At a time when digital is becoming a given in all aspects of our daily lives, sport is not immune to this silent but profound transformation. While artificial intelligence may not have muscles, it does have considerable resources to support decision-making, automate certain tasks and enrich game analysis. At the heart of this change, a key challenge: to better connect the actors of a same community.
However, not all initiatives are successful. Some become part of everyday use, while others struggle to find an audience or even disappear. For example, we remember the MyCoach application, launched by the French Baseball and Softball Federation, which aimed to bring managers and coaches closer together without managing to establish itself in the long term.
Sure, my name is Baseball TV France. I’m a web-based application designed to help teams manage their games and optimize their performance during the season. I was created by parents and coaches of a junior baseball team in France called Les Renards de la Vallée.
PK: We are Pierre and Kevin, founders of the company “Prisma Konsulting” and both invested in the Renards de la Vallée du Gapeau in Solliès. Pierre, manager of the 9U/10U category, dad of 2 fox cubs playing in 9U this year and very attached to rigor and organization. Kevin, dad of a 9U fox cub last year now in 12U, who has a solid expertise in computer science and development. We are at the origin of the web application “MyRenards”, designed in partnership with the club to manage availability and schedules, replacing the chaos of WhatsApp groups with a simplified dashboard for families and coaches. In the continuation of this success, we have recently developed two additional tools with “PitchCount” and “MyRenardsLive”.
BTVF: How did the project of an application for junior teams come about?
PK: The month of March marks the real peak of excitement for the Renards: between the succession of our youth tournaments and the club festivities, it is a key moment that sees the heart of our associative life beat thanks to a huge mobilization of our volunteers.
It was on the occasion of the 12U tournament that my wife Marion, freshly graduated, was involved in the scorage, while Kevin was counting the throws next to her. They quickly realized that the manual method was a hindrance. Between the stress of not making mistakes, counting the throws in reverse and the recurrent solicitations of coaches and spectators, the game lost fluidity between the innings, a moment when scorers need the most calm to calculate the statistics (AB, R, H, A, E, LOB). That’s when we said that we needed to automate this task to relieve our officials while offering immediate visibility of this information.
The web application has several features, including the ability to view live games, access scores and stats, and track player performance. It also allows users to create and manage their own fantasy baseball leagues, as well as join existing leagues. To use the application, users simply need to create an account and then log in to access the features. Once logged in, users can navigate the different sections of the application and customize their experience based on their preferences. Overall, the web application is a great tool for both casual and serious baseball fans who want to stay up-to-date on the latest news and stats, as well as for those who want to participate in fantasy leagues and compete with friends and other users.
PK: So we have structured our solutions around two axes. On the one hand, « PitchCount » is a web application that simplifies data entry to make it accessible even to the youngest: it allows you to count pitches, strikes or points with just one click, while automatically managing the maximum number of pitch limits imposed on young pitchers. On the other hand, « MyRenardsLive » is a mobile consultation interface that transmits this data instantly to coaches and parents. The whole thing is designed to adapt to the specificities of each category, from 9U to Seniors, and thus transform a tedious control task into a fun entry and shared information in real time.
BTVF : What improvements in communication or performance from officials have you noticed?
PK: Thanks to the club’s trust, we were able to offer these tools for testing the following week during the 15U tournament and the impact was immediate with enthusiastic feedback from the various stakeholders.
For coaches, « MyRenardsLive » is a strategic tool: having the score and the follow-up of the number of remaining shots in real time allows you to adjust your tactics instantly. For scorers/shot counters, the direct transmission of these key information brings back serenity by limiting the solicitations to only player changes.
For parents/spectators, whether they are involved in running the refreshment stand, present on the sidelines or even absent, everyone can follow the match remotely and in real time, allowing them not to miss anything of their children’s achievements. For the club, digital, far from isolating, has allowed to widen the family of volunteers from a young age. Thus, thanks to the simplicity of use of « PitchCount », our young players were able to get concretely involved for their association by managing the counting of the shots.
BTVF : Do you envisage a more powerful development and an extension to other clubs and in what form?
PK: We hope to continue to grow and develop our tools to help baseball in France. We have no limits and are ready to help other clubs modernize their operations. We are open to collaborations with other clubs to deploy existing solutions or create their own, while also proposing an adapted economic model. We are also open to working with the federation to bring these tools to a national level. We have proven with our web-based management application « MyRenards » that we can meet the real needs of clubs where other projects, sometimes federally funded, have failed to establish themselves sustainably.
BTVF: We wish you continued growth and success in your mission to modernize baseball in France.
On the associative level, let’s hope these initiatives inspire other clubs and, why not, attract the attention of the Federation to build a more modern and connected French baseball. If we manage to transform the constraints of the field into moments of sharing and engagement of young people with their clubs, baseball will emerge stronger. On the professional level, let’s hope that Prisma Konsulting can become a reference in digital support for companies and associations. Finally, let’s hope that the Renards de la Vallée continue to pave the way for a baseball turned towards the future!
