School sports provide a steady source of familiarity to the roughly eight million high school students that participate in some form of athletics. The competitive atmosphere of practices and games, the social outlet of team sports, and the support that having friends and family present at competitions provides are all part of what makes school sports a pillar of life for athletes and families alike.
This year, students face an uncertain reality, one in which the possibility of having the support of friends and family at games is in jeopardy.
Tough times for student athletes
Sports teams are being forced to conduct COVID-19 tests on student athletes to ensure that the team is free of symptomatic carriers. Higher standards of sanitation are being adopted by virtually every school in the nation, and peer-to-peer contact has been cut down as much as possible. For student athletes who participate in contact sports, the risk for infection is much higher. Sports like football and lacrosse face particular difficulties as the equipment needed to play must be sanitized regularly.
While infection rates rise in some areas and the future of school sports remains uncertain, there are still ways to work around the present difficulties and create a new and unique way of experiencing school sports for athletes and their families. Despite the challenges that the pandemic presents to us all, there is still a way for athletes and families alike to have an incredible season filled with fun and memories.
Parents come to school sporting events to support their kids, to enjoy time together and to make lasting memories. For athletes, the support that having family present at games provides is invaluable. However, the restrictions that the pandemic places on gatherings still threaten to take this away from them.
Waldo provides a unique avenue for parents and fans to be present in the middle of their kid’s best moments without the risks that large gatherings present. Although sports events won’t be the same, they can still be incredible. Waldo makes the live-action feeling of sports come alive with the convenience and safety that technology can provide.
How Waldo can help
Waldo uses proprietary technology to recognize each individual player based on facial recognition and jersey numbers.
When a photo is taken of an athlete, Waldo sends that photo in near real-time to his or her family. That means that parents don’t have to wait for ages for photos to be posted online to see their kids in action, and hunt and peck endlessly to find them — they can feel part of the action without lifting a finger, saving countless hours sifting through hundreds of photos in an album.
Now that Waldo sends all the shots of their child directly to their mobile device in near real-time, families have the opportunity to celebrate wins and great moments together through innovative technologies. Best of all, the photo stream can be shared with the grandparents with a simple text invite!
Whether sports photos are taken by a photographer armed with his own camera or a school staff member with a smartphone, every photo taken at the event can be uploaded to the Waldo cloud wirelessly. Once the photos are uploaded, Waldo technology recognizes each player and matches their photo to an athlete’s profile, then sends it directly to their smartphone and any family members they’ve invited to their photo stream. That means that families don’t have to rely on the photos they take themselves at a sporting event — they can sit back and relax and never miss a moment while still getting photos of their child!
Every photo taken at the event will have a unique hashtag and brand filter associated with it, making posting photos of the event on social media fun and collaborative. Waldo makes seeing the best moments of a game simple and convenient for everyone involved.
Quick link: Waldo-fy your school sports now for free
Some good news
Large gatherings currently present a unique challenge. The good news is that parents don’t have to go without memories of their kids, and athletes don’t have to play sports without the support of loved ones.
When challenges like the pandemic present themselves, we all have an opportunity to make incredible, unique memories by the way that we respond to the challenge. Instead of wishing for the memories of the last sports season, Waldo can help parents look forward to a brave new future — one in which the challenges of the current situation are overshadowed by the new memories to be made.
The potential of having real-time picture updates sent to your smartphone completely changes the dynamic of school sports for fans. Live-streaming events on video is a popular option for many schools. This provides an effective way for parents to watch the game without the risk of large gatherings.
However, most schools don’t have the equipment or budget to create a truly dynamic, personalized video production of a sports competition. It’s hard enough getting video and audio to sync together, let alone achieving a good video resolution. Waldo cuts through the difficulties that live-streaming presents and allows fans to see action photos of their loved ones right when the moment happens.
Photographers capture the best moments of a sporting event, and Waldo’s technology sends those moments to the people who want to see them the most. This removes the dissonance that parents can experience between the experience of a game in real-time and photos taken at the event.
No one has to let the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic ruin this sports season. Athletes can still experience a fun-filled season with the support and participation of their families, and families can invest their time and attention to their children without the fear and difficulty that large group gatherings present. Photo sharing with Waldo provides more than an album full of photos — it provides an easy, personalized way for friends and family to stay connected and involved with the moments that matter the most, including sporting events.
Schools can sign up for a Waldo account for free. On top of that, they can turn the Waldo service into a fundraiser if budgets are tight and new ways of raising money are sought!
