Patent Publication Number: US-2007117074-A1

Title: Student athlete scheduling and data storage software system and method

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS  
      This Application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application 60/732,822 filed Nov. 2, 2005, which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND  
      The present disclosure relates to scheduling data storage and communication software. In particular, the present disclosure related to scheduling software used in education settings and sports settings.  
      Student athletes have many scheduling priorities to balance within an often tight timetable. Some of these schedule priorities include class time, practice time, medical appointments, rehabilitation sessions, film study, weightlifting, tutoring, and other events. It may be difficult for a player to manage all of this as well as their personal life. These scheduling priorities originate from several sources that may not communicate well, if at all, leaving the player responsible for juggling the student&#39;s own schedule. There is a need for a tool that can be used to assist student athletes and their handlers with managing the student athlete&#39;s busy schedule.  
      Briefly, and in accordance with the foregoing, disclosed is a computer program product, system, and method for a multi-user student athlete scheduling system. The method includes the steps of preparing an initial schedule and making the schedule available to the student using a variety of communications devices. The schedule may then be modified by event schedulers who have a continuum of modification rights based on their access privileges. A proposed schedule modification may need to be authorized by one or more of the student athlete, an event scheduler proposing the change, and a student athlete handler.  
      Additional features and embodiments will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The present disclosure will be described hereafter with reference to the attached drawings which are given as a non-limiting example only, in which:  
       FIG. 1  is a simplified diagrammatic view of a student athlete scheduling system;  
       FIG. 2  is flow diagram showing one embodiment of a method for scheduling events for a student athlete;  
       FIG. 3  is one embodiment of a screen interface for a student athlete home page;  
       FIG. 4  is one embodiment of a screen interface for a student athlete scheduling system;  
       FIG. 5  is one embodiment of a student athlete home page;  
       FIG. 6  is one embodiment of a combined student athletic and class schedule;  
       FIG. 7  is one embodiment of an athlete profile interface viewable by a coach and others, showing a student photo, contact info, height and weight characteristics, injury status, lifting metrics, appointment, and player notes;  
       FIG. 8  is one embodiment of a student athlete class schedule;  
       FIG. 9  is another embodiment of a student athlete schedule;  
       FIG. 10  is one embodiment of a student athlete lifting page;  
       FIG. 11  is one embodiment of a coach home page contains links, news, and information relevant to a coach;  
       FIG. 12  is one embodiment is another embodiment of a lifting page, viewable by a coach and others, showing historical lift data.  
       FIG. 13  is one embodiment of web page or report showing lifting data for an entire team or subdivision thereof;  
       FIG. 14  is one embodiment of an interface for adding a new appointment to one or more members of the team;  
       FIG. 15  is one embodiment of an interface for checking the availability of one or more players;  
       FIG. 16  is one embodiment of a results page following a search done on the interface of  FIG. 15 ;  
       FIG. 17  is a player roster interface showing position, year, hometown information, and a link to contacts for each player;  
       FIG. 18  is one embodiment of the student athlete contacts page containing emergency contact information and other contact information;  
       FIG. 19  is one embodiment of a roster page viewable by the coach and others for quickly linking over to a player&#39;s contact or sending the player an email;  
       FIG. 20  is one embodiment of a mass athlete edit page which shows student contact information in a grid interface so multiple students&#39; contact information can be changed in a single screen;  
       FIG. 21  is one embodiment of a messaging interface for sending message to one more players, or one or more category of players, via text message or email; and  
       FIG. 22  is one embodiment of a lifting data interface showing raw and percentage based comparisons of particular student athletes to other student athletes in their grouping. 
    
    
      The exemplification set out herein illustrates embodiments of the disclosure that is not to be construed as limiting the scope of the disclosure in any manner.  
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
      While the present disclosure may be susceptible to embodiment in different forms, there is shown in the drawings, and herein will be described in detail, embodiments with the understanding that the present description is to be considered an exemplification of the principles of the disclosure and is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the details of construction and the arrangements of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings.  
