Sports Excitement Digital Hub

🧩 Problem Statement

Sports Excitement set out to design a comprehensive digital platform to help parents and coaches manage youth sports teams and activities. The vision was to create a one-stop hub offering team management tools, educational resources, a gear store, and a supportive community space. However, before moving forward with development, the company needed a clear understanding of what features parents and coaches found most useful, what pain points they faced in managing teams, and how to ensure the platform would fit naturally into their routines.

🔍 Research Approach

As Lead UX Researcher, I conducted a mixed-methods discovery study to understand the needs, behaviors, and motivations of parents and coaches in youth sports.

• Interviews: Conducted interviews with parents, coaches, and league organizers to explore their daily challenges, tools they currently used, and what “support” meant to them.

• Surveys: I designed surveys to target users to measure feature desirability, usability expectations, and engagement motivators.

• Behavioral analysis: Examined existing sports management tools to benchmark features and identify gaps in the market.

I created the research plan, data collection protocols, and synthesis framework, ensuring findings could directly inform design and development priorities.

🧠 Key Findings

• Simplified team management was critical: Users wanted a single place to organize rosters, schedules, and communication rather than juggling multiple apps.

• Educational resources added long-term value: Both parents and coaches expressed interest in training guides, safety tips, and child development materials.

• A built-in gear store was appealing: Users valued the convenience of purchasing equipment and team apparel without leaving the platform.

• Community and support were essential: Many parents and coaches sought a trusted space to exchange advice, share experiences, and build camaraderie.

🛠️ Recommendations

1. Prioritize team management functionality: include intuitive scheduling, messaging, and roster management tools.

2. Develop a rich educational resource hub: offer curated articles, videos, and training materials for parents and coaches.

3. Integrate a gear store seamlessly: allow users to browse and purchase sports equipment within the platform.

4. Build an active community feature: create forums or discussion boards for advice-sharing and peer support.

✅ Impact

The research provided clear guidance for the platform’s MVP design and feature roadmap. It helped Sports Excitement:

• Validate that team management and educational content should anchor the product experience.

• Identify community engagement as a key retention driver.

• Align business goals with user needs through data visualization and narrative storytelling that clarified priorities for stakeholders.

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Ultimately, the insights ensured that the platform was built around real-world needs- empowering parents and coaches to manage, learn, and connect more effectively in youth sports.