With COVID-19 still an ongoing issue for many countries around the world, we’ve all had to adapt to living with lockdown restrictions, social distancing, as well as learning and working virtually. The same goes for sports training during the pandemic. To help you coach your athletes virtually, we’ve found 4 free virtual coaching platforms that will keep you connected with your teams. 

Zoom

Zoom has become a popular platform this year. It offers simplified video conferencing and messaging and currently has a free option that allows you to host up to 100 participants with a 40-minute time limit. For more advanced features, they do have affordable paid options for unlimited group meetings.

They have a number of collaboration tools such as screen share and co-annotations for a more interactive training session. There are filters, reactions, polls, hand raising, and music or video sharing that make meetings more fun and engaging.

Skype

You may normally use Skype for calling relatives overseas, but it can also be great virtual coaching platform. Skype supports up to 50 participants for an unlimited amount of time for free, making it ideal for smaller teams. It has a call recording feature that allows users to save and share the recording for up to a month. You will need to download the Skype app on your phone, laptop or desktop to be able to use it.

Google Meet

Google Meet is now available to use for anyone with a Google account. You can have meetings with up to 100 participants for up to 60-minutes for free. You don’t need to download additional software to use the platform, making it simple and easy to use. Just join meetings from any modern web browser or download the app and you’re ready to go. 

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is the built-in video conferencing platform in Office 365. However, anyone can sign up for the free version of Teams using a personal email address. The free version allows unlimited chat and search, online meetings with up to 300 members, team file storage of 10GB and real-time collaboration with Microsoft Office Apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote). The paid versions offer more advanced features and support online webinars and training sessions. 

These free virtual coaching platforms can help maintain training sessions when meeting face-to-face is not possible. While it doesn’t replace physical training, it’s a great way to stay engaged with your athletes and keep their progress going.

For more tips, check out our blog on how to train safely during COVID-19.