      An illustrated embodiment of a system  8  for scheduling student athletes is shown in  FIG. 1 . A student athlete  10  may be a student at a university, school, learning institution, or be a member of an athletic team, club, organization, or other association. Referral to a student athlete in this disclosure is for illustrative purposes only and should be broadly interpreted to include any person or animal that has a need to be scheduled by one or more persons. Student-athlete is but one example of an individual whose schedule can be impacted by numerous other individuals or programs. The benefits of this invention are limited only by the scope of the claims. For purposes of this disclosure, student athlete  10  may be participating in one or more sports which may include, but should not be limited to, football, soccer, track, basketball, tennis, baseball, boxing, any sport played in the Olympics, played in schools, played professionally, or played recreationally, dog racing, horse racing, or other sport.  
      Student athlete  10  may need to schedule, or have scheduled, one or more events. An event may be a one time event, such as, for example, a single appointment with a weight trainer, or be a reoccurring event, such as a daily practice. Events may be related to the sport of the athlete, but may be unrelated as well, for example, an event may be a scheduled class, a tutoring session, social time, or other event.  
      The student athlete&#39;s schedule may be stored in electronic form and accessed and/or modified using any portable or stationary electronic communications device including but not limited to a cell phone  12 , a personal digital assistant  14 , a portable computing device  16  such as a laptop or other portable computer, or a generally fixed computer  18  such as a desktop, workstation, or terminal. Each of these devices are known in the art and include standard interfaces for viewing information stored in electronic form such as a graphical user interface, text based interface, or other interface viewable on a screen, display, or other output device.  
      A scheduling module  20  may be used to store the student athlete&#39;s schedule and provide the communications, database, file storage, security, and other functionality described herein. Any server, application, or web interface or combination thereof may be used in connection with scheduling module  20  such as, for example, SQL server by Microsoft Corporation and/or Cold Fusion by Macromedia, Inc. Scheduling module  20  may be hosted on a local or remote server using known communications protocols and server architecture including, but not limited to general purpose computers having server software loaded thereon and including commonly known memory, storage, processor, input/output and communications devices.  
      Scheduling module  20  may communicate with one or more of the communications devices  12 ,  14 ,  16 , and  18  of student athlete  10  and may use any known format for transmission and compatibility including, but no limited to HTML, XML, WI-FI, Blue Tooth, TCP/IP, IP, Ethernet, syncing technologies including PALM™ platform for personal digital assistants, mini-browser, local area network protocols, wide area network protocols, and other formats. Data may be accessed using a web browser, RSS feed, or other interface.  
      The schedules of student athlete  10  may be modified by authorized persons, referred to herein as event schedulers  21 . Event scheduler  21  may be authorized based on permissions granted by student athlete  10  or someone handling student athlete  10  or be based on the event scheduler&#39;s role in the educational institution or the team. An event scheduler  21  may be, but is not limited to, a staff member  22 , such as a member of the coaching staff, the scheduling staff, the educational institution staff, medical staff, or other staff. An event scheduler may also be a system administrator  24 . It is envisioned that the scheduling task may be outsourced or assigned to a particular group of administrators, such as a scheduling department, which may include one or more system administrators  24 . A teacher  26  and the like, such as professor, teaching assistant, and other involved in teaching a student athlete  10  may also be an event scheduler. Coaches or trainers  28  may also have scheduling privileges and access so that that practices, training sessions, and the like may be scheduled. An event scheduler may also be a therapist  30  or a doctor  32 , who may schedule examinations, rehabilitation sessions, and other treatments. A tutor  34  may also be an event scheduler. A personal assistant  35 , who may be assisting student athlete  10  in a variety of tasks, may also be an event scheduler.  
      Each event scheduler  21  may have different access and modification rights based on their role, or on permissions granted by the event scheduler&#39;s rank on a permissions hierarchy. A hierarchy may be established in a variety of different ways. For example, a general manager or head coach  28  may be at the top of the hierarchy and have first and ultimate control over the student athlete&#39;s schedule. Then a system administrator  24  may have the next highest level of authority, to enter, for example, a class schedule. Establishing a hierarchy and scheduling events may be accomplished both at the beginning of a season or a semester, or other academic interval, to establish an initial schedule, and over the course of the academic interval to schedule events such a tutoring sessions, rehab visit, exams, or other events.  
