IT Times Spotlight: The Athletics IT Team
Spotlight on Athletics IT
The Athletics IT team is a small but mighty team of two – Rob Laird and Graham Price – both seasoned U of G professionals – who are committed to ensuring an efficient, seamless and intuitive experience for all who enter the U of G Athletics Centre and participate in U of G Athletics. They prioritize customer experience above all else and embody “The Gryphon Way,” a set of guiding principles that shape the daily actions and decisions for all Athletics staff.
“Living by these values not only fosters a positive working environment but empowers us to provide exceptional support and service to ensure the success of our department. These values mean a lot to us, and we take them to heart."
– Graham Price, Distributed Analyst, Athletics
From an IT perspective, operating U of G Athletics involves a highly complex set of applications and systems that support various activities such as personal fitness, varsity athletics, large sporting events including ticket sales, scorekeeping and fan engagement, digital signage, room bookings and more. And then throw in pool humidity or a cold arena to add to the fun of ensuring a smooth technology experience! There is no shortage of work for this powerhouse duo.
The Team
Rob Laird is the Manager of Finance and Operations for Athletics. Rob has been with U of G for more than 20 years, working in the Budget Office, Controller’s Office and Student Housing before joining Athletics in 2016. Rob determines the strategic priorities for the team and collaborates with Graham on budgets and forecasting, large purchases and strategic decision-making. Together, their synergy supports and enhances the Athletics experience for gym members, varsity athletes, coaches, spectators and more.
Graham Price is a Distributed Analyst, reporting primarily to Athletics via Rob Laird and also to CCS via Brian Thomson, Manager of Client Productivity. Graham has worked at U of G for 20 years: 14 years with Alumni Affairs & Development and the last six years with Athletics. In Rob’s words, Graham is the “powerhouse” of the team: the technical wiz, hands-on doer, system supporter, security enforcer, data protector, project manager, budgeter/forecaster, staff IT supporter and more. He is responsible for keeping all systems operational and supporting Athletics staff IT needs. Athletics is a CCS Managed Desktops client, which relieves some of Graham’s daily support duties. In addition to supporting myriad systems, Graham also prioritizes staff productivity, training staff/leading workshops on applications like SharePoint and multi-factor authentication.
“Graham embodies U of G values in the areas of customer service, respect and teamwork. He is always polite, always responsive to questions and user needs, and builds strong relationships with staff inside Athletics and in other departments across the University. He is extremely accountable and conscientious with IT equipment and assets and treats every dollar spent as if it were his own. We are very lucky to have Graham, both in Athletics and at the University.
– Rob Laird, Manager, Finance and Operations, Athletics
Success Stories
Implementation of Univerus Athlete System
The Univerus Athlete System, implemented in 2023, was developed by a former Queen’s University Athletics IT manager and is tailor-made for university IT Athletics departments. It is increasingly being adopted by universities, including U of G, to manage all aspects varsity athletics. The system provides efficient workflows for athletes, coaches and administrators, helping to manage athletes’ profiles, medical exams and records, help coaches efficiently communicate with their teams via email and text messages, manage waivers, share documents, process travel requests, track attendance and more. The implementation was a significant undertaking that took a full year to complete. It involved a complex mix of moving parts, including: Information security compliance Single sign-on integration Integration with Student Wellness Services systems Coach and athlete training. Graham was the lead on the implementation, collaborating with Queen’s University and U of G Athletics/varsity staff to ensure the most critical needs were met. The system has been adopted broadly across U of G varsity athletics.
SOPs and Team Champions
With so many different applications to manage and only one main IT support person, standard operation procedures (SOPs) and team champions have become critical for Graham and the Athletics staff. SOPs act as step-by-step instructions to enable troubleshooting and system support. In some cases, a champion is appointed who understands the various applications in their unit also frees up Graham to stay focused on smooth and stable operations. The team champions can often be the first point of contact if problems arise. They can troubleshoot and often solve the problem, and if not, the issue can be escalated to Graham for support.
Troubleshooting the Damaged Outdoor Arena Sign
During the pandemic, the outdoor digital sign outside the U of G arena was shut down, exposing it to harsh outdoor elements. This exposure caused corrosion on the radio network cables used for content updates. After looking at some rather costly solutions, Graham developed an elegant temporary fix by directly plugging a laptop into the screen to upload content, thus bypassing the damaged parts of the system. This cost-effective method has revived the screen for the short term, though plans to upgrade to more robust radio devices are in the works to ensure long-term functionality and resilience.
Athletics Technologies
ActiveNet: A critical application used in Athletics to streamlines processes for member registration, scheduling, equipment management and more.
Catapult: Wearable technology used to track football athlete’s heart rate and location on the field to help understand and improve performance.
Daktronics Scoreboards: Electronic scoreboards for real-time scoring and event information during athletic competitions.
GryphVision: Used for recording videos of athletic events, enhancing media coverage and viewer engagement.
Raspberry Pi (Room Schedule Displays): Small computers used for managing digital displays that show room schedules.
Sandbox Oaisis: Content management system for the U of G Fitness and Recreation website.
Sidearm: A platform for managing the recreational sports website (Gryphons.ca), facilitating content management and user interaction.
Val Performance: A system for recording and analyzing athlete strength and performance improvements, providing valuable data for training adjustments.
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"The whole point of all this tech is to make things more enjoyable for everyone involved.”
– Graham Price