The worst part of most testing days is the first twenty minutes. Athletes are warm and waiting. The coach is typing names into a phone, asking someone how to spell their surname, finding a charger and trying to remember who runs first.
By the time the first rep goes, half the warm-up has worn off.
None of that has to happen on the track. Almost all of it can be done the night before, in about ten minutes.
- Put every athlete in the Squad tab
Turn on Coach Mode in Profile and add the whole group in the Squad tab before the session. Use the name the athlete actually answers to, and keep it the same every time. "Rahul K" this week and "Rahul" next week becomes two athletes with half a history each.
If two athletes share a first name, add an initial now, not when they are both standing in front of you.
Free coaches can add as many athletes as they need. Coach Mode works in the Android app and on the web app, so you can do this on a laptop at home if that is easier.
- Have body weights ready for jump athletes
If the session includes a jump test, the app asks for the athlete's body weight once, the first time they are picked for a jump. It is saved on that athlete's page after that, so jump power uses the right weight for every athlete instead of the coach's own.
Get the weights in advance. Asking a squad to step on scales one by one in the middle of a jump test is slow, and guessed weights make the power numbers meaningless.
- Write the order down
Two orders matter: the test order and the athlete order.
Test order: least tiring first. Reaction or jumps before sprints, sprints before heavy lifting. Use the same order every testing day so fatigue is the same each time.
Athlete order: decide who goes first, second and third, and keep that rotation. In a sprint test the rotation is also the rest. With five or six athletes, each one gets a few minutes between reps without anyone checking a watch.
Put both on one card or one note on your phone.
- Know the first test for each athlete
Anyone new to the group has no earlier result, so their first test is a baseline, not a best. The app treats it the same way: an athlete's first result is never tagged as a new best.
For everyone else, look at the Squad tab the night before. It shows when each athlete last tested and how many results they have. If someone has not tested since the last block, you know their result tomorrow is the one to compare against that.
- Get the phones ready
Charge both phones fully. A timing session with the screen on and the camera running uses a lot of battery.
Update the app on every Android phone you will use, so both gates are on the same version. If the second gate is an iPhone or a laptop, it uses the web app, so it only needs a reload.
Pack the tripods or whatever keeps the phones still, a tape measure and markers for the lines. The finish phone should sit still on the finish line, not in someone's hand.
- On the day
Set up the gates before the athletes arrive. The start phone goes right next to the start line and plays the start cue from its own speaker. Measure the distance with the tape. Pair the phones and run one practice rep yourself.
Then when the warm-up ends, the only job left is to pick the athlete before each rep, so every time lands on the right athlete's page.
Timing Gates time one athlete at a time, from start to finish. It is practice-grade start and finish timing: one time per rep for the whole distance, no split times, not a fully automatic timing system. It is built for tracking your own athletes over weeks and months.
The checklist
The night before:
- Every athlete in the Squad tab, with a name that will not change
- Body weights for anyone doing a jump test
- Test order and athlete order on one card
- A quick look at who tested last block and who is new
- Both phones charged and updated, tripods, tape and markers packed
On the day:
- Gates set up before the athletes arrive
- One practice rep through the gates
- Pick the athlete, run the rep, next athlete
The test itself takes the same time either way. What changes is whether your athletes spend the session running or waiting.
The Android app is on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.speedtrackr.reactionpro
On an iPhone or a laptop, use the web app: https://www.speedtrackr.com/auth/login
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