Canadian triathlete Simon Whitfield tried a new piece of technology as he prepared for the 2012 Olympics in London — a video app from a Halifax startup called UpMyGame.

Training at his home in Victoria, B.C., Whitfield used UpMyGame to videotape his training and send it to his coach, Jonty Skinner, who works out of Colorado Springs. Skinner was able to review the video, make notes and diagrams on it, and discuss it with Whitfield, even though they were thousands of kilometres apart.

Skinner’s Wikipedia entry now describes him as an UpMyGame coach, meaning that he is now a high-performance coach who uses the product. It seems he’s about to be joined by others.

UpMyGame founder and CEO David Keefe has been methodically developing UpMyGame for about four years now, aiming to produce the world’s best video tool for coaches. He’s been mentored in some of the leading instruction groups in the region, including the NextPhase seminar and the Launch36 accelerator.

Keefe wants the iOS-based app to be simple to use and affordable, and to remove all the inconvenience from the process of filming athletes. And even though he is only now launching UpMyGame, he has already signed up several clients in the United Kingdom, New York, San Francisco, and Halifax that have networks comprising thousands of athletes.

 “I believe my product is the best product out there to shoot, review and share (video),” said Keefe in a recent interview. “I already have licensing deals in place that will have this in front of tens of thousands of athletes within months.”

Keefe knows that UpMyGame is not alone in this field, as there are other sports video apps, including Ubersense and Coach’s Eye. But he said that what sets UpMyGame apart is its ease of use and versatility.

Above all else, coaches want a device that doesn’t interfere with the flow of their training sessions, so UpMyGame is designed to allow the coach to point the device, shoot and instantly review it with the athlete. Or athletes can have someone film their workout or game, then share it with a coach that is a great distance away.

The coach can annotate the video with notes, or draw on it to illustrate how the athlete should alter his style. The program allows for side-by-side screens, so athletes can view their current performance with what they were doing a week or a month earlier, or compare their style to that of the best in the world.

UpMyGame is waiting for the product to be approved for sale by the Apple App Store, which will likely increase its sales. In the meantime, he has been filling out his team with hires and by bringing in colleagues from Launch36. When one of the teams decided to put its efforts on hold, Keefe took on three of its members, helping him to broaden the talent base of the company.

Keefe said he is not raising money now, though that does not mean he will not decide to do so as he grows the company.