The South and Central American Handball Confederation has taken a significant step towards the modernization of its tournaments with the implementation of software that keeps detailed statistics of the championships. This technological advance not only increases the level of competition, but also provides the teams with essential data immediately, thanks to the joint work of the entire staff.
The engineer Alexander Alí Chan, creator of this software, explained in detail the creation and operation of the system.
The software started in 2006 to record statistics of the Costa Rican women’s senior national team. Alexander, assistant to the team at the time, developed the program to avoid the use of paper. Over time, it was implemented in national and international tournaments, where each of them contributed improvements to the software, transforming manual processes into digital ones. Although started in 2006, the software continues to evolve without an end date, always adapting to new needs.
Designed for the comprehensive management of a championship, the program allows you to set up events with several teams, either in one or several groups. Each team has a roster of players and officials, and at the start of competitiona schedule of matches is generated. By simply selecting the game number, the initial “Match Report” is created, an essential document for the staff at the referee’s table.
At the end of the match, the scorekeeper completes the sheet with crucial data such as the first half score, the final score, the number of 7-meter kicks, the goals of each player and penalties such as cards and 2-minute exclusions. Previously, these reports were made in text documents or spreadsheets, which demanded a lot of time and accuracy.
Through another module, two people record the events that occur in the game: scoring goals, missed shots, goalkeeper saves, recoveries, turnovers and penalties. This information generates statistics that are delivered to the teams at halftime and at the end of the game, allowing them to analyze effectiveness percentages and shot maps.
The software also facilitates the automatic generation of league tables and scorers’ lists at the touch of a button, saving time and avoiding manual processes.
Alexander told us that developing user-friendly, intuitive and efficient software was the biggest challenge. Its main objective is to make statistical information useful and easy to analyze, allowing teams to make strategic decisions in real time.
The software works on a local network, connecting several computers according to the needs of the tournament. In the short term, there are plans to send data to the cloud so that teams can access statistical reports on their personal devices.
On the other hand, Simona Muñoz and José Sánchez have been in charge of using the new CoSCABal software and keeping the statistics of each championship. Both came as volunteers for the statistics area of the SCA Senior Men’s Tournament held in Buenos Aires 2024; there they learned about the data and were trained to use the program.
“You have to be an active observer to compute each situation. In goals for, goals against, missed shots and turnovers it is important to clearly identify the player and the place where the game situation is executed”, commented Simona and José.
The first day the installation is carried out so that everything works, prior to the game the forms must be with all the data of the championship: list of players, jersey numbers, coach, assistants, officials and delegates CoSCABal.
Then, in addition to computing the data and minimizing as many errors as possible, they print the statistics at halftime, send data to the press and coaches at the end of each game, and also generate the standings and scorers’ tables.
Simona Muñoz and José Sánchez agreed that the most important thing is to find a suitable location that allows visibility and access to energy sources. A comfortable work space without obstacles that minimize the field of vision.
The use of this innovative software has significantly improved the efficiency and quality of information available to the teams, enabling them to make strategic decisions based on detailed analysis. With the continued evolution of the software and future cloud integration, the benefits of this tool are expected to continue to grow, further raising the level of handball in the region.
Photos: Germán Paez
By Rocío García and Camila Miranda.
