App Development Club leader Matteo Dall’Olmo ’22 created a sports analytics app for the boys water polo team over the summer. The software, called HW Water Polo, synthesizes and stores various game data for team members and coaches to review. The team is not currently using the app, but plans to make use of it in the near future.

Dall’Olmo said although the app can serve a variety of functions, it is exclusive to the boys water polo team. 

“Coaches can list who took what shot on what team, where they shot from, where they shot towards, what type of shot it was and what the outcome was,” Dall’Olmo said. “But [the app] is not really for everyone to use. You need a password to use it, and only people on the team know it.” 

Dall’Olmo said he got his start in app development over quarantine, during which he created a tip calculator app.

“Because I was still learning [the fundamentals of app development], [the app] really wasn’t that great,” Dall’Olmo said. “But I did learn some helpful things that would definitely be useful to me later on.”

Dall’Olmo, an attacker on the team, said he was encouraged by his coach to begin production on his water polo app. 

“I was injured over the summer for a couple weeks and had to sit out of practice, and one of the coaches mentioned to me that the way we had been collecting this data was very inefficient and that I should look into making an app,” Dall’Olmo said. “I started one day while I was sitting out of practice, and I just kept going.”

Dall’Olmo acknowledged the difficulty of this task and said once he started working on the app, the development process proved to be frustrating.

“[The process] involved a lot of data collection, which I wasn’t very familiar with,” Dall’Olmo said. “There also [isn’t] a teacher I can go to when I run into an issue, so I have to use the internet and trial and error to figure things out.”

Center Jeffrey Koretz ’23 said the app will be helpful to both players and coaches.

“When we use the app, we’ll use all of the data we collect to make ourselves better and prepare for our opponents more effectively,” Koretz said. “[The app] will give us a better understanding of where players like to shoot and how they like to shoot so that we can have more of a competitive advantage.”

In addition to undertaking projects of his own, Dall’Olmo said he instructs his peers as part of meetings for the App Development Club.

“I have some PowerPoints and lessons that I start off with in the beginning of the year, and after that, people start working on their own projects,” Dall’Olmo said. “I just serve as a resource to answer any questions [members] have whenever they’re confused.”