With the global viral outbreak of coronavirus and social distancing required for many of us, our sports refuge has been challenged. And for basketball players and fans around the world, the suspension of the NBA and the NCAA tournament have been a necessary but sudden and shocking development.
To help our communities stay in the game while also stopping the spread, all of HomeCourt will be free for everyone through April 30th.
We are also providing coaches, PE teachers, trainers, teams, and parents access to programming and digital instructional tools that they can use to provide their players with remote physical education.
In addition to making HomeCourt free for everyone, we will be working with the NBA and other partners to provide world-class digital/mobile basketball training programs, helping connect basketball communities virtually, and assist rising young athletes continue their journey to the next level.
With modern technology, there are great ways that anyone, students, athletes, passionate sports fans, or casual fitness enthusiasts — can stay in the game. Joining in with many organizations in the basketball and tech community, we hope to play a small part in helping the community stay active, stay ready and stay relevant.
Helping everyone stay active and have fun
With many schools suspending class, remote learning is becoming essential for students in much the same way that remote work is becoming essential for professionals. Many parents, educators and coaches are also asking — how do we continue athletics? What about physical education?
We believe HomeCourt can be part of the solution. Starting today and over the coming weeks and months, we will be providing resources to help everyone make the best use of HomeCourt at home including:
HomeCourt “Basics” tips and tricks for using our technology in a home setting, and “how to” materials for parents. In-app tutorials and online videos that make it easy to set up HomeCourt at home for both parents and their kids.
Videos of NBA and WNBA athletes with instructional content that players can learn from and practice at home.
A remote training guide that coaches and trainers can send to their players and parents including a curriculum of drills that are great for personal training at home.
We’ll also be highlighting and curating HomeCourt activities with NBA stars, pro trainers, and more that can be done in your living room, garage, patio, driveway, etc.
#stayinthegame Challenge with NBA and WNBA players. Look out for personal challenges from NBA and WNBA players on social media and get involved by tagging and challenging a pro athlete and a friend or teammate with #stayingthegame to see if they can beat your top score on HomeCourt.
Look for these resources and tools in our social channels, on our website, in the HomeCourt app, and through email newsletters we‘ll be sending throughout March and April.
Helping players stay ready
This is a difficult time for many athletes whose aspirations for getting to the next level are put on hold. Many of the pathways that we are accustomed to — showcase tournaments, combines, camps, and academies have been paused as we all work together to fight COVID-19.
Everyone hopes that we can all get back to business as usual, but in the meantime, HomeCourt is here to help support our aspiring athletes stay ready for their next big opportunity. HomeCourt will be free and accessible to everyone during this time. In addition, we have been working on different ways for aspiring athletes to #stayready and to #stayrelevant.
Work on your Skill Ratings
In February, we launched HomeCourt 3 with Skill Ratings. Skill Ratings helps you assess your skill level, track your improvements, set goals and compete with your peers.
Working to improve your Skill Rating on HomeCourt is a direct way to stay ready and build hard evidence of your progress over time. Skill Ratings have been developed in partnership with the NBA and benchmarked against performance metrics of high-level pro athletes. Learn more about the system here >
Skill Ratings also help you build your Profile on HomeCourt. As you train, your Profile becomes a digital snapshot of your abilities (backed by real data) that can also become your passport to new opportunities in the future.
Helping players stay relevant
With the many games, tournaments, and showcases being postponed or canceled, it is harder than ever for athletes to have the visibility and platform to showcase their potential within the scouting community. For prospective players, it’s now even more important to be proactive in making sure the coaches, scouts, and schools you are interested in are aware of your hard work and dedication to your craft.
Share your Profile
In the latest release of HomeCourt, we’re making it easy to share your HomeCourt Profile with an auto-generated URL link. Send this link to anybody you think might be interested in keeping up-to-date with your progress. You can even share it with your friends and family members to show them you’re staying ready and putting in the work.
NBA Global Scout
At NBA-All Star in Chicago, we launched NBA Global Scout in partnership with the NBA, a first-of-its-kind mobile experience that allows basketball players of all ages to measure their athletic potential as well as their skill development progress over time and be discovered.
By completing the NBA Global Scout program on HomeCourt, you are automatically put into a searchable database by the NBA and its affiliates to help you get discovered.
We’re working with the NBA, WNBA and their talent discovery programs to develop even more opportunities and digital showcases for players through the NBA Global Scout experience on HomeCourt.
While physical scouting maybe on hiatus, digital tools can help fill the gap. While nothing replaces a veteran coach’s eye for talent, a track record of workout data can be a key influencer in the recruiting process now and into the future.
“Even though we can analyze game footage, being able to see workout history and historical individual shooting data for prospects would be immensely valuable in getting a better sense of their growth, improvement, and work ethic overtime, all things that are needed to be an NBA pro.“
- RC Buford, CEO of San Antonio Spurs, GM 2002–2019, 5x NBA Champion, 2x NBA Executive of the Year
Our goal during this pandemic is simply to support the sports and PE community in any way we can. With the NBA and our community of partners, we will be hard at work to help every player stay healthy, active, ready, and relevant.
We also hope our tools help you, your family, and all your community to all stay in the game. Stay safe and see you on HomeCourt.
#stayinthegame