      The event schedulers  21  and student athlete  10  may interact according to the method shown in  FIG. 2 . In a first step  40 , an initial schedule for student athlete  10  is established. The schedule may include any combination of academic, athletic, training, health-related, or social events described above and herein. Student athlete  10  is sent or has access made available over one or more of the student&#39;s communications devices (step  42 ) to a copy of student athlete&#39;s schedule. Next, a particular scheduler may be given access to the student athlete&#39;s schedule (step  44 ). The type and detail of information about the schedule available to a particular scheduler may be restricted based on the scheduler&#39;s level of access or role.  
      An authorization loop takes place next if the scheduler has proposed a change (step  46 ), such as adding, deleting, modifying, or moving an event. Scheduling module  20  can determine whether a conflict exists (step  50 ). If a conflict exists, the relative modify rights of the conflicting events may be compared (step  52 ), after which the scheduling module  20  can either automatically, or upon student approval (step  54 ), make a change. The rules for which event trumps the other can be set a number of different ways. For example, superior hierarchy rights may automatically trump junior rights. Other rules may require notification to the event scheduler whose event is being replaced. Other rules may require approval from the student athlete  10 . Yet other rules may require some combination of notifications and/or approval to more than one of the student athlete  10  and other event schedulers  21 .  
      An automatic or approved event modification would then be reflected in an updated schedule (step  48 ). Notification of the new schedule may be sent to one or both of the student athlete (step  56 ) and the event scheduler who proposed the change (step  58 ).  
      As each scheduled event occurs (step  60 ), one or both of the student athletes or the event scheduler can take actions based on the event being completed. For example, if the student athlete attended a tutoring session, either the student athlete or the tutor can mark the session completed (step  62 ). Class attendance, required physicals, and study halls are examples of events that may need completion or attendance tracking. Additionally, one or more of the student athlete, event scheduler, and student handler participating in the event may annotate notes (step  64 ) to the event upon completion, so that the annotations are available to others interested in student athlete  10 . Annotations may include work-out statistics, prognoses, grades, medical diagnoses, and other information that may be legally shared. In this manner, scheduling module  20  may be used not only to schedule events, but to track results of scheduled events as well.  
      An illustrative example of use of the present disclosure is as follows. A profile is created for Player X. Player X logs on the first day of his freshman year. Once logged into a site communicating with the scheduling module  20 , Player X is brought to his personal page, which among other features includes a schedule interface. By clicking on his schedule interface, the athlete can view one month at a time or one week at a time. By clicking on an individual day he can see a graphical as well as text representation of his day. Player X&#39;s class schedule may be added to his schedule by members of the team&#39;s academic support staff. Also, one of the administrative coaches can add Player X&#39;s practice schedule to Player X&#39;s schedule. Player X&#39;s weights coaches can log on and review Player X&#39;s class and practice schedule and edit his schedule to include lifting times. After a meeting with the academic support staff regarding Player X&#39;s tutoring and study hall needs, the staff member can log on to the site and edit Player X&#39;s schedule to include study hall three days a week. During his second week of play, if Player X hurts his knee, Player X may need rehab for a period, such as four days a week. The team trainer can log on to the site, bring up Player X, and after reviewing Player X&#39;s schedule, edit the schedule to include rehab. Player X would receive an email alerting him to a schedule change. Player X can then log on, review, and print his schedule from Player X&#39;s computer, laptop, personal digital assistant, or other device.  
      Event schedulers and other users of the site may be able to click on a given scheduled item for the day and be able to see a detailed description of the daily item as well as specific information for the item (i.e. for a doctors appointment, directions, doctors name, proper attire, etc.). An item or event can be marked as complete to show other users Player X was in attendance or the task was completed. Details about how the task was completed can be entered as well.  
      Coaches and staff may have the option of making a schedule change that will only become a permanent schedule element upon confirmation of the change by Player X. For example, a trainer may want to schedule a physical for a Saturday during off-season. Not knowing the player&#39;s private schedule, he can make the change and check the approval box. The player receives an email with a link to the team connect site. Player X clicks the link, logs in, and is brought to a page showing him the potential schedule change and is asked to confirm or decline the change. His response is then available to the trainer.  
      In another embodiment, the ability to confirm a schedule change may be useful where there is a choice between two events. If the weights coach has reviewed the players schedule and wants to give Player X two possible times to lift during the day, the weights coach could send Player X two approval based schedule changes and the player could confirm his preferred time and decline the other.  
