PRO officials better placed for health monitoring in 2025, thanks to Eclipse Yourself and Apple

In the background of the landmark partnership announcement between Major League Soccer and Apple in November 2022, a conversation that started in Sydney has paved the way for PRO’s match officials to take a transformative approach to the management of their health monitoring, utilizing all the benefits of Apple’s digital ecosystem and expertise of app developers, Tantsissa, combined with the pioneering thinking of PRO’s sports performance team.

The solution, the Eclipse Yourself app, was an established pilot used by the likes of Cricket Australia, Swimming Australia and the Adelaide Crows in the Australian Football League when PRO was introduced to the product, but the last 18 months has provided the opportunity to extend the reach of testing phase outside of Australia and proved mutually beneficial for all parties.

David Walsh, co-developer of the Eclipse Yourself app, said: “In 2020, we set out to create a dedicated Apple Watch app that both elite sports professionals and the general public would get value from, which we began developing as a concept through our client base in Australia.

“Before our relationship started with PRO, our work exposed us to a lot of data points, and they have provided many more since. Throughout this process, we have always asked how does this data provide actionable performance benefits to the users.

“It shouldn’t be just about numbers and scores when it comes to measuring health; we set out to change how people visualize their health with a solution that doesn’t require the user to have a deep knowledge of the metrics to interpret them, but one that would engage them to understand and act accordingly. While group sharing is a key part of the app, it shouldn’t always rely on someone else monitoring and directing the next steps.

“The user can take a glance in the Eclipse Yourself app and know exactly where their overall health balance sits: if you can create the perfect eclipse, then you are good to go.”

Designed to empower users to understand their individual health journey by monitoring the core health pillars of activity, recovery and readiness, The Eclipse Yourself app provides an overview in the form of a graphic that shows how balanced they are in those three areas against a six-month baseline, as well as providing seven-day and 28-day trends.

Todd Ryall, co-developer of the Eclipse Yourself app, said: “The app is focused on the individual, but sporting teams are beneficial for us in terms of the feedback that you can get. We had a good understanding and engagement from the athletes and sports in Australia, but we were looking for an international partner who could share a different perspective.

“That insight was the next stage in the development cycle, and fortunately for us, when Apple partnered with Major League Soccer, we were able to connect with Sergio Zanazzi [Vice President, Technology] at MLS, and Tom Beckvermit [Director of Sports Performance] and John Westbrooks [Head Sports Performance Coach] from PRO to explore working together. Since then, they have led on outlining requirements, and the response has been excellent. We probably had 20 builds in 2023 adding in new functionality, due to the meaningful feedback from the large user base. That critical development work set us up for a full pilot during the 2024 MLS season.

“What is unique with PRO compared to our other partners is how vast the users’ footprint is due to the size of the United States and Canada and how far and often they travel.”

From Tantsissa’s perspective, beyond fine-tuning the thinking around new areas for development, the most significant benefit from working with PRO came from exposing the app to more than 120 officials, compared to previous rosters of approximately 25 to 30, all of which need to be grouped into employment categories and also in relation to their fitness status at any given time, e.g. differentiating workloads for those recovery from injury, or who have officiated a game in a different time zone followed by a long flight home, etc.

Ryall continued: “PRO has been awesome with their approach. You get some sports where they follow trends, but Tom and John have been great innovators; they have a vision and understand the potential of tech to support where they aim to get to with their group. They know how to apply ideas and articulate them clearly – that has made progress nice and easy.

“We got to a good place by the end of year one with PRO. We have learned a lot, and as Apple’s technology continues to evolve and users become more engaged, we are excited to see what learnings come from more consistent and widespread use of the Eclipse Yourself app this season.”

PRO has been awesome with their approach. You get some sports where they follow trends, but Tom and John have been great innovators; they have a vision and understand the potential of tech to support where they aim to get to with their group.

Todd Ryall, co-developer

With the latest Apple Watch Ultra mixing key functionality like tracking workout intensity, heart rate variability, and sleep data with the ability to complete a post-workout questionnaire and flag injuries and illness, all from the convenience of the wrist, tracking has never been easier.

All that makes for a smoother experience for the user and the sports performance team, which has been able to redefine how they monitor wellness across PRO.

Beckvermit said: “Working with Todd and his team to implement the Eclipse Yourself app into the daily routines of our match officials has brought many benefits. Having a one-stop shop for workload, recovery and readiness has streamlined how we communicate and work with officials.

“Digesting performance recovery and readiness metrics visually has provided a better appreciation of why it is important to concentrate on balance. It has created more conversations, which has opened new education opportunities for everyone at PRO.

“Additionally, the dashboard has provided greater visibility, increased our efficiency dramatically, and allowed us to focus more on the actions that have a positive impact. In the past, we spent time scraping, collating, and analyzing data from a variety of sources in spreadsheets so we could monitor individuals and the group’s performance; now, we can spend that time working more one-to-one to ensure our officials are best prepared for their next game.”

The Eclipse Yourself app is available to download with a free seven-day trial from the US App Store (requires an ongoing subscription): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/eclipse-yourself/id6444035626

For more information, please visit eclipse.tantsissa.com.