By coincidence I attented a course in Scoresheet and Datavolley in the year 2017, the year that NVBF (The Norwegian Volleyball Federation) began using the systems at the top tier league. At the time I was doing volunteer work for Oslo Volley including being Scorer at matches.

At the course several participants were from the larger clubs, especially OSI - the student organisation’s sports club. I was the only one who did not play at a high level, which meant I was contacted by OSI to help them with their matches, as the other participants were busy playing themselves.

The combination of understanding the rules and the routines of the game (being a referee), as well as being able to use the software, is favourable. The learning curve is steep, and it takes a lot of practice to become good at it. I was lucky to get the opportunity to practice a lot.

I ended up taking most of the matches, and afterwards I was often contacted by other clubs in the Oslo area. I have been scouting (as it is called), several Norwegian cup finals, and I have also been scouting the Norwegian national team at the European League in 2018. Norways victory over Spain in the final was a great experience. Though addmittedly it is hard to enjoy the match when you are working.

Now I am scouting mainly for the local team in Lillestrøm called Skjetten SK Volleyball. Occasionally I hold courses for other clubs.

I suspect though that DataVolley is about to become obsolete. Unless the company behind it, DataProject, makes some changes. The software is old, and it is not very user friendly. A program from Poland called VolleyStation looks a lot more promising. The code system is the same, but the user interface is by a large margin better.