High School Scoreboard Goes National

Article by Tim Nash

At Dobyns-Bennett High School in Kingsport, Tenn., coach Bill McCloskey knows how to get information about an upcoming opponent. He just goes to EurosportScoreboard.com and checks the Tennessee high school scoreboard.

"SIS (Soccer Information Systems) has provided us with a simple system that all coaches and teams can use to post their schedules and results," says McCloskey. "It allows coaches and teams to check what is going on and to compare results from across the state."

Roughly 2,700 schools in six states were wired up to the high school scoreboard in 2004. And now, Soccer Information Systems has partnered with Eurosport to take it national. With the launch of EurosportScoreboard.com, the country will find out what Tennessee, Georgia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Florida and South Carolina already know — the scoreboard helps fill the communication gap that exists in high school soccer and provides a network for coaches.

Getting Started

Charlie Corbitt created the scoreboard a dozen years ago. At the time, Corbitt's son Chip was playing high school soccer in Georgia, and Charlie was frustrated with the lack of available information. He and his wife developed a database of schools and started sending results out by fax. When the Internet exploded a few years later — and Chip was playing college soccer at Alabama-Birmingham -- Corbitt created Soccer Information Systems and added a college soccer scoreboard to its services. The college scoreboard quickly became an indispensable tool for coaches and fans.

"It can be a coach, media member, parent, player or student," Corbitt explains. "All they have to do is go to the site and complete a volunteer form. Once they have been approved, they are able to build their game schedule."

Volunteers maintain the scoreboard.

To get started, go to home page of EurosportScoreboard.com. You will see a map of the United States where you can click on your state. Once at your state, you can complete the online "Volunteer Form." At the volunteer form page, you will be asked to provide the name of school for which you are volunteering, the school's physical address, Web site, and the coach's name and email address, as well as your name, address, email address, phone number and your affiliation with the school (head coach, assistant coach, player, media member, parent, etc.).

The form also includes a field to create a user ID and password that you will use to update your school's page during the season. After submitting the volunteer form, you will receive a confirmation email. Once you are confirmed as a volunteer, you can easily maintain your team's page by using the "Team Maintenance Form." That form allows you to make any changes to the school's information, such as coach's name, classification, or contact information.

After your school has been added to the site, you can add your game schedule to your newly created team page. You begin by going to the home page and using the "Find Team by Name" search option. Once at your school's page, you click on the "Update Game Schedule" button. After providing your ID and password, you will get a "Main Menu/School Information" page, where you click on the "Update '05 Game Schedule" button. That brings you to a page where you press the "Add Games" button. Simply type in your team's schedule, and by doing so all the schools on your schedule will be added to the database. After the system sorts through the database to ensure there are no duplicates, a page will be created for every school on your schedule.

The same page where you "added games" provides you with the options you'll need to maintain your school's information throughout the season. You can change the date and time of a scheduled game, delete a game if it has been canceled, and most importantly, enter match scores. When you enter a score, the result appears on your opponent's page as well.

"In theory, you only need 50 percent of the schools to be involved," says Corbitt. "Because when you are building your team's page, you are also building another team's page."

While the process is simple and quick, detailed instructions are available on the site. "It's easy to use and maintain the sites, and the SIS folks are great at providing fast support help when necessary," says McCloskey.

Going National

Corbitt and Eurosport expect the high school scoreboard to become as popular as its collegiate counterpart.

"We never really marketed it," says Corbitt. "That is really the key to expansion. Ideally, we will have a point person in every state, someone to help promote it. Not someone to maintain it, but someone to help market it. That is critical to rapid expansion."

In North Carolina, Doug Kidd has become that person. "It's a great system that has totally impressed the coaches in our state," says Kidd, the president of the North Carolina High School Coaches Association.

In Georgia, Billy Viger, has preached its value to those in his state. "I have used it since its inception," says Viger, head coach of Sequoyah High in Canton, Ga. "It's of great value to the coaches for scouting, region standings, etc."

While the scoreboard fills a huge hole by providing information, it also has created a networking resource for coaches.

"It allows us to find a team and a coach's email and set up games, scrimmages and discuss issues," says McCloskey. "The information is up to date and allows coaches to find contact information easily on all teams. All-State players, state information, coaches information, teams looking for games — it's all on the web site. It serves as a one-stop location for coaches.

"We would be lost without it," McCloskey adds. "It has been a fantastic help for soccer to continue to grow in the state and in linking the state together. Can't beat it!"

For more information about getting involved on a local, state, regional or national level, contact Charlie Corbitt at charlie@soccerinfo.com