Designing a Mobile Experience That Helps Coaches Act in Real Time

Context

When I joined the project, one of challenges we heard from our clients were athlete coaches were facing a critical gap. They spent their days on training floors, fields, and courts, constantly moving and focused on athletes. The only place they could view alerts and performance insights was a web platform that required time, a laptop, and reliable internet. Most coaches didn’t have any of those during their workday.

That meant serious risks could go unnoticed until it was too late.

This was the moment where the opportunity became clear. If coaches couldn’t come to the data, the data needed to go to them.

Seeing the Problem Through the Coach’s Eyes

To understand the real challenge, I started by learning how coaches worked. Through conversations, task observations, and reviewing existing platform usage, one theme stood out. Coaches wanted to know only one thing in the moment.

Is anyone on my team at risk right now?

They didn’t have time to dig, filter, or interpret. They needed fast signals, not dashboards. This insight became the foundation for the entire experience.

Framing the Design Opportunity

The goal wasn’t to recreate the entire web platform on a phone. It was to design a focused mobile tool that helped coaches:
• Spot athletes who needed attention
• Understand why an alert mattered
• Take action quickly
• Stay informed even with limited connectivity

This clarity helped shape an MVP that solved immediate pain instead of overwhelming users with features.

Football Coach

Defining Who We Were Designing For

The primary persona was a head or assistant coach responsible for athlete readiness and performance. Their days were packed, fast paced, and often spent in environments with poor internet access. They needed something that worked in their reality, not ideal conditions.

Their goals were simple:
• Monitor athlete status
• Stay aware of risks
• Keep athletes engaged in data reporting

Their frustrations were equally direct:
• They couldn’t access the web platform during training
• They had no real time visibility into issues
• They often learned about problems too late

This persona helped the team stay grounded in real needs instead of assumptions.

Key Design Considerations

  1. Information Scalability Mobile screens cannot support dense dashboards.

    I prioritized:

    • Most actionable data first

    • Recognition over exploration

    • Reduced cognitive load

  2. Notifications - Research insight: Coaches want to know immediately when an athlete is at risk.

    Design decision:

    • Dedicated Notifications tab

    • Clear severity indicators

    • Context with suggested next steps

    • Filtering by alert type

  3. Offline Resilience

    - Training environments often have poor connectivity.

    We ensured:

    • Essential data accessible offline

    • Clear indication when data may be outdated

    • Seamless sync when connection resumes

Athlete Management Experience

  1. Athlete Management

  • Identify athletes requiring immediate attention

  • View performance metrics and alerts

  • Access athlete profiles and historical data

  1. Data Management

  • Review reports and performance trends

  • Collect daily survey data

  • Enable group level data collection

These defined the MVP scope.