Catapult Sports Case Study

Unlocking
Performance

Summary

After conducting research with elite D1 soccer, football, and basketball programs, we used principles of performance psychology to design the Catapult Athlete— a mobile app for watching game film for elite athletes.

DeviceiOS Mobile

Routine

01

The driving insight behind the design was that elite athletes relied heavily on routine to reduce anxiety leading up to competition. In addition to diet, rest and training routines, athletes used film for mental imaging and, more importantly, to reduce the ambiguity of opponent tendencies. For that reason, the app’s central navigation structure is designed around their opponent schedule, in which most all features reset for each matchup. For repeat matchups, players can access previous weeks (or "periods") to review clips and notes from earlier in the season.

02

Active Viewing

Typically, watching film is a passive viewing experience, which usually results in boredom for the athlete and lower engagement and retention. Using a Snapchat-like press-and-hold feature, players can actively analyze film in real time by cuting their own clips, making notes, organizing what’s important to them, and discussing film edits with players and coaches.

Curated
Intelligence

03

Having the film viewing experience delivered in a mobile app provides access to players anytime, anywhere. A thoughtful notification system lets players know when relevant content is ready for them.

New film updated daily by coaching staff.

Discussion

04

The biggest pain point for coaches throughout the film experience is that they want to feel heard. Now they can send worksheets to measure comprehension and also send specific clips directly to players for review and discussion. The design reinforces learning with film through discussion between players as well. A quarterback might want to share an opponents cross-route tendencies with only his receivers. A point guard might want to send the team’s center observations about how an upcoming opponent defends the pick and roll. A goalie might want to send her center back ideas on how to defend the cross.

Improved Athlete Retention

The launch of the Athlete App successfully moved the sports brand into new territory, creating an experience for athletes that improved engagement, memory retention and communication within elite teams.