Mobile "PLAY CORE" Sports Coach App
Budget / SalaryHourly project
TypeFreelance project
LocationRemote
Posted2 hours ago
PLAY CORE App – Initial Brief for Developers
Discussion Basis for Feasibility, MVP and Cost Estimation
1. Project Idea
PLAY CORE is an extensively developed training and learning system for team sports. The initial focus is on floorball, football/soccer, handball and basketball.
Languages:
English as the international master language.
German for our primary domestic market and the pilot trainers.
The aim is to turn this system into the mobile PLAY CORE Coach App.
The app is not intended to be a conventional collection of drills. Instead, it should guide coaches through a complete training and learning process:
Observe the game → Identify the problem → Define the learning objective → Plan the session → Select suitable games → Run the session → Observe → Intervene → Replay → Check development and transfer → Plan the next session
The objective is to provide coaches with a simple tool that helps them design training around perception, decision-making, game understanding and players’ ability to solve game problems independently.
2. What Has Already Been Developed
The sports-specific and methodological foundation does not need to be developed from scratch. The existing PLAY CORE system already includes:
a comprehensive training and learning concept
30 defined player competencies/skills
42 fully developed training games and Game Cards
a system for adjusting games to different difficulty levels
a structure for complete training sessions
a system for identifying and observing game problems
categories for coaching interventions and coaching questions
Replay and Transfer Checks
a concept for documenting player and team development
applications for floorball, football/soccer, handball and basketball
The app should connect these existing components and make them easy for coaches to use in everyday practice.
3. Example User Journey
A coach opens the app and enters, for example:
Sport: Floorball
Age group: U14
Players: 12
Training time: 90 minutes
Observed problem:
“In numerical advantage situations, the ball carrier often passes too early without first engaging the defender.”
The app links the observed problem to possible learning competencies and suggests an appropriate training session.
For example, the coach could receive:
Learning objective: Recognise and exploit numerical advantages more effectively
Attention focus: Defender behaviour
Training: A sequence of progressively structured small-sided games
Progression: Increasing defensive pressure
Final phase: Free play without supporting rules or constraints
The coach remains free to modify all suggestions.
4. Using the App During Training
During a training session, the app should be extremely simple to operate.
With only a few taps or by voice input, the coach could record an observation such as:
“The ball carrier passes too early again.”
The coach could then mark:
Observation: Decision-making
Intervention: Coaching question
The players then receive another opportunity to solve the situation:
REPLAY
The coach records the outcome:
++ clearly improved | + improved | 0 unchanged | – worse | ? unclear
Later, the coaching support or constraint is removed to determine:
Does the improved behaviour remain without support?
The result can then be used to plan the next training session.
5. Video as a Later Development Stage
In a later version, the app could support short smartphone video clips.
For example:
BEFORE
Game situation before the coaching intervention
↓
COACHING
Question / feedback / task modification
↓
AFTER / REPLAY
A comparable game situation after the intervention
The coach could mark key moments, add comments, use slow motion or draw simple lines and arrows onto freeze frames.
Automatic AI-based video analysis is not required for the first version and could be evaluated as a later development stage.
6. First Version / MVP
The initial goal is deliberately not to develop the complete final app.
A first functional Minimum Viable Product (MVP) could focus on:
Create team / select sport
↓
Select or describe a game problem
↓
Select a relevant competency
↓
Generate a suggested training session
↓
Display Game Cards
↓
Start and run the training session
↓
Record observations and coaching interventions
↓
Evaluate Replay
↓
Complete a short session review
↓
Recommend the next training step
The primary purpose of the MVP would be to test:
Does PLAY CORE actually help coaches turn observations from the game into better, more systematic training decisions?
7. Possible Future Extensions
Following successful testing of the MVP, the system could gradually be expanded with:
smartphone video analysis
voice control and automatic transcription
AI support for interpreting and categorising game problems
long-term team and player development profiles
match observation
coach dashboards
a web application for planning and video analysis
integrated coach education
club, academy and federation solutions
potentially AI-assisted video and movement analysis
8. Potential Business Models
The business model has not yet been finalised and should be evaluated as part of the project.
Possible models include:
Coach Subscription
Monthly or annual subscription for individual coaches
Club Licence
Access for multiple coaches and teams within one club
Academy / Federation Licence
Larger user groups combined with coach education
PLAY CORE Education
App + online courses + workshops / certification
A combination of a free entry-level version and paid advanced features could also be considered.
9. Questions for a Potential Development Partner
For an initial discussion, the following questions are particularly important:
Is the concept technically feasible and sensible in this form?
How would you define the smallest MVP that could already be tested with real coaches?
Would you recommend starting with a web app, native mobile apps or a cross-platform solution?
What technical architecture would allow video and AI functionality to be added later?
What approximate development effort, timeline and budget would be required for an MVP?
What ongoing costs should be expected for hosting, maintenance, updates and app stores?
How should the content system be structured so that training content can later be added or updated without additional programming?
What technical requirements arise from offline use in sports halls and future video recording?
What privacy and security requirements need to be considered, particularly when working with children, young athletes and video data?
What development process would you recommend from concept and prototype through user testing to a published product?
10. Objective of the Initial Discussion
The purpose of the first conversation is not to immediately commission the development of the complete app.
The first step is to clarify four areas:
FEASIBILITY
How can the concept be implemented in a technically sensible way?
MVP
What is the smallest version that can be tested with real coaches?
COST
What is a realistic budget range for developing this first version?
SCALABILITY
Can the technical foundation later support video, AI, club solutions and additional sports?
At the moment, it is not more than an idea, but a lot of work is done for a classic education system.
BR Stefan Schäfer | schäfer sport
Discussion Basis for Feasibility, MVP and Cost Estimation
1. Project Idea
PLAY CORE is an extensively developed training and learning system for team sports. The initial focus is on floorball, football/soccer, handball and basketball.
Languages:
English as the international master language.
German for our primary domestic market and the pilot trainers.
The aim is to turn this system into the mobile PLAY CORE Coach App.
The app is not intended to be a conventional collection of drills. Instead, it should guide coaches through a complete training and learning process:
Observe the game → Identify the problem → Define the learning objective → Plan the session → Select suitable games → Run the session → Observe → Intervene → Replay → Check development and transfer → Plan the next session
The objective is to provide coaches with a simple tool that helps them design training around perception, decision-making, game understanding and players’ ability to solve game problems independently.
2. What Has Already Been Developed
The sports-specific and methodological foundation does not need to be developed from scratch. The existing PLAY CORE system already includes:
a comprehensive training and learning concept
30 defined player competencies/skills
42 fully developed training games and Game Cards
a system for adjusting games to different difficulty levels
a structure for complete training sessions
a system for identifying and observing game problems
categories for coaching interventions and coaching questions
Replay and Transfer Checks
a concept for documenting player and team development
applications for floorball, football/soccer, handball and basketball
The app should connect these existing components and make them easy for coaches to use in everyday practice.
3. Example User Journey
A coach opens the app and enters, for example:
Sport: Floorball
Age group: U14
Players: 12
Training time: 90 minutes
Observed problem:
“In numerical advantage situations, the ball carrier often passes too early without first engaging the defender.”
The app links the observed problem to possible learning competencies and suggests an appropriate training session.
For example, the coach could receive:
Learning objective: Recognise and exploit numerical advantages more effectively
Attention focus: Defender behaviour
Training: A sequence of progressively structured small-sided games
Progression: Increasing defensive pressure
Final phase: Free play without supporting rules or constraints
The coach remains free to modify all suggestions.
4. Using the App During Training
During a training session, the app should be extremely simple to operate.
With only a few taps or by voice input, the coach could record an observation such as:
“The ball carrier passes too early again.”
The coach could then mark:
Observation: Decision-making
Intervention: Coaching question
The players then receive another opportunity to solve the situation:
REPLAY
The coach records the outcome:
++ clearly improved | + improved | 0 unchanged | – worse | ? unclear
Later, the coaching support or constraint is removed to determine:
Does the improved behaviour remain without support?
The result can then be used to plan the next training session.
5. Video as a Later Development Stage
In a later version, the app could support short smartphone video clips.
For example:
BEFORE
Game situation before the coaching intervention
↓
COACHING
Question / feedback / task modification
↓
AFTER / REPLAY
A comparable game situation after the intervention
The coach could mark key moments, add comments, use slow motion or draw simple lines and arrows onto freeze frames.
Automatic AI-based video analysis is not required for the first version and could be evaluated as a later development stage.
6. First Version / MVP
The initial goal is deliberately not to develop the complete final app.
A first functional Minimum Viable Product (MVP) could focus on:
Create team / select sport
↓
Select or describe a game problem
↓
Select a relevant competency
↓
Generate a suggested training session
↓
Display Game Cards
↓
Start and run the training session
↓
Record observations and coaching interventions
↓
Evaluate Replay
↓
Complete a short session review
↓
Recommend the next training step
The primary purpose of the MVP would be to test:
Does PLAY CORE actually help coaches turn observations from the game into better, more systematic training decisions?
7. Possible Future Extensions
Following successful testing of the MVP, the system could gradually be expanded with:
smartphone video analysis
voice control and automatic transcription
AI support for interpreting and categorising game problems
long-term team and player development profiles
match observation
coach dashboards
a web application for planning and video analysis
integrated coach education
club, academy and federation solutions
potentially AI-assisted video and movement analysis
8. Potential Business Models
The business model has not yet been finalised and should be evaluated as part of the project.
Possible models include:
Coach Subscription
Monthly or annual subscription for individual coaches
Club Licence
Access for multiple coaches and teams within one club
Academy / Federation Licence
Larger user groups combined with coach education
PLAY CORE Education
App + online courses + workshops / certification
A combination of a free entry-level version and paid advanced features could also be considered.
9. Questions for a Potential Development Partner
For an initial discussion, the following questions are particularly important:
Is the concept technically feasible and sensible in this form?
How would you define the smallest MVP that could already be tested with real coaches?
Would you recommend starting with a web app, native mobile apps or a cross-platform solution?
What technical architecture would allow video and AI functionality to be added later?
What approximate development effort, timeline and budget would be required for an MVP?
What ongoing costs should be expected for hosting, maintenance, updates and app stores?
How should the content system be structured so that training content can later be added or updated without additional programming?
What technical requirements arise from offline use in sports halls and future video recording?
What privacy and security requirements need to be considered, particularly when working with children, young athletes and video data?
What development process would you recommend from concept and prototype through user testing to a published product?
10. Objective of the Initial Discussion
The purpose of the first conversation is not to immediately commission the development of the complete app.
The first step is to clarify four areas:
FEASIBILITY
How can the concept be implemented in a technically sensible way?
MVP
What is the smallest version that can be tested with real coaches?
COST
What is a realistic budget range for developing this first version?
SCALABILITY
Can the technical foundation later support video, AI, club solutions and additional sports?
At the moment, it is not more than an idea, but a lot of work is done for a classic education system.
BR Stefan Schäfer | schäfer sport
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