Located in Rhode Island, US, Providence College is a private school with over 4000 students. Despite its relatively modest size, the NCAA Division I Friars compete in the Big East Conference for every sport except men’s and women’s ice hockey, where they compete in the Hockey East Association.
Catapult and Providence recently partnered together as the Friars were looking to use more effective performance solutions and improve their analysis processes. The long-term partnership will see five of the athletic department’s teams (men’s and women’s ice hockey, women’s basketball, field hockey and men’s lacrosse) use our video analysis solution, Catapult Vision.
Central to the establishment of this performance partnership was the Friars’ Associate Athletic Director for Business, Martha Perez-Schmitz. Perez-Schmitz works closely with the college’s teams and performance staff to ensure they are equipped with the solutions they need in order to perform successfully, whilst also ensuring the teams run as operationally efficient as possible.
Reduced spending: Providence saves 24% annually
Before implementing Vision, Perez-Schmitz identified that their previous video analysis vendor was raising costs far beyond the Friars’ budget.
“It all started with our hockey teams and we noticed that our previous vendor’s costs were growing too fast and to be honest, too much for us.
“This partnership with Catapult and the introduction of Vision has been huge for us. We have saved a lot of money as a result, but more importantly, it has allowed the video operations for the teams to run more effectively.”
Through implementing Catapult Vision, over the course of the partnership, the Friars will save 24% on video analysis-based spending annually.
Increased value: Performance advantage
Reducing performance-based spending was not the only objective for Perez-Schmitz when she started to consider alternative video analysis vendors.
“We weren’t necessarily looking to save money, we were actually looking to get more value out of the products and systems we use. Something that the previous vendor was unable to provide upon asking.
“What attracted us to Catapult and choosing to adopt Vision, was a couple of things. It offered more features than our previous vendor’s technology and it was more positive from a numbers point of view.
“We’re always looking for all the little advantages we can acquire to help make that next performance step, and Vision is one of those for us.”
Improved analysis: Elevating performances
Since the start of the partnership, all five of the teams using Catapult Vision have benefitted from more effective analysis sessions, ultimately leading to improved performances.
Jessica Frasier, Associate Director of Player Development – Women’s Basketball, had the following to say about Catapult Vision.
“I’ve found Vision to be extremely user friendly and a software that allows for a very streamlined approach to film breakdown and analysis. In our line of work, being able to maximize your time is everything, and Vision has proven to be very time efficient in terms of uploading film, tagging, creating playlists, and exporting to movie files.
“The Analyze feature allows us to turn our data into tangible points of emphasis and things to work on. This has been and will continue to be such a great tool for helping our players understand the game on a deeper level.”
Doug Ferry, Coordinator of Hockey Operations – Women’s Ice Hockey, continues further by stating that, “the feature we have enjoyed the most is Vision’s Organize feature as it gives you the ability to have everything organized into one single application. We no longer need to have four or five different windows open while trying to break down film, instead we just open up the Vision App and can switch between the Tag tab and the Organize tab.”
Kevin Gould, Assistant Coach/Offensive Coordinator – Lacrosse, explains that “the ability to have multiple games in one place is very beneficial to the way we scout our opponents. Vision has the capabilities to streamline many of the aspects of running a successful program all onto one platform. The days of switching screens and programs are over.”
Onboarding to Catapult Vision: A seamless transition
As the transition was made from the Friars’ previous video analysis vendor to Catapult Vision, each of the team’s coaches, Perez-Schmitz and other performance staff were taken through an extensive, yet easy to understand, onboarding process.
“One of the things we valued, and especially since it was being introduced to five teams, was that Catapult was keen to go that extra distance by offering multiple product training sessions and answering the coaches questions swiftly,” says Perez-Schmitz. “The coaches certainly benefited from this as they have quickly become familiar with the technology through this process.”
“Our transition from Sportscode to Vision has been seamless. We were able to get all of our past games into Vision quickly and effectively, without losing any data.” – Jessica Frasier, Associate Director of Player Development – Women’s Basketball.
“From the initial training sessions, to one-on-one assistance learning of the new software, we couldn’t have asked for a better transition. Catapult’s staff is eager to assist with troubleshooting or answer any questions related to learning the new software and how to best utilize it.” – Theresa Feaster, Coordinator of Men’s Ice Hockey Operations.
“Like anything, there is a learning curve when moving from one program to the other. Catapult has been incredible in assisting our needs for Vision. The staff is reliable and eager to assist and teach the in’s and out’s of a product they truly believe in.”- Kevin Gould, Assistant Coach/Offensive Coordinator – Lacrosse.
When asked to comment more generally on the establishment of the partnership Perez-Schmitz said, “the coaches were confident that it was going to be the right performance solution for them. They communicated to me that they wanted to adopt Vision and work with Catapult since it is known for its continued customer focused product development and outstanding customer service.
“With the coaches happy on the performance side of things, and with me being happy with the numbers and business operations, that is what really helped us choose Vision over the other solutions on the market.”
Ben Slingerland, a Catapult Business Development Manager, said:
“We have developed a strong relationship, and the administrators and coaches place a lot of trust in our technology. We are delighted to establish this performance partnership with Providence College.
“With so many college teams being forced to be remote this fall, I think Vision will further enhance many of these coaches’ abilities to truly teach their student-athletes through our Vision athlete app. With the use of annotations and the ease at which you can combine multiple games, the app allows coaches to convey teaching points in the current climate that we live in.
“I look forward to continuing to work with Providence and wish their teams continued success.”
Interested in Catapult Vision? Click here to arrange a demo, today.