Football Canada, Athlete Era announce FC Mobile App
Following the initial national launch of the AQ Coach mobile app in the spring of 2019, Football Canada and Athlete Era will be releasing an updated version of the digital learning resource under a new name in 2020. AQ Coach has been rebranded as FC Mobile and contains a variety of new features and updated content. The early access version of this updated resource is available now on the App Store and Google Play, with the full version scheduled for release on July 1st, 2020. The early access version was released ahead of schedule to help support the Football from Home initiative by allowing administrators to deliver home-based programming through the mobile app from May 1st – June 30th. To learn more about the FC Mobile app and how it can be used to deliver home-based programming, visit https://www.footballcanadamobile.com/.
In 2019, the AQ Coach mobile learning resource was adopted in varying capacities by 5 of the 10 provincial football associations to support the delivery of youth flag, tackle, Football Canada First-down program, and was utilized by 1,700 coaches. Two Saskatchewan youth leagues who initially championed the resource, Saskatoon Minor Football (SMF) and Regina Youth Flag Football League (RYFFL), saw strong adoption rates amongst coaches along with significant increases in total volunteer coach numbers following implementation of the resource. Between the two leagues, a total of 208 coaches utilized the resource during their spring 2019 season. Since implementing this new mobile-based approach to coach development and support, SMF has had 48 new parents volunteer to coach and RYFFL has seen their new volunteer coach numbers grow by 56, for a total of 104 new coaches between the two leagues within 12-months of app implementation. These early results are exciting as mobile learning is appearing to prove itself as a viable pathway to improve overall coaching quality at the grassroots level while simultaneously lowering the barrier of entry for parents new to the sport to get involved in coaching youth football, When asked about the growth of this resource, Football Canada’s Director of Sport Aaron Geisler said “This partnership has been integral in enhancing our coach and programming resources. Our coaches now have a mobile learning solution that allows them to be successful and confident while giving athletes the best experience we can offer. We are incredibly excited to grow this resource in 2020 and bring even more value to our members and sport.”
The early access version of the mobile learning app contains over 250 unique drills, several pre-designed practice plans for non-contact and contact, and Football Canada’s First Down, CFL Futures, and Ultimate Football program curriculum. It also includes Athlete Era’s new collaborative practice planning feature that allows coaches to easily share and communicate detailed practice plans with others on their team through the app. Additional drills, plans, pre-designed plays, and rulebooks will be available in July with the full version release.
When asked about the intent for creating the new collaborative practice planning feature, Athlete Era’s director of product said “We believe every parent, whether a formal assistant coach or not, should feel comfortable helping out their head coach in some capacity during practice. Whether that be setting up drills, throwing balls or forming groups of players. This feature will make it easy for head coaches to do this by efficiently communicating highly detailed plans with their team.”
To support in-app educational content, Football Canada and USA Football have established a content sharing partnership for youth football resources through the Athlete Era mobile learning platform. This will make USA Football resources available to Canadian coaches through the FC Mobile app, helping both countries work more collaboratively in sharing resources and best-practice to advance the development of youth players. For more information about the app and to register your league or association so your teams can begin using this resource, visit https://www.footballcanadamobile.com/.