      Another aspect of the scheduling module  20  is to deliver multimedia content, such as a scheduled film session, containing content specific to a particular student athlete  10 , directly to the student athlete  10  via a scheduling portal or other interface of module  20 . Thus, the system may schedule on-line, interactive, virtual events in addition to the event described above where the student athlete  10  is physically present.  
       FIG. 3  is an illustrative embodiment of a student home page interface  70 . Home page interface  70  may be a home page or portal accessible by a web browser, but may also be any type of text-based or multimedia portal accessible from any of the communications devices discussed above or other communications devices. In a browser embodiment, home page interface  70  may be password protected or otherwise require authentication so that each student athlete has controlled access to their own customized home page. A student picture section  72  may also be included in home page interface  70  which may include a picture of student athlete  10 , a video clip of student athlete  10 , or other relevant multimedia content related to student athlete  10 . An emails/alert section  76  may also be included that shows any incoming emails or alerts related to scheduling. A particular alert may include a link to a particular event, or a link  76  may be displayed to switch to the scheduling interface, an example of which is shown in  FIG. 4 . Home page interface  70  may also include one or more customizable links or custom information in a custom section  78  which may include, for example, links to team schedules, class information, or other content.  
       FIG. 4  is an illustrative embodiment of an interface  80  of scheduling module  20 . Interface  80  may be a personalized page on a scheduling module web site, which may be named using the convention “My Schedule” or the like. Interface  80  may include a control section  82  which may include known control interfaces such as file menus, help menus, preferences or options settings, and other controls, menus, or selections typically found in a menu bar, tool bar, or other control section.  
      Interface  80  also includes a communication section  84  which may include options for sending scheduled events including address bars, recipient fields, cc recipient fields, bc recipient fields, options for sending events, device selections, and other options. In the illustrated embodiment, communication section  84  includes an appointment section  85  which shows the student athlete  10  his or her upcoming events or appointments, a to do list  86 , and an in-box  87  for incoming messages, alerts, or other electronically delivered information. Interface  80  may also include a calendar section  88 , shown in the illustrative embodiment as a month view for October 2005. Calendar section  88  may show other intervals besides months as well, including day intervals, week intervals, morning or afternoon intervals, quarter intervals, semester intervals, trimester intervals, or year intervals.  
      As shown in the illustrative embodiment, calendar section  88  may include one or more events shown as Event  1   89  and Event  2   90 . Events  89 ,  90  may be clicked or otherwise selected using known user interface methods. Upon being clicked, additional information may be shown in information section  92 , in a pop-up window, or in a replacement screen, and may include times, locations, participants, priority selections, multimedia content attachments, and other information. The particular information shown may be particularly tailored to fields related to the athlete activities of the individual being scheduled.  
      Although the present disclosure is described for a particular student athlete  10 , the system may be scaled for multiple student athletes each with multiple event schedulers, and other users of the disclosure. The present disclosure may be further scaled to handle an entire athletic department for a university or other institution or association, with file permissions set appropriately, for example permitting football coaches to only see football player students. The present system may be extended to other uses as well, including training scheduling for horses and dogs, little league sports leagues, amateur training programs, professional athletic training programs, and other programs.  
       FIG. 5  is an example of a student athlete home page or splash page  100 . Page  100  may be accessed using any Internet browser including Microsoft™ Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Netscape, and the like. Page  100  may include a date and time identifier  102 , and a number of links for accessing help  104 , a password change  106 , or player logout  108 . A student athlete can log into page  110  using login techniques known in the art, including using a username and password, or automatically using cookies and the like on the student athlete&#39;s computer. The student athlete&#39;s login information, and status may be shown in field  110 . A number of links  112  may displayed to show the current page and link over to other pages. Page  100  also includes a message or alerts section  114 . A message may include a text message, email, or other electronic message, or may also be in the nature of an alert, showing a change, addition, or deletion to a schedule. In the illustrated example shown in  FIG. 5 , the student athlete is being alerted to an addition of a group appointment to the student athlete&#39;s lifting schedule.  
      Page  100  also includes a student athlete names in the news section  118 . The articles  120  may be entered manually by a system administrator or automatically be generated using RSS and other news feed searching techniques, generally known in the art. Articles may include text, graphics, photos, sounds, video, and other multimedia formats. Similarly, page  100  may include a university or institution or team in the news section  122 , that contains articles about the university or educational institution using any of the news gathering techniques described above.  
