WO2007056665A2

WO2007056665A2 - Student athlete scheduling and data storage software system and method

Info

Publication number: WO2007056665A2
Application number: PCT/US2006/060486
Authority: WO
Inventors: Zachary J. Maurides; George D. Maurides
Original assignee: Logistical Athletic Solutions, Llc
Priority date: 2005-11-02
Filing date: 2006-11-02
Publication date: 2007-05-18
Also published as: WO2007056665A9; WO2007056665A3; US20070117074A1

Abstract

Disclosed is a computer program product, system, and method for a multi-user student athlete scheduling system. The method includes the steps of preparing an initial schedule and making the schedule available to the student using a variety of communications devices. The schedule may then be modified by event schedulers who have a continuum of modification rights based on their access privileges. A proposed schedule modification may need to be authorized by one or more of the student athlete, an event scheduler proposing the change, and a student athlete handler.

Description

STUDENTATHLETESCHEDULINGANDDATA STORAGE SOFTWARESYSTEM AND

METHOD

BACKGROUND

[0001 ] The present disclosure relates to scheduling data storage and communication software. In particular, the present disclosure related to scheduling software used in education settings and sports settings.

[0002] Student athletes have many scheduling priorities to balance within an often tight timetable. Some of these schedule priorities include class time, practice time, medical appointments, rehabilitation sessions, film study, weightlifting, tutoring, and other events. It may be difficult for a player to manage all of this as well as their personal life. These scheduling priorities originate from several sources that may not communicate well, if at all, leaving the player responsible for juggling the student's own schedule. There is a need for a tool that can be used to assist student athletes and their handlers with managing the student athlete's busy schedule.

[0003] Briefly, and in accordance with the foregoing, disclosed is a computer program product, system, and method for a multi-user student athlete scheduling system. The method includes the steps of preparing an initial schedule and making the schedule available to the student using a variety of communications devices. The schedule may then be modified by event schedulers who have a continuum of modification rights based on their access privileges. A proposed schedule modification may need to be authorized by one or more of the student athlete, an event scheduler proposing the change, and a student athlete handler.

[0004] Additional features and embodiments will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0005] The present disclosure will be described hereafter with reference to the attached drawings which are given as a non-limiting example only, in which: [0006] FIG. 1 is a simplified diagrammatic view of a student athlete scheduling system; [0007] FIG. 2 is flow diagram showing one embodiment of a method for scheduling events for a student athlete; [0008] FIG. 3 is one embodiment of a screen interface for a student athlete home page;

[0009] FIG. 4 is one embodiment of a screen interface for a student athlete scheduling system;

[0010] FIG. 5 is one embodiment of a student athlete home page;

[0011 ] FIG. 6 is one embodiment of a combined student athletic and class schedule;

[0012] FIG. 7 is one embodiment of an athlete profile interface viewable by a coach and others, showing a student photo, contact info, height and weight characteristics, injury status, lifting metrics, appointment, and player notes;

[0013] FIG. 8 is one embodiment of a student athlete class schedule;

[0014] FIG. 9 is another embodiment of a student athlete schedule;

[0015] FIG. 10 is one embodiment of a student athlete lifting page;

[0016] FIG. 11 is one embodiment of a coach home page contains links, news, and information relevant to a coach;

[0017] FIG. 12 is one embodiment is another embodiment of a lifting page, viewable by a coach and others, showing historical lift data.

[0018] FIG. 13 is one embodiment of web page or report showing lifting data for an entire team or subdivision thereof;

[0019] FIG. 14 is one embodiment of an interface for adding a new appointment to one or more members of the team;

[0020] FIG. 15 is one embodiment of an interface for checking the availability of one or more players;

[0021 ] FIG. 16 is one embodiment of a results page following a search done on the interface of FIG. 15;

[0022] FIG. 17 is a player roster interface showing position, year, hometown information, and a link to contacts for each player;

[0023] FIG. 18 is one embodiment of the student athlete contacts page containing emergency contact information and other contact information;

[0024] FIG. 19 is one embodiment of a roster page viewable by the coach and others for quickly linking over to a player's contact or sending the player an email; [0025] FIG. 20 is one embodiment of a mass athlete edit page which shows student contact information in a grid interface so multiple students' contact information can be changed in a single screen;

[0026] FIG. 21 is one embodiment of a messaging interface for sending message to one more players, or one or more category of players, via text message or email; and

[0027] FIG. 22 is one embodiment of a lifting data interface showing raw and percentage based comparisons of particular student athletes to other student athletes in their grouping.

