Background
Netball is the most popular women’s team participation sport in New Zeland but despite this popularity, netball coaches and team managers continue to struggle with manual paper based systems to obtain vital statistics of the on-court performance of team and individual players. This manual approach is time-consuming, prone to errors and limits real-time performance insights.
The creators of the Boost Mobile App wanted to change this situation by developing a cutting edge mobile digital application designed to deliver fast, accurate and actionable netball statistics.
This game-changing tool empowers coaches, players and the broader netball community with data-driven insights, elevating performance analysis and enhancing the overall netball experience.
Challenges Faced by Manual Record Keeping in Netball
Selecting a netball team of seven players from a squad of 25+ athletes presents significant challenges when relying on paper-based performance tracking. This outdated system makes it difficult to accurately monitor individual player metrics, often leading to errors in data recording that can negatively impact team selection decisions and ultimately, on-court performance.
For optimal results, coaches and managers require real-time visibility into players’ fitness, nutrition, and performance metrics. A digital solution is critical to ensure data accuracy, instant accessibility, and evidence-based decision making – transforming how teams are selected and managed for competitive success.
Netball coaches and managers need to always be in sync with their players’ fitness, nutrition and performance levels in order to drive peak performance.
This characterised the need for a digital solution to ensure data accuracy, instant accessibility and evidence-based decision making – transforming how teams are selected and managed for competitive success.
Boost – Netball Performance & Statistics Mobile App
The Boost App empowers netball coaches and team managers with real-time, data-driven insights into on-court performance—for both the team and individual players. The Boost App unlocks winning strategies and provides unique insights that can help drive a winning netball outlook.
Turn training effort into match-day success. With the Boost App, coaches can deep-dive into performance analytics, pinpointing strengths, addressing weaknesses and optimising player development. Whether refining tactics or celebrating progress, the app ensures every decision is backed by data. The Boost App makes player and team development more impactful, efficient, and results-driven.
The goal was to develop an easy to use mobile application that would allow netball coaches and managers to:
- Track player and team performance
- Record fitness details
- Manage individual coaching plans
- Obtain valuable statistics and insights
Netball had the highest participation rate of any organised sport among girls aged 5–17 (18%) and adult women (10%).
New Zealand Sport and Physical Activity Survey
Netball App Development Challenges & Solutions
1. Ensuring all aspects of Netball Coaching & Performance Management were Included [User-Centric Features and Functionality]
Challenge: When it comes to a sport such as netball, it was critical that the Boost Mobile App offered all the main features and functions demanded by netball coaches and managers.
Solution: Extensive research was undertaken in consultation with experienced netball players, coaches and managers prior to the start of the development phase.
2. Optimising App Usability & Navigation [User Experience (UX) Design]
Challenge: The Boost mobile app was to be built with netball coaches and team managers in mind. Every feature needed to be crafted to ensure quick navigation, seamless data access and effortless performance tracking
Solution: The Elegant Media UI/UX team conceived a clean, user-friendly design that prioritised ease of use without sacrificing visual appeal, so coaches could focus on what mattered most: winning strategies and player development.
3. The App should work on all devices [Cross-Platform Compatibility]
Challenge: With a large number of users it was imperative that the Boost App would function seamlessly across all modern smartphone devices without any problems, ensuring users can access critical data anytime, anywhere, without interruption.
Solution: The Boost app was developed on a cross-platform framework using a single codebase. This enabled Elegant Media to deliver a native-like experience for all users with rock-solid reliability, smooth functionality and a consistent user experience.
Netball is the most popular women’s sport in New Zealand, in terms of player participation and public interest with over 130,000 registered netball players.
Netball New Zealand
Boost Netball App Development Process
- Market Research & Prototyping – Understanding the everyday problems faced by netball coaches, players and managers.
- UI/UX Design – Developing an easy to use and simplified design that would provide a practical and impactful, positive user experience.
- Backend Development – Building an effective database management system that contributed to smooth functionality.
- Testing & Feedback – Conducted beta testing with selected netball clubs, coaches, players and managers.
- Launch & Iteration – Released on app stores with user-feedback received and considered from the testing phase.
Results
Since its launch, the Boost App has transformed netball player coaching, selection and management in New Zealand.
- Cross-Platform Compatibility: The functionality of the Boost App remained consistent across all devices and users.
- Minimal Errors: App users reported a decrease in the number of errors and mistakes thereby paving the way for accurate player selection and management
- Easy to use: The App’s design and navigational layout was praised by netball players, coaches and managers alike.