      Page  100  also includes a today&#39;s appointment section  126  that has a “to calendar” link  128  for accessing the student athlete&#39;s calendar interface. Individual appointments  130  are displayed and accessible from this section  126 . Page  100  may also include a university images section  132  that shows additional news and photos about the student athlete&#39;s educational institution, similarly from RSS feeds and other syndicated format news gathering feeds.  
       FIG. 6  shows a student athlete combined academic and athletic schedule  140  for the student athlete identified in field  110 . Different views of the schedule are available via links  142 ,  143 , and an appointment may be added via an add appointment interface available via link  146 . The student athlete can jump to different views using quick calendar interface  148 . A legend  150  shows different information about a particular event including whether the event was entered by the student athlete, the coach, is an academic event, is a weight training or conditioning event, is mandatory, or is a class. Other identifiers may be used as well. The calendar interface may contain information display enhancements such as, for example, displaying the complete information about an event including details and location by resting a mouse pointer over it. Other displays enhancements may be used as well.  
       FIG. 7  shows a student athlete profile page  160  viewable by a coach, staff, administrator, and others interested in the student&#39;s status and schedule, and includes the student name and year  162 , photo  164 , contact info  166 , and physical characteristics  168  such as height and weight. A class schedule  170  is also displayed showing class name, days of the week, and times. An injuries section  172  is also shown that may include one or more of a past injury history, an injured list status, a list of activities the student athlete can or cannot perform while on the injured list, and other injury related information. An appointment section  176  shows the student athlete&#39;s training or practice events, and may include a quick link  178  to the student athlete&#39;s calendar. A player notes section  180  is also included that allows the various users of this page  160  to records notes, such as training progress, special considerations, disciplinary issues, activity restrictions, and other issues.  
       FIG. 8  is a class schedule interface  190  available to the coach and administrators to quickly retrieve a selected player&#39;s schedule which will show a class name or title  192 , class description  194 , teacher name  196 , room  198 , and days of the week and time information  200 .  
       FIG. 9  is another embodiment of the student calendar  202  showing links between weekly and monthly views  202 , a week interface  204  listing each event  206 , and also includes quick calendar section  208 . A resize interface  210  allows a user to select a particular block of time from which to display events. A legend  212  is also included to show who added the event, and what type of event it is.  
       FIG. 10  is one embodiment of a lift metrics interface  230  accessible by the student athlete for viewing the students athlete&#39;s statistics in both numeric  232  and graphical form  236 . Lift data may be entered manually by the student athlete, coach, or staff, or automatically from the weight training equipment through known data transfer protocols, such as via a serial or RS232 port, or wirelessly. Although bench press, power clean, and squat activities are shown, interface  230  may include any other weight training activity as well. For data integrity and efficient data entry, the system or recording device in communication therewith may include biometric identification systems.  
       FIG. 11  shows a coach home page interface  240  for the coach identified in field  250 . As with the student athlete home page, the coach interface  240  includes navigation links  252 . Interface  240  also includes a messages or alert section  254  that shows messages, events, and notifications relevant to the coach. A university in the news section  256  shows a number of news articles  258  about the university or educational institution using any of the method described above for the student athlete home page. The coach&#39;s appointments for the day are shown in appointment section  260 .  
      Coach interface  240  also includes a quick links section  261  that allows a coach to select a particular player in field  262  and then access that player&#39;s calendar, lifting data, and academics, via links  264 . Coach interface  240  also includes a university images section  266  containing articles, images, and/or feeds  268  as described above for the student home page.  
       FIG. 12  is an illustrated embodiment of a lifting metrics page  280  accessible by a coach. A particular student athlete player can be selected in field  282 , and corresponding data is shown in text  284  and graphical form  285 .  
       FIG. 13  shows a roster interface  286  summarizing lifting data for a team. An athletes column  288  would list each student athlete&#39;s name in combination with that athlete&#39;s bench  280 , date of bench lift  292 , power clean  294 , date of power clean  296 , squat  298 , and date of squat  300 .  
