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AFM Magazine


Technology Tools You Need Today

Product innovation and falling prices are driving the tech revolution in football.
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There’s no denying that technological advances have had a significant impact on football and coaching. In only a few decades, we’ve come from cutting and splicing 16mm game film by hand in order to analyze opponent’s tendencies to today’s state-of-the-art editing systems and software that can give coaches information and advantages never before available. Coaches today are wireless, online, hi-speed and most definitely high-tech.

Product innovation and falling prices are driving the tech revolution in football. Stan Webber of Coach’s Office puts it in perspective. “In the past ten