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Letter From The Editor: Those Days are Forever Over

by: Rex Lardner
Editor American Football Monthly
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In both small towns and large cities across America, the tradition over the years has been for a high school team to watch game films as a team. This has usually been a three to six hour process as coaches analyze the previous game's film and go back and forth about what worked and what didn’t on each play. If a future opponent's film was also available, that was shown to the team as well.

    So much for what went on a generation ago. Now, in the digital age, editing equipment has become so much more sophisticated that many high schools work with manufacturers that provide the latest in game tape technology. The change from film to tape evolved in the 70’s and now film is considered archaic. This is now more evident than  ever at schools all over the country. One such example is Jenks High School in Jenks, Oklahoma under the direction of Head Coach Allan Trimble (pictured).

    A perennial national power, Jenks has won 7 state championships over the past decade (See Scouting Report, page 8, presented by DSV). In talking with Coach Trimble, he mentioned some of the specific advances over that time. “Each player can now take home his own 10 minute video,” said Trimble. “The cut-ups are so detailed that a position player can study over the weekend his counterpart and be ready for walkthroughs of the next offense or defense we'll be facing on Monday. He’ll be that much more prepared for our next week’s opponent.”
 
   In this computer day and age, the players relish video-related information. Can you imagine – circa 1970 – a 17 year old defensive back going home after a weekend skull session with a ten minute video of all the receiver routes his next opponent will be running from their previous game. He then studies it and from the following Monday-Thursday, goes through the receivers’ tendencies, timing routes, patterns and even integrates that with the opposing quarterback’s favorite calls. The sophistication becomes more detailed every season.

    In our conversation, Coach Trimble commented on the advancements in just the last five years. “You can't imagine the changes in both the cut-ups and technology over the last five years. One change is what we call a ‘Snap Shot.’ It’s a series of still photos that are put together of our opponents’ various formations and defenses. Our quarterback can take it home, look at the various coverages, and be ready to go in practice on Monday. It helps our overall preparation and makes every player focus more on next Friday’s game.”

    An analogy to the growth of the digital editing equipment could be to the advances in the production of sports television. The first replay of an actual college football game occurred in the 1963 Army-Navy game. When an Army touchdown was replayed, many viewers thought that Army had scored twice. Now, with more sophisticated equipment available, most action is isolated and then replayed. Fans  now feel cheated if there’s not half a dozen replays of a controversial or dramatic play. Today's players, similarly, expect the same; that is, detailed tapes of their next opponent.
  
 As Coach Trimble said:  “The days of a team watching a three hour game tape together are forever over.” We certainly agree. We hope you enjoy this issue of AFM...


                        Sincerely,

                        Rex Lardner
                        Managing Editor
                        American Football Monthly
                        rlardner@lcclark.com
                        (561-355-5068, x 329)





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