An underage GAA coach says he has the perfect solution for sports clubs who must fulfil contract tracing obligations to get the green light to return.
Over the past two years Adrian Geissel, a physicist who has been writing software for 30 years, has developed the SURPASSPORT app. Geissel describes it as a player-centred approach to team management.
His interest stemmed from coaching kids in Naas, when the realisation came to him that there had to be a better way of keeping track of sessions than word of mouth and guesswork.
Originally developed to schedule training sessions, request player availability, measure workload, record attendances and received post-activity feedback, Geissel had started to work with a number of sporting bodies, including Basketball Ireland.
"A lot of kids don't just play hurling and football for a club, they play for the school, they play soccer or basketball or other sports, too, so it's important that their work-load is recorded," said Geissel.
"Then along came this virus."
Under Phase 2 of reopening the country, sports organisations must facilitate speedy contact-tracing if anyone present at a session contracts Covid-19.
Geissel says that using a secure data platform that only authorised users can access, SURPASSPORT app can provide club Covid-19 officers, the club registrar, the children's officer and team coaches with an easy way to keep all records necessary for efficient contact-tracing present at events over a 14-day period.
"For each of these persons (present) ,the report automatically extracts dates, times and their email and phone details, or in the case of the under 18s, their parents details - ready to be passed to the HSE Contract Tracing Unit," said Geissel.
Geissel hosted a webinar last Monday to introduce the app and free set-up of the managed setup service is offered to the first 50 clubs that register on www.surpassport.com during this month.
