FAQ and privacy
Academy, answered
What Academy does, how it treats players, and what you pay.
The product
What is BenchStats Academy?
BenchStats Academy turns your plays into animated lessons and quizzes your players study on their phones. You draw a play step by step, release it, and players learn it from one shared team code.
How is it different from a play-drawing app?
The quiz. Academy builds it from the play you drew, and players answer by drawing the pass, cut or screen on the court. You don’t write any questions.
Do I need game film?
No. Academy has no film and no uploads. It works from the plays you draw.
Is Academy the same as BenchStats film review?
No. They’re separate products from the same company. BenchStats film review turns game film into possessions and stats. You don’t need one to use the other.
Can I control when players see a play?
Yes. Every play stays hidden until you release it. You can release it now, schedule it, or hide it again later.
Players and privacy
Do players need accounts?
No. Players never sign up. Your team shares one read-only team code. To open it, a player enters the code and confirms they are 13 or older.
What ages is Academy for?
Players must be 13 or older. Before entering a team code, each player confirms their age. That makes Academy a fit for high school teams and older age groups. It isn’t for teams with players under 13, which includes many middle school and youth teams.
Many of my players are minors. What do you collect about them?
As little as possible. Here is what Academy does and doesn’t do on the player side.
What we don’t collect
- No name, email address, phone number, date of birth or photo, and no player accounts.
- No individual scores. Quiz answers stay on the player’s phone and are never sent to us.
- No ads, and no analytics or tracking tools on the player view.
What happens when a player opens the team code
- The code opens your playbook. One small cookie keeps that phone signed in for 4 hours, then the player enters the code again. The cookie points to your team’s playbook, not to a person.
- You see team totals only, such as how often plays were opened, quizzes started and finished, and overall study time. They never show who did what.
Like any website, our hosting provider may keep routine technical records, such as IP addresses, for security. We don’t use them to identify or profile players.
Do you score individual players?
No. Quiz answers stay on the player’s phone, and coaches see only team totals, never who did what.
What do you store about coaches?
Your email, a password (stored in protected form, never as readable text), your plays and tags, your team code, and your trial and subscription dates. Card payments are handled by our payment processor, so we don’t store your card number.
What if the team code gets out?
Replace it. The old code stops working within seconds, even on a phone that already has it open.
Can I use Academy with my school’s team?
Yes, for teams whose players are 13 or older, such as high school teams. Players don’t need accounts and Academy doesn’t collect their personal information, so there’s nothing for the school to set up. You pay by card and get a receipt you can submit for reimbursement.
A few districts require their own approval before students use any app. If yours does, send them this page, and contact us if they have questions.
Pricing and trial
What does it cost?
$24.99 a year per playbook, with one coach paying. Paid access is opening soon.
What’s included in the 7-day trial?
The trial is for getting a feel for how plays are drawn, not for running your team. You get 7 days with no card, up to 3 plays, and quiz previews as the coach. It doesn’t include a team code, so players can’t use it. When you’re ready to share plays with your players, subscribe.
Do varsity and JV share a playbook?
It depends on the plays. If both teams run the same plays, they can share one playbook and one subscription. Give both teams the same team code.
If JV runs different plays, give each team its own playbook and subscription. Otherwise every play would show up for both teams under the same code.
Can I get reimbursed by my school?
You pay by card and get a receipt you can submit for reimbursement.
Does it renew automatically?
You choose at checkout, and auto-renew is off unless you turn it on. If you turn it on, your subscription renews each year until you cancel, and before each renewal we email you the date, the price and how to cancel.
If you leave it off, we email you before your subscription ends so you can renew on your own.
Can I cancel or get a refund?
Cancel any time from your account, with no need to contact us. Your team code keeps working until the end of the year you’ve paid for.
If you change your mind, ask within 14 days of any charge, including a renewal, and we’ll refund it in full. After 14 days we don’t refund part of a year. To ask, contact us.