Dickinson Athletics’ app, called “Dickinson Red Devils,” has been up and running for about a year now. The app was developed by the outside company SIDEARM Sports in collaboration with David Adamovage, Director of Athletic Communications at Dickinson, and Alli Fritz, Dickinson Athletics Strategic Communications and Digital Media Coordinator. The app offers a different way to view Dickinson’s sports media content, localizes all scores, and provides immediate recaps matches through play-by-plays. Having this content in one place allows fans to follow along easily and receive real-time updates about their favorite teams through push notifications. 

This project started with the updates to the athletic department’s  website, prioritizing the consumer’s experience. The success of ‘user-friendly’ features on the website  and the new leadership of Director of Athletics Celine Cunningham sparked the push for an app  Cunningham thought an app would make information more accessible for students, parents, relatives and alumni.The absence of an app was “a void in our products that we needed to add,” said Adamovage.

Coming up on one year since its release on January 15 of 2024, The “Dickinson Red Devils” app has only been improving. Adamovage has been spearheading contributions to the app, now highlighting a new feature that is in the works: live scores. 

According to Adamovage, the process of creating the app was relatively easy, thanks to Dickinson Athletic’s partnership with SIDEARM Sports and the existing website. Adamovage explained  that the app is a more user-friendly, condensed version of the website from a program perspective. 

The partnership with SIDEARM Sports has been mostly positive for Dickinson Athletics. Adamovage explains that the only downside is that resolving errors or glitches can take longer because they must go through certain channels through SIDEARM Sports’ website and app management. 

As Dickinson Athletics expands their sports communications department with other exciting projects, they are always looking for students interested in helping out.