       FIG. 14  shows a new appointment interface  306  where a coach, staff member, or administrator can add an appointment. The interface of  FIG. 14  is accessible from the navigation bar  310 . Selection of attributes relevant to the new appointment may be selected using a blank field, radio buttons, check boxes, and other database selection techniques known in the art for fields including but not limited to frequency  312 , options  314 , title  316 , location  318 , date  320 , start time  322 , end time  324 , or notes  326 . Under options  314 , an appointment may be designated as mandatory or not mandatory using the check box. An appointment may also appear as private, which selectively may be private to the player only, or any combination of player and a staff member, coach, and others. Global settings may define this aspect of appointments. Interface  306  also includes a send alert selection box  328  which allows the users to be notified via their home pages, email, text message, by other electronic file transfer, or by other means.  
      The add appointment interface  306  also includes a group selection panel  330  listing the various groupings and sub-grouping a coach may want to schedule. The categories and sub-categories shown include all defensive backs, all defensive lineman, all linebackers, all quarterbacks, all running backs, all special teams, all tight ends, and all wide receivers. Although these categories are shown, any group, class, or category of student athlete, staff, coaches, or trainers may be selected using the hierarchical interface of panel  330 . The plus sign opens the category to show further sub-categories or individual player names. An entry or group of entries may be selected and added to the assigned appointment box  336  using an add button  332 , and selectively be removed using a remove button  334 . Once final selections are made, the coach or user can finalize the new appointment by selecting, such as by clicking, the save button  338  or cancel using the cancel button  340 .  
       FIG. 15  shows an availability interface  400  that allows a coach or other user to check the availability of a student athlete, or groupings of student athletes. A coach can select a time period using the data-time controls  402 , and further limit the availability check using any of the variables shown in appointment types box  404 . The hierarchical interface  406  allows selection of one or more student athletes into search box  412  using add button  408  and remove button  410 .  
       FIG. 16  shows a results interface  420  following a search done in availability interface  400 . A list of unavailable players appears in column  462 , a conflicting event appears in column  464 , and a conflicting time for the conflicting event appears in column  466 . A list of the available players appears in column  468 . An add appointment button  470  is provided to add an appointment for the available players. This interface  420  allows a coach, administrator or other user to research possible times for events quickly, without having to confirm or send out invitations. A time of the event can be selected quickly and without disruption to the already busy student athletes.  
       FIG. 17  is a roster interface  500  for listing team members, in particular, their numbers  502 , names  503 , positions  506 , year  508 , and hometown  510 . The roster interface  50  allows filtering using the selection boxes  504 . A link to contacts  512  is provided for each team member. A contact link  512  retrieves the contacts interface  519  for the selected student athlete as shown in  FIG. 18 . In the example shown, contacts include a father  520 , mother  522 , grandparent  524 , and space for an additional contact  526 . Common fields may be used such as those shown which include first name, last name, relationship, email, home phone, cell phone, address, city, state, and zip code. Other fields may be included as well.  
       FIG. 19  shows another embodiment of player roster interface where players names and email may be listed in area  540 , with corresponding edit links  542 , and contacts links  544 . Edit link  542  allow a selected player&#39;s profile information to be changed, and contacts link retrieves the interface of  FIG. 18 . To edit multiple athlete&#39;s contact records simultaneously, a mass edit button  546  allows access to mass edit interface  550  shown in  FIG. 20 . Interface  550  allows editing of player information in a tabular grid form  552 , which allows easier data entry and correction when multiple students&#39; records are edited.  
       FIG. 21  shows a messaging interface  600  that allows a coach, administrator, or other user to send messages to individual or groups of student athletes or to other users. Panel  602  includes categories and sub-categories of players. Clicking the plus symbol  604  expands a particular category to further sub-categories or to individual players. Any category, sub-category, or individual player can be added or removed from the send to list  610  using the add button  606  and remove button  608 . Following selection of the recipients, a user can designate a text message, such as an SMS text message, be sent by checking box  612 , and entering the message in box  616 . Alternatively or in addition, a user can check box  614 , to designate an email be sent to the recipients, and enter the text or combination of text and graphics into box  618 . Following completion of these fields, a send button  620  can be selected or clicked to send the message(s). Although SMS text and emails are shown, any type of electronic file, including a video or film, may be sent via this interface, either as part of an email, or through other electronic file transfer. Files of interest may include films of practice, or historical films of an opposing team for an upcoming game.  
