Clip request queue for coaches and performance analysts
Problem
Coaches ask for training and match clips over a messaging group: a counter-attack from Tuesday's session, a set-piece from last weekend, sent whenever the thought occurs, sitting under dozens of other messages by the next morning. The performance analyst works through the video analysis platform to find and cut each one, keeping track of who asked for what in a personal to-do list or plain memory, because nothing tracks the request itself. Asks overlap, get duplicated, or sit unclaimed for days when the analyst is occupied with match preparation. A coach building a playbook walkthrough for that evening's session finds out the clip was never cut only when they open the folder five minutes before players arrive.
Product idea
A shared request queue that sits between coaches and the analyst instead of a messaging thread. A coach raises a request against a specific session or playbook, with what they need, why, and a deadline. The analyst sees an ordered list rather than a scrollback, claims a request, marks it in progress, and attaches the finished clip link when done. The coach who asked gets a notification the moment it lands. Requests unclaimed within a set window before their deadline are flagged so a head coach or coach developer can reassign them rather than discover the gap at the session. It does not cut or host video itself: it tracks the ask and holds the link to wherever the clip already lives.
Who it is for
Assistant and academy coaches who need footage for a session, the performance analyst who owns the queue, and the head coach or coach developer who sponsors it to stop clips getting lost.
Possible first version
A request form (session or playbook, description, clip type, deadline), a status board with queued, claimed and delivered states, and a notification when a request changes state. The analyst pastes the finished clip's link into the request rather than uploading video through the tool. Version one does not connect to any video analysis platform: no automatic search, no clip cutting, and no direct upload. It tracks the request and the link only, which is enough to stop requests disappearing before a session.
- Build classification
- Workflow application
- Rough effort
- 3-5 week first release
- Roles involved
- Head coach, Assistant coach, Performance analyst, Coach developer
- Relevant to
- Professional club, Collegiate athletics, Academy & youth, Women's league
- Systems in play
- Video analysis platforms, Messaging apps, Session planning tools
- Product framing
- Automate a workflow
Questions we get asked
We already coordinate this over WhatsApp and it mostly works. Why add another tool?
It mostly works until the week it does not, and the failure only shows up right before a session when a clip is missing. A queue does not stop coaches asking casually, it stops the ask disappearing: every request has a status, an owner and a deadline, so a gap is visible a day before kick-off rather than five minutes before. If your analyst can already tell you, without checking, exactly what is outstanding and for when, you probably do not need this yet.
Does this replace the video analysis platform we already pay for?
No. The video analysis platform is still where footage lives and where clips get made. This only tracks the request for a clip and the link to where it ended up, sitting alongside the platform rather than inside it. It has no access to your footage library and cannot search or cut anything itself, which is a deliberate limit rather than a missing feature for version one.
What happens to a request that comes in during a match, when the analyst is already working?
It queues like any other request, but a same-day or matchday deadline pushes it to the top of the list rather than requiring a separate message to flag urgency. If the analyst is mid-match and cannot claim it, the request sits visibly unclaimed rather than buried in a chat thread, and the escalation flag fires closer to its deadline than a routine request would. It does not attempt to prioritise automatically beyond the deadline the requester sets.
Who has to keep this running once it exists?
The performance analyst owns the queue day to day: claiming requests, marking them delivered, and clearing anything stale. That is close to work they already do, just made visible instead of kept in their head. The head coach or coach developer needs to check the flagged, unclaimed list often enough that it does not become a list nobody reads, which is the same discipline any queue requires or it quietly stops being trusted.
Is this your workflow?
Tell us one sports workflow that still runs on paper, spreadsheets, WhatsApp or an outdated system. We will map it and show you what a simpler product looks like.
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