PLAYBuilder Q&A with Kelsey McIntosh of Ringette Canada
Kelsey McIntosh is Ringette Canada’s technical director in Ottawa, Ontario, where they promote and lead the development of ringette across the country. Ringette Canada started using PLAYBuilder in 2019, to ensure content for their various programs was organized, up-to-date and easily accessible for all of their coaches. Sport for Life connected with McIntosh to hear how that’s working out so far.
S4L: What made you look for a solution like PLAYBuilder?
K.M.: We were incurring significant costs each year printing and distributing the hard copy of our drill manual—not to mention the negative environmental impacts of this practice. It also became apparent that many coaches were searching for resources online. We wanted to bring our drill manual online, but with the capabilities to easily upload and edit content to keep it current, as well as make it as user-friendly for our coaches as possible.
S4L:Why did you choose PLAYBuilder?
K.M.: PLAYBuilder not only allowed us to bring our drill manual online, but it also gave us one platform to upload and organize content from multiple programs including our Gym Ringette and Children’s Ringette programs. PLAYBuilder gives our coaches the options to use the practice plans we have created, or they can pull specific drills out and create their own practice plans to address the specific needs of their respective teams, which they can access right from their phone during the actual practice. It also allows us to neatly organize content based on Long-Term Athlete Development criteria, to further assist our coaches in delivering the optimal training for their athletes.
S4L: Did you intend to share full access to your members? If not, what were the reservations or limitations in sharing access to your members?
K.M.: Our membership, provincial offices, do have full access to PLAYBuilder. However, we could not share full access to all of the coaches, league organizers, program coordinators, etc. The fees that are paid by these individuals and/or organizations are not collected by us directly, and those that set the fees do not know if it would be used by all of their team members. For this reason, we have gone the route of an individual/league organizer/program coordinator per use model, which we rolled out to be included in programming that already exists
S4L: What organizational processes does this software enhance? How much does it reduce the cost and time to complete these particular processes?
K.M.: PLAYBuilder helps our organization save costs and time in printing and shipping out hard copies of resources. It is very quick and easy now to edit these resources online, whereas before we would have to reprint and redistribute these resources and dispose of all the old material.
S4L: Would you recommend PLAYBuilder to your peers?
K.M.: We would definitely recommend PLAYBuilder to other sport organizations. It does require some time to build up your content, but long-term it can be a very valuable coaching resource.
S4L: How has the pandemic affected your programming, and has PLAYBuilder been helpful in mobilizing innovation?
K.M.: COVID has affected so many programming areas. However, it could look different depending on the region of Canada you are looking at. I don’t feel as though there is any change in how PLAYBuilder is being used. In terms of how many coaches use PLAYBuilder, we do not expect to have it used as much as last year due to COVID-related programming changes.
Author:
Kelsey McIntosh
Technical Director | Directeur technique
Ringette Canada | Ringuette Canada
c/o House of Sport/Maison des sports
RA Centre
2451 promenade Riverside Drive
Ottawa, ON K1H 7X7
(613) 748-5655 x224
kelsey@ringette.ca
@: www.ringette.ca
@: www.nationalringetteleague.ca