      The present system and method can generally be used by student athlete players, coaches, and other users to manage schedules, communicate with each other, and manage training progress. The system and method can also be used by graduate assistants responsible for recruiting, scheduling students, and confirming classroom attendance. Data entry may be performed by administrators, coaching staff, or through communication with the university&#39;s general class scheduling system to receive, send, and exchange data.  
      The progress monitoring, including lifting data is shown as an illustration only. Other types of weight data may be recorded and viewed as well. Also, the system can perform statistical analyses, such are calculating averages for a particular athlete, a particular category of players, such as players in a given position, and report on comparisons to calculated averages and other historical data. In this manner, the system can be used by coaches to track and compare players.  FIG. 22  is an example of a lifting metrics comparison interface  680  which includes text data  682  for a selected student athlete including bench press, power clean, rebounds per game, and squat. A graphical representation  700  is also shown and includes in its legend a color scheme for distinguishing the student athlete&#39;s data  702  from a team average  704 , and a position average, such as the offensive line  706  example shown in the  FIG. 22 . A corresponding line chart  708  is also shown to allow visual comparison of the data. Additional charts for other types of lifts can be shown such as a squat chart  710 .  
      A lifting activity for a selected student can also be compared on a percentage basis, such as by using the bench press chart  712 . The legend  714  will show the appropriate designations for chart  712  replacing raw data with a percentage comparison, and graphical data may be shown in any format, such as the bar chart example shown  716 . Additional charts may be displayed for other lifting activities such as squat chart  718 .  
      The system can also be used to confirm class room attendance and class room scheduling for regulatory purposes, such as compliance with NCAA minimum class time or maximum practice hours per week requirements. Students or graduate assistants can record attendance and/or extract a student athlete&#39;s class selection and attendance reports in a format that can be easily and efficiently sent to such regulatory bodies. In an embodiment where the system is used to manage professional athletes or other collegiate athletics, tracking and reporting may also be performed for compliance and reporting purposes for equivalent regulatory bodies for those sports.  
      The system and method may also be used by trainers to monitor student athlete health. This may be done in combination with lifting data and other data such as weight loss, weight gain, water loss, and other characteristics to prevent and treat injury.  
      One or more software modules operative to, when loaded on a computing device, provide the functionality described above may also be loaded onto a computer readable media, such as a CD-ROM, floppy disc, DVD, other storage media, or other computer program product. The software modules may also be made available as a file download or operate as a plug-in to a browser, or be delivered as a web-based or ASP application. The software module may also be written or delivered via a Flash product from Macromedia, Inc. The term “computer module” or “software module” referenced in this disclosure is meant to be broadly interpreted and cover various types of software code including but not limited to routines, functions, objects, libraries, classes, members, packages, procedures, methods, or lines of code together performing similar functionality to these types of coding. The components of the present disclosure are described herein in terms of functional block components, flow charts and various processing steps. As such, it should be appreciated that such functional blocks may be realized by any number of hardware and/or software components configured to perform the specified functions. For example, the present disclosure may employ various integrated circuit components, e.g., memory elements, processing elements, logic elements, look-up tables, and the like, which may carry out a variety of functions under the control of one or more microprocessors or other control devices. Similarly, the software elements of the present disclosure may be implemented with any programming or scripting language such as Cold Fusion, C, SQL, C++, Java, Javascript, COBOL, assembler, CSS, Ajax, Fusebox, PERL, or the like, with the various algorithms being implemented with any combination of data structures, objects, processes, routines or other programming elements. Further, it should be noted that the present disclosure may employ any number of conventional techniques for data transmission, signaling, data processing, network control, and the like as well as those yet to be conceived.  
      While embodiments have been illustrated and described in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustrations and descriptions are considered to be exemplary and not restrictive in character, it being understood that only illustrative embodiments have been shown and described and that all changes and modifications that come within the spirit of the invention are desired to be protected. The applicants have provided description and figures which are intended as illustrations of embodiments of the disclosure, and are not intended to be construed as containing or implying limitation of the disclosure to those embodiments. There are a plurality of advantages of the present disclosure arising from various features set forth in the description. It will be noted that alternative embodiments of the disclosure may not include all of the features described yet still benefit from at least some of the advantages of such features. Those of ordinary skill in the art may readily devise their own implementations of the disclosure and associated methods, without undue experimentation.