Ravenscroft has become the first independent school in North Carolina to add PlaySight's Smart AI and connected camera sports video to its athletic program as both a livestream viewing option for spectators during the pandemic and a teaching tool for coaches and student-athletes to improve performance.

"We have been searching for a product like Playsight for a number of years, one that provides working parents an opportunity to see their kids' games when they can not be there physically as well as a tool that allows our coaches to provide our student-athletes with instant feedback in a contemporary, real-time, facilitated way," Head of School Doreen Kelly explained. "PlaySight combines both these needs into one tool while also leveraging one of the core tenets of our Lead From Here citizen leadership framework: feedback is a gift."

Ravenscroft began testing PlaySight's GO technology, a mobile camera solution with cellular wireless technology, during several soccer matches in the fall and found the results — video feed, capture of statistics and instant replay — to be beyond what similar products offer.

Athletic Director and varsity football coach Ned Gonet said, "PlaySight is going to provide us with an exceptional tool to immediately examine athletes' execution during practice and games. Our athletes can study their decision making and performance and learn how to improve in both areas to help their team."

Over the winter season, the school installed PlaySight's fixed camera in the A.E. Finley Activity Center's Main Arena to automatically capture practices and games throughout the season. Because the PlaySight system interfaces with the school's scoreboards, game highlights are automatically clipped as the score changes.

"One of the features that stands out is the immediate access to video footage including highlight clips after a game or practice session is done," Assistant Athletic Director and varsity baseball coach Jim Gibbons said. "We no longer have to wait for a coach to upload the video before sharing it with the players and coaches, which gives the kids a chance to review the film on their own before teams meet for a film review session."

Over the last eight years, Ravenscroft has been through several other providers — one for providing Livestream of events requiring a staffed camera and one for uploading game film. PlaySight provides all of the Athletic Department's needs in one tool, making it easy for coaches to access game film, for parents to watch games when their schedule does not allow them to be on campus and for student-athletes to put together highlight film for recruiting purposes.

This spring, Ravenscroft is finalizing Phase I of its PlaySight installation by adding fixed cameras in our soccer/field hockey stadium and football/lacrosse/track and field facility while using the GO camera on our baseball, softball and secondary fields.

A parent sharing the "WhyRavens" hashtag said of the experience, "I feel like I'm watching the boys play in the MLB. Grateful for this amazing livestream."

PlaySight's Smart sports AI video platform is connecting sports all over the world. Hundreds of thousands of athletes, coaches, teams, colleges and sports facilities utilize PlaySight each and every day for automated production, livestream broadcasts, multi-angle video recording, performance analysis, content monetization and much more.

The parent-led group RAC (Ravens Athletic Club) made a generous contribution toward the purchase of the system.