[0028] The exemplification set out herein illustrates embodiments of the disclosure that is not to be construed as limiting the scope of the disclosure in any manner.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] While the present disclosure may be susceptible to embodiment in different forms, there is shown in the drawings, and herein will be described in detail, embodiments with the understanding that the present description is to be considered an exemplification of the principles of the disclosure and is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the details of construction and the arrangements of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings.

[0030] An illustrated embodiment of a system 8 for scheduling student athletes is shown in FIG. 1. A student athlete 10 may be a student at a university, school, learning institution, or be a member of an athletic team, club, organization, or other association. Referral to a student athlete in this disclosure is for illustrative purposes only and should be broadly interpreted to include any person or animal that has a need to be scheduled by one or more persons. Student-athlete is but one example of an individual whose schedule can be impacted by numerous other individuals or programs. The benefits of this invention are limited only by the scope of the claims. For purposes of this disclosure, student athlete 10 may be participating in one or more sports which may include, but should not be limited to, football, soccer, track, basketball, tennis, baseball, boxing, any sport played in the Olympics, played in schools, played professionally, or played recreationally, dog racing, horse racing, or other sport.

[0031] Student athlete 10 may need to schedule, or have scheduled, one or more events. An event may be a one time event, such as, for example, a single appointment with a weight trainer, or be a reoccurring event, such as a daily practice. Events may be related to the sport of the athlete, but may be unrelated as well, for example, an event may be a scheduled class, a tutoring session, social time, or other event.

[0032] The student athlete's schedule may be stored in electronic form and accessed and/or modified using any portable or stationary electronic communications device including but not limited to a cell phone 12, a personal digital assistant 14, a portable computing device 16 such as a laptop or other portable computer, or a generally fixed computer 18 such as a desktop, workstation, or terminal. Each of these devices are known in the art and include standard interfaces for viewing information stored in electronic form such as a graphical user interface, text based interface, or other interface viewable on a screen, display, or other output device. [0033] A scheduling module 20 may be used to store the student athlete's schedule and provide the communications, database, file storage, security, and other functionality described herein. Any server, application, or web interface or combination thereof may be used in connection with scheduling module 20 such as, for example, SQL server by Microsoft Corporation and/or Cold Fusion by Macromedia, Inc. Scheduling module 20 may be hosted on a local or remote server using known communications protocols and server architecture including, but not limited to general purpose computers having server software loaded thereon and including commonly known memory, storage, processor, input/output and communications devices.

[0034] Scheduling module 20 may communicate with one or more of the communications devices 12, 14, 16, and 18 of student athlete 10 and may use any known format for transmission and compatibility including, but no limited to HTML, XML, WI-FI, Blue Tooth, TCP/IP, IP, Ethernet, syncing technologies including PALM™ platform for personal digital assistants, mini- browser, local area network protocols, wide area network protocols, and other formats. Data may be accessed using a web browser, RSS feed, or other interface.

[0035] The schedules of student athlete 10 may be modified by authorized persons, referred to herein as event schedulers 21. Event scheduler 21 may be authorized based on permissions granted by student athlete 10 or someone handling student athlete 10 or be based on the event scheduler's role in the educational institution or the team. An event scheduler 21 may be, but is not limited to, a staff member 22, such as a member of the coaching staff, the scheduling staff, the educational institution staff, medical staff, or other staff. An event scheduler may also be a system administrator 24. It is envisioned that the scheduling task may be outsourced or assigned to a particular group of administrators, such as a scheduling department, which may include one or more system administrators 24. A teacher 26 and the like, such as professor, teaching assistant, and other involved in teaching a student athlete 10 may also be an event scheduler. Coaches or trainers 28 may also have scheduling privileges and access so that that practices, training sessions, and the like may be scheduled. An event scheduler may also be a therapist 30 or a doctor 32, who may schedule examinations, rehabilitation sessions, and other treatments. A tutor 34 may also be an event scheduler. A personal assistant 35, who may be assisting student athlete 10 in a variety of tasks, may also be an event scheduler.

[0036] Each event scheduler 21 may have different access and modification rights based on their role, or on permissions granted by the event scheduler's rank on a permissions hierarchy. A hierarchy may be established in a variety of different ways. For example, a general manager or head coach 28 may be at the top of the hierarchy and have first and ultimate control over the student athlete's schedule. Then a system administrator 24 may have the next highest level of authority, to enter, for example, a class schedule. Establishing a hierarchy and scheduling events may be accomplished both at the beginning of a season or a semester, or other academic interval, to establish an initial schedule, and over the course of the academic interval to schedule events such a tutoring sessions, rehab visit, exams, or other events.

[0037] The event schedulers 21 and student athlete 10 may interact according to the method shown in FIG. 2. In a first step 40, an initial schedule for student athlete 10 is established. The schedule may include any combination of academic, athletic, training, health-related, or social events described above and herein. Student athlete 10 is sent or has access made available over one or more of the student's communications devices (step 42) to a copy of student athlete's schedule. Next, a particular scheduler may be given access to the student athlete's schedule (step 44). The type and detail of information about the schedule available to a particular scheduler may be restricted based on the scheduler's level of access or role.

[0038] An authorization loop takes place next if the scheduler has proposed a change (step 46), such as adding, deleting, modifying, or moving an event. Scheduling module 20 can determine whether a conflict exists (step 50). If a conflict exists, the relative modify rights of the conflicting events may be compared (step 52), after which the scheduling module 20 can either automatically, or upon student approval (step 54), make a change. The rules for which event trumps the other can be set a number of different ways. For example, superior hierarchy rights may automatically trump junior rights. Other rules may require notification to the event scheduler whose event is being replaced. Other rules may require approval from the student athlete 10. Yet other rules may require some combination of notifications and/or approval to more than one of the student athlete 10 and other event schedulers 21.

[0039] An automatic or approved event modification would then be reflected in an updated schedule (step 48). Notification of the new schedule may be sent to one or both of the student athlete (step 56) and the event scheduler who proposed the change (step 58). [0040] As each scheduled event occurs (step 60), one or both of the student athletes or the event scheduler can take actions based on the event being completed. For example, if the student athlete attended a tutoring session, either the student athlete or the tutor can mark the session completed (step 62). Class attendance, required physicals, and study halls are examples of events that may need completion or attendance tracking. Additionally, one or more of the student athlete, event scheduler, and student handler participating in the event may annotate notes (step 64) to the event upon completion, so that the annotations are available to others interested in student athlete 10. Annotations may include work-out statistics, prognoses, grades, medical diagnoses, and other information that may be legally shared. In this manner, scheduling module 20 may be used not only to schedule events, but to track results of scheduled events as well.

[0041 ] An illustrative example of use of the present disclosure is as follows. A profile is created for Player X. Player X logs on the first day of his freshman year. Once logged into a site communicating with the scheduling module 20, Player X is brought to his personal page, which among other features includes a schedule interface. By clicking on his schedule interface, the athlete can view one month at a time or one week at a time. By clicking on an individual day he can see a graphical as well as text representation of his day. Player X's class schedule may be added to his schedule by members of the team's academic support staff. Also, one of the administrative coaches can add Player X's practice schedule to Player X's schedule. Player X's weights coaches can log on and review Player X's class and practice schedule and edit his schedule to include lifting times. After a meeting with the academic support staff regarding Player X's tutoring and study hall needs, the staff member can log on to the site and edit Player X's schedule to include study hall three days a week. During his second week of play, if Player X hurts his knee, Player X may need rehab for a period, such as four days a week. The team trainer can log on to the site, bring up Player X, and after reviewing Player X's schedule, edit the schedule to include rehab. Player X would receive an email alerting him to a schedule change. Player X can then log on, review, and print his schedule from Player X's computer, laptop, personal digital assistant, or other device.

[0042] Event schedulers and other users of the site may be able to click on a given scheduled item for the day and be able to see a detailed description of the daily item as well as specific information for the item (i.e. for a doctors appointment, directions, doctors name, proper attire, etc.). An item or event can be marked as complete to show other users Player X was in attendance or the task was completed. Details about how the task was completed can be entered as well.

[0043] Coaches and staff may have the option of making a schedule change that will only become a permanent schedule element upon confirmation of the change by Player X. For example, a trainer may want to schedule a physical for a Saturday during off-season. Not knowing the player's private schedule, he can make the change and check the approval box. The player receives an email with a link to the team connect site. Player X clicks the link, logs in, and is brought to a page showing him the potential schedule change and is asked to confirm or decline the change. His response is then available to the trainer.

[0044] In another embodiment, the ability to confirm a schedule change may be useful where there is a choice between two events. If the weights coach has reviewed the players schedule and wants to give Player X two possible times to lift during the day, the weights coach could send Player X two approval based schedule changes and the player could confirm his preferred time and decline the other.

[0045] Another aspect of the scheduling module 20 is to deliver multimedia content, such as a scheduled film session, containing content specific to a particular student athlete 10, directly to the student athlete 10 via a scheduling portal or other interface of module 20. Thus, the system may schedule on-line, interactive, virtual events in addition to the event described above where the student athlete 10 is physically present.

[0046] FIG. 3 is an illustrative embodiment of a student home page interface 70. Home page interface 70 may be a home page or portal accessible by a web browser, but may also be any type of text-based or multimedia portal accessible from any of the communications devices discussed above or other communications devices. In a browser embodiment, home page interface 70 may be password protected or otherwise require authentication so that each student athlete has controlled access to their own customized home page. A student picture section 72 may also be included in home page interface 70 which may include a picture of student athlete 10, a video clip of student athlete 10, or other relevant multimedia content related to student athlete 10. An emails/alert section 76 may also be included that shows any incoming emails or alerts related to scheduling. A particular alert may include a link to a particular event, or a link 76 may be displayed to switch to the scheduling interface, an example of which is shown in FIG. 4. Home page interface 70 may also include one or more customizable links or custom information in a custom section 78 which may include, for example, links to team schedules, class information, or other content.

[0047] FIG. 4 is an illustrative embodiment of an interface 80 of scheduling module 20. Interface 80 may be a personalized page on a scheduling module web site, which may be named using the convention "My Schedule" or the like. Interface 80 may include a control section 82 which may include known control interfaces such as file menus, help menus, preferences or options settings, and other controls, menus, or selections typically found in a menu bar, tool bar, or other control section.

[0048] Interface 80 also includes a communication section 84 which may include options for sending scheduled events including address bars, recipient fields, cc recipient fields, be recipient fields, options for sending events, device selections, and other options. In the illustrated embodiment, communication section 84 includes an appointment section 85 which shows the student athlete 10 his or her upcoming events or appointments, a to do list 86, and an in-box 87 for incoming messages, alerts, or other electronically delivered information. Interface 80 may also include a calendar section 88, shown in the illustrative embodiment as a month view for October 2005. Calendar section 88 may show other intervals besides months as well, including day intervals, week intervals, morning or afternoon intervals, quarter intervals, semester intervals, trimester intervals, or year intervals.

[0049] As shown in the illustrative embodiment, calendar section 88 may include one or more events shown as Event 1 89 and Event 2 90. Events 89, 90 may be clicked or otherwise selected using known user interface methods. Upon being clicked, additional information may be shown in information section 92, in a pop-up window, or in a replacement screen, and may include times, locations, participants, priority selections, multimedia content attachments, and other information. The particular information shown may be particularly tailored to fields related to the athlete activities of the individual being scheduled.

[0050] Although the present disclosure is described for a particular student athlete 10, the system may be scaled for multiple student athletes each with multiple event schedulers, and other users of the disclosure. The present disclosure may be further scaled to handle an entire athletic department for a university or other institution or association, with file permissions set appropriately, for example permitting football coaches to only see football player students. The present system may be extended to other uses as well, including training scheduling for horses and dogs, little league sports leagues, amateur training programs, professional athletic training programs, and other programs.

[0051 ] FIG. 5 is an example of a student athlete home page or splash page 100. Page 100 may be accessed using any Internet browser including Microsoft™ Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Netscape, and the like. Page 100 may include a date and time identifier 102, and a number of links for accessing help 104, a password change 106, or player logout 108. A student athlete can log into page 110 using login techniques known in the art, including using a username and password, or automatically using cookies and the like on the student athlete's computer. The student athlete's login information, and status may be shown in field 110. A number of links 112 may displayed to show the current page and link over to other pages. Page 100 also includes a message or alerts section 114. A message may include a text message, email, or other electronic message, or may also be in the nature of an alert, showing a change, addition, or deletion to a schedule. In the illustrated example shown in FIG. 5, the student athlete is being alerted to an addition of a group appointment to the student athlete's lifting schedule. [0052] Page 100 also includes a student athlete names in the news section 118. The articles 120 may be entered manually by a system administrator or automatically be generated using RSS and other news feed searching techniques, generally known in the art. Articles may include text, graphics, photos, sounds, video, and other multimedia formats. Similarly, page 100 may include a university or institution or team in the news section 122, that contains articles about the university or educational institution using any of the news gathering techniques described above. [0053] Page 100 also includes a today's appointment section 126 that has a "to calendar" link 128 for accessing the student athlete's calendar interface. Individual appointments 130 are displayed and accessible from this section 126. Page 100 may also include a university images section 132 that shows additional news and photos about the student athlete's educational institution, similarly from RSS feeds and other syndicated format news gathering feeds. [0054] FIG. 6 shows a student athlete combined academic and athletic schedule 140 for the student athlete identified in field 110. Different views of the schedule are available via links 142, 143, and an appointment may be added via an add appointment interface available via link 146. The student athlete can jump to different views using quick calendar interface 148. A legend 150 shows different information about a particular event including whether the event was entered by the student athlete, the coach, is an academic event, is a weight training or conditioning event, is mandatory, or is a class. Other identifiers may be used as well. The calendar interface may contain information display enhancements such as, for example, displaying the complete information about an event including details and location by resting a mouse pointer over it. Other displays enhancements may be used as well. [0055] FIG. 7 shows a student athlete profile page 160 viewable by a coach, staff, administrator, and others interested in the student's status and schedule, and includes the student name and year 162, photo 164, contact info 166, and physical characteristics 168 such as height and weight. A class schedule 170 is also displayed showing class name, days of the week, and times. An injuries section 172 is also shown that may include one or more of a past injury history, an injured list status, a list of activities the student athlete can or cannot perform while on the injured list, and other injury related information. An appointment section 176 shows the student athlete's training or practice events, and may include a quick link 178 to the student athlete's calendar. A player notes section 180 is also included that allows the various users of this page 160 to records notes, such as training progress, special considerations, disciplinary issues, activity restrictions, and other issues.

[0056] FIG. 8 is a class schedule interface 190 available to the coach and administrators to quickly retrieve a selected player's schedule which will show a class name or title 192, class description 194, teacher name 196, room 198, and days of the week and time information 200. [0057] FIG. 9 is another embodiment of the student calendar 202 showing links between weekly and monthly views 202, a week interface 204 listing each event 206, and also includes quick calendar section 208. A resize interface 210 allows a user to select a particular block of time from which to display events. A legend 212 is also included to show who added the event, and what type of event it is. [0058] FIG. 10 is one embodiment of a lift metrics interface 230 accessible by the student athlete for viewing the students athlete's statistics in both numeric 232 and graphical form 236. Lift data may be entered manually by the student athlete, coach, or staff, or automatically from the weight training equipment through known data transfer protocols, such as via a serial or RS232 port, or wirelessly. Although bench press, power clean, and squat activities are shown, interface 230 may include any other weight training activity as well. For data integrity and efficient data entry, the system or recording device in communication therewith may include biometric identification systems.

[0059] FIG. 11 shows a coach home page interface 240 for the coach identified in field 250. As with the student athlete home page, the coach interface 240 includes navigation links 252. Interface 240 also includes a messages or alert section 254 that shows messages, events, and notifications relevant to the coach. A university in the news section 256 shows a number of news articles 258 about the university or educational institution using any of the method described above for the student athlete home page. The coach's appointments for the day are shown in appointment section 260.

[0060] Coach interface 240 also includes a quick links section 261 that allows a coach to select a particular player in field 262 and then access that player's calendar, lifting data, and academics, via links 264. Coach interface 240 also includes a university images section 266 containing articles, images, and/or feeds 268 as described above for the student home page. [0061 ] FIG. 12 is an illustrated embodiment of a lifting metrics page 280 accessible by a coach. A particular student athlete player can be selected in field 282, and corresponding data is shown in text 284 and graphical form 285.

[0062] FIG. 13 shows a roster interface 286 summarizing lifting data for a team. An athletes column 288 would list each student athlete's name in combination with that athlete's bench 280, date of bench lift 292, power clean 294, date of power clean 296, squat 298, and date of squat 300.

[0063] Fig. 14 shows a new appointment interface 306 where a coach, staff member, or administrator can add an appointment. The interface of FIG. 14 is accessible from the navigation bar 310. Selection of attributes relevant to the new appointment may be selected using a blank field, radio buttons, check boxes, and other database selection techniques known in the art for fields including but not limited to frequency 312, options 314, title 316, location 318, date 320, start time 322, end time 324, or notes 326. Under options 314, an appointment may be designated as mandatory or not mandatory using the check box. An appointment may also appear as private, which selectively may be private to the player only, or any combination of player and a staff member, coach, and others. Global settings may define this aspect of appointments. Interface 306 also includes a send alert selection box 328 which allows the users to be notified via their home pages, email, text message, by other electronic file transfer, or by other means.

[0064] The add appointment interface 306 also includes a group selection panel 330 listing the various groupings and sub-grouping a coach may want to schedule. The categories and sub- categories shown include all defensive backs, all defensive lineman, all linebackers, all quarterbacks, all running backs, all special teams, all tight ends, and all wide receivers. Although these categories are shown, any group, class, or category of student athlete, staff, coaches, or trainers may be selected using the hierarchical interface of panel 330. The plus sign opens the category to show further sub-categories or individual player names. An entry or group of entries may be selected and added to the assigned appointment box 336 using an add button 332, and selectively be removed using a remove button 334. Once final selections are made, the coach or user can finalize the new appointment by selecting, such as by clicking, the save button 338 or cancel using the cancel button 340.

[0065] FIG. 15 shows an availability interface 400 that allows a coach or other user to check the availability of a student athlete, or groupings of student athletes. A coach can select a time period using the data-time controls 402, and further limit the availability check using any of the variables shown in appointment types box 404. The hierarchical interface 406 allows selection of one or more student athletes into search box 412 using add button 408 and remove button 410. [0066] FIG. 16 shows a results interface 420 following a search done in availability interface 400. A list of unavailable players appears in column 462, a conflicting event appears in column 464, and a conflicting time for the conflicting event appears in column 466. A list of the available players appears in column 468. An add appointment button 470 is provided to add an appointment for the available players. This interface 420 allows a coach, administrator or other user to research possible times for events quickly, without having to confirm or send out invitations. A time of the event can be selected quickly and without disruption to the already busy student athletes. [0067] FIG. 17 is a roster interface 500 for listing team members, in particular, their numbers 502, names 503, positions 506, year 508, and hometown 510. The roster interface 50 allows filtering using the selection boxes 504. A link to contacts 512 is provided for each team member. A contact link 512 retrieves the contacts interface 519 for the selected student athlete as shown in FIG. 18. In the example shown, contacts include a father 520, mother 522, grandparent 524, and space for an additional contact 526. Common fields may be used such as those shown which include first name, last name, relationship, email, home phone, cell phone, address, city, state, and zip code. Other fields may be included as well. [0068] FIG. 19 shows another embodiment of player roster interface where players names and email may be listed in area 540, with corresponding edit links 542, and contacts links 544. Edit link 542 allow a selected player's profile information to be changed, and contacts link retrieves the interface of FIG. 18. To edit multiple athlete's contact records simultaneously, a mass edit button 546 allows access to mass edit interface 550 shown in FIG. 20. Interface 550 allows editing of player information in a tabular grid form 552, which allows easier data entry and correction when multiple students' records are edited.

[0069] FIG. 21 shows a messaging interface 600 that allows a coach, administrator, or other user to send messages to individual or groups of student athletes or to other users. Panel 602 includes categories and sub-categories of players. Clicking the plus symbol 604 expands a particular category to further sub-categories or to individual players. Any category, sub- category, or individual player can be added or removed from the send to list 610 using the add button 606 and remove button 608. Following selection of the recipients, a user can designate a text message, such as an SMS text message, be sent by checking box 612, and entering the message in box 616. Alternatively or in addition, a user can check box 614, to designate an email be sent to the recipients, and enter the text or combination of text and graphics into box 618. Following completion of these fields, a send button 620 can be selected or clicked to send the message(s). Although SMS text and emails are shown, any type of electronic file, including a video or film, may be sent via this interface, either as part of an email, or through other electronic file transfer. Files of interest may include films of practice, or historical films of an opposing team for an upcoming game.

[0070] The present system and method can generally be used by student athlete players, coaches, and other users to manage schedules, communicate with each other, and manage training progress. The system and method can also be used by graduate assistants responsible for recruiting, scheduling students, and confirming classroom attendance. Data entry may be performed by administrators, coaching staff, or through communication with the university's general class scheduling system to receive, send, and exchange data.

[0071 ] The progress monitoring, including lifting data is shown as an illustration only. Other types of weight data may be recorded and viewed as well. Also, the system can perform statistical analyses, such are calculating averages for a particular athlete, a particular category of players, such as players in a given position, and report on comparisons to calculated averages and other historical data. In this manner, the system can be used by coaches to track and compare players. FIG. 22 is an example of a lifting metrics comparison interface 680 which includes text data 682 for a selected student athlete including bench press, power clean, rebounds per game, and squat. A graphical representation 700 is also shown and includes in its legend a color scheme for distinguishing the student athlete's data 702 from a team average 704, and a position average, such as the offensive line 706 example shown in the FIG. 22. A corresponding line chart 708 is also shown to allow visual comparison of the data. Additional charts for other types of lifts can be shown such as a squat chart 710.

[0072] A lifting activity for a selected student can also be compared on a percentage basis, such as by using the bench press chart 712. The legend 714 will show the appropriate designations for chart 712 replacing raw data with a percentage comparison, and graphical data may be shown in any format, such as the bar chart example shown 716. Additional charts may be displayed for other lifting activities such as squat chart 718.

[0073] The system can also be used to confirm class room attendance and class room scheduling for regulatory purposes, such as compliance with NCAA minimum class time or maximum practice hours per week requirements. Students or graduate assistants can record attendance and/or extract a student athlete's class selection and attendance reports in a format that can be easily and efficiently sent to such regulatory bodies. In an embodiment where the system is used to manage professional athletes or other collegiate athletics, tracking and reporting may also be performed for compliance and reporting purposes for equivalent regulatory bodies for those sports. [0074] The system and method may also be used by trainers to monitor student athlete health. This may be done in combination with lifting data and other data such as weight loss, weight gain, water loss, and other characteristics to prevent and treat injury. [0075] One or more software modules operative to, when loaded on a computing device, provide the functionality described above may also be loaded onto a computer readable media, such as a CD-ROM, floppy disc, DVD, other storage media, or other computer program product. The software modules may also be made available as a file download or operate as a plug-in to a browser, or be delivered as a web-based or ASP application. The software module may also be written or delivered via a Hash product from Macromedia, Inc. The term "computer module" or "software module" referenced in this disclosure is meant to be broadly interpreted and cover various types of software code including but not limited to routines, functions, objects, libraries, classes, members, packages, procedures, methods, or lines of code together performing similar functionality to these types of coding. The components of the present disclosure are described herein in terms of functional block components, flow charts and various processing steps. As such, it should be appreciated that such functional blocks may be realized by any number of hardware and/or software components configured to perform the specified functions. For example, the present disclosure may employ various integrated circuit components, e.g., memory elements, processing elements, logic elements, look-up tables, and the like, which may carry out a variety of functions under the control of one or more microprocessors or other control devices. Similarly, the software elements of the present disclosure may be implemented with any programming or scripting language such as Cold Fusion, C, SQL, C++, Java, Javascript, COBOL, assembler, CSS, Ajax, Fusebox, PERL, or the like, with the various algorithms being implemented with any combination of data structures, objects, processes, routines or other programming elements. Further, it should be noted that the present disclosure may employ any number of conventional techniques for data transmission, signaling, data processing, network control, and the like as well as those yet to be conceived.

[0076] While embodiments have been illustrated and described in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustrations and descriptions are considered to be exemplary and not restrictive in character, it being understood that only illustrative embodiments have been shown and described and that all changes and modifications that come within the spirit of the invention are desired to be protected. The applicants have provided description and figures which are intended as illustrations of embodiments of the disclosure, and are not intended to be construed as containing or implying limitation of the disclosure to those embodiments. There are a plurality of advantages of the present disclosure arising from various features set forth in the description. It will be noted that alternative embodiments of the disclosure may not include all of the features described yet still benefit from at least some of the advantages of such features. Those of ordinary skill in the art may readily devise their own implementations of the disclosure and associated methods, without undue experimentation.

Claims

Claims:

[C1 ] A method of managing athlete scheduling, the method comprising: providing a calendar interface over a communications network, the calendar interface corresponding to a schedule of an athlete; and allowing one or more of an addition, deletion, and modification of one or more scheduled events by one or more of the athlete schedule users.

[C2] The method of claim 1, further comprising the athlete being a student athlete and the athlete schedule users being student athlete schedule users.

[C3] The method of claim 2, further comprising the student athlete schedule users being one or more of a student athlete, a coach, an administrator, a trainer, a healthcare provider, a tutor, and a graduate assistant.

[C4] The method of claim 3, further comprising providing a messaging interface in combination with the calendar interface, the messaging interface allowing a student athlete schedule user to send a message to one or more student athlete schedule users.

[C5] The method of claim 4, further comprising the electronic message being one or more of an email, a text message, an SMS message, and an instant message.

[C6] The method of claim 2, further comprising providing a student athlete interface, the student athlete interface including a link to the calendar interface and a link to the messaging interface.

[C7] The method of claim 6, further comprising providing a player profile interface, the player profile interface including student athlete metrics and scheduling information.

[C8] The method of claim 7, the performance metrics being one or more of weight, height, age, and weight lifting statistics.

[C9] The method of claim 8, the weight lifting statistics being one or more of bench press, squat, and clean lift.

[C10] The method of claim 7, further comprising allowing the student athlete to add private events to the calendar, the private events being viewable by the student athlete, but not other student athlete schedule users.

[C11 ] The method of claim 3, further comprising providing a coach interface, the coach interface including a link to each student athlete on a particular team, the link allowing the coach to view a schedule of a student athlete.

[C12] The method of claim 11 , the coach interface further including a searchable report interface allowing the coach to view any combination of student athletes on the team by one or more of selecting a particular student athlete, a sub set of student athletes, a position, a grouping, or a class.

[C13] The method of claim 11 , the coach interface further allowing a coach to replace a scheduled event with another event.

[C14] The method of claim 13, further comprising the another event being a training event.

[C15] The method of claim 11 , further comprising a player availability interface for searching for available student athletes during a specified period to produce a list of unavailable student athletes and a list of available student athletes.

[C16] The method of claim 15, further comprising adding an appointment to one or more of the student athletes in the list of available student athletes.

[C17] The method of claim 15, further comprising sending a message to one or more of the student athletes in the list of available student athletes.

[C18] The method of claim 11 , further comprising a contact interface for viewing and modifying contacts of a player.

[C19] The method of claim 1, further comprising a lifting metrics interface for viewing lifting metrics of one or more student athletes.

[C20] The method of claim 19, further comprising the lifting metrics including a one of an actual comparison and a percentage comparison to one of team average data and position average data.

[C21 ] The method of claim 3, further comprising tracking each class in the schedule of the student athlete, designated each class as a mandatory or non-mandatory class, and recording the attendance of the student in each mandatory class.

[C22] The method of claim 21 , further comprising generating a report of the student athlete's attendance.

[C23] The method of claim 22, further comprising providing the report to a regulatory agency.

[C24] The method of claim 23, further comprising the regulatory agency being the National

Collegiate Athletic Association.

[C25] A system for managing student athlete scheduling, the system comprising a general purpose computer programmed with software code operative to provide a calendar interface over a communications network, the calendar interface corresponding to a schedule of a student athlete, and to allow one or more of an addition, deletion, and modification of one or more scheduled events by one or more student athlete schedule users.

[C26] A computer readable medium having program code stored thereon and being for managing student athlete scheduling, the program code, when executed on a computer, causing the computer to: provide a calendar interface over a communications network, the calendar interface corresponding to a schedule of a student athlete; and to allow one or more of an addition, deletion, and modification of one or more scheduled events by one or more student athlete schedule users.