigned to the sports teams by selection by coaches, based on selections of athletes to the teams by the coaches via the drafting interface served to at least one client device by the server. 
 
     
     
         19 . An athlete assessment system for the conduct of an athlete assessment method, said system comprising:
 an athlete assessment database comprising:
 at least one project record contain project parameters including details of assessment attributes to be captured in respect of athletes in an athlete assessment project; 
 a plurality of athlete records, each athlete record being linked to at least one project record and contain athlete particulars corresponding to an athlete; and 
 a plurality of assessment attribute records, each assessment attribute record being linked to at least one project record and to an athlete record and contain at least one captured assessment attribute of the related athlete with respect to the related athlete assessment project; and 
 a server connected to said athlete assessment database and to a computer network via which the server can communicate with at least one client device; 
   wherein the system can facilitate the execution of the athlete assessment method by, for a particular athlete assessment project:
 creating and populating a project record with the project parameters of the athlete assessment project within the athlete assessment database; 
 creating and populating an athlete record with corresponding athlete particulars for each athlete in the athlete assessment project in the athlete assessment database; 
 during an assessment stage of the athlete assessment project:
 serving an evaluator interface to the client device of at least one evaluator to enable data entry at the client device of assessment attributes for athletes; and 
 receiving transmissions of captured assessment attribute data from the client devices of evaluators and creating assessment attribute records within the athlete assessment database to store same, each assessment attribute record linked to their respective athlete record and to the related project record; 
 
 following conclusion of the assessment stage, displaying at least one assessment attribute of all of the athletes associated with the athlete assessment project to a user, based upon the assessment attribute records for the athlete assessment project stored within the athlete assessment database. 
   
     
     
         20 . The athlete assessment system of  claim 19  wherein the at least one client device is a wireless device capable of communicating with the server via the computer network. 
     
     
         21 . The athlete assessment system of  claim 19  wherein more than one athlete assessment project can be administered simultaneously. 
     
     
         22 . The athlete assessment system of  claim 19  wherein the athlete assessment database further comprises a plurality of assessment template records, each comprising the necessary project parameters to allow the systemized selection and creation of project records in the athlete assessment database based upon preset system settings, wherein an operator could rapidly and consistently create multiple project records for similar athlete assessment projects. 
     
     
         23 . The athlete assessment system of  claim 19  wherein the evaluator interface displays athlete particulars of a plurality of athlete records to the evaluator at the time of capture and entry of assessment attributes to assessment attribute records in the athlete assessment database. 
     
     
         24 . The athlete assessment system of  claim 19  wherein at least one assessment attribute to be tracked with respect to an athlete assessment project is a subjective assessment attribute. 
     
     
         25 . The athlete assessment system of  claim 19  wherein at least one assessment attribute to be tracked with respect to an athlete assessment project is an objective assessment attribute. 
     
     
         26 . The athlete assessment system of  claim 19  wherein the method conducted thereby further includes a drafting stage of an athlete assessment project, wherein:
 the number of athletes assessed in an athlete assessment project is sufficient to populate a plurality of sports teams; 
 follow conclusion of the assessment stage, displaying at least one assessment attribute of all of the athletes associated with the athlete assessment project to a user comprises displaying assessment attribute records for the athlete assessment project stored within the athlete assessment database to at least one coach for each of the sports teams; and 
 provide a drafting interface which is served to client devices whereby athletes are assigned to the sports teams by selection by coaches based on selections of athletes to the teams via the drafting interface. 
 
     
     
         27 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium being an assessment software program, the computer-readable storage medium including instructions that when executed by a server operatively connected to a computer network, enable the server to facilitate an athlete assessment method by:
 administering an athlete assessment database operatively connected to the computer, said athlete assessment database comprising:
 at least one project record contain project parameters including details of assessment attributes to be captured in respect of athletes in an athlete assessment project; 
 a plurality of athlete records, each athlete record being linked to at least one project record and contain athlete particulars corresponding to an athlete; and 
 a plurality of assessment attribute records, each assessment attribute record being linked to at least one project record and to an athlete record and contain at least one captured assessment attribute of the related athlete with respect to the related athlete assessment project; 
   for a particular athlete assessment project:
 creating and populating a project record with the project parameters of the athlete assessment project based on user input; 
 creating and populating an athlete record with corresponding athlete particulars for each athlete in the athlete assessment project; 
 during an assessment stage of the athlete assessment project, serving an evaluator interface to a client device of at least one evaluator via which said at least one evaluator can capture and transmit assessment attributes for athletes to the athlete assessment database; 
 storing the captured assessment attributes received from client devices to assessment attribute records in the athlete assessment database, each linked to their respective athlete record and to the related project record; and 
 following conclusion of the assessment stage, displaying at least one assessment attribute of all of the athletes associated with the athlete assessment project to at least one user, based upon the assessment attribute records for the athlete assessment project stored within the athlete assessment database. 
   
     
     
         28 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 27  wherein the displaying at least one assessment attribute of the athletes associated with the athlete assessment project to a user comprises generating at least one ranked listing of the athletes in the athlete assessment project based on the assessment attribute records stored in the athlete assessment database in respect of the athlete assessment project. 
     
     
         29 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 28  wherein the instructions further configure the computer to display the at least one ranked listing of athletes to a user via a display interface. 
     
     
         30 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 27  wherein the athlete assessment database further comprises a plurality of assessment template records, each comprising the necessary project parameters to allow the systemized selection and creation of project records in the athlete assessment database based upon preset system settings, wherein an operator could rapidly and consistently create multiple project records for similar athlete assessment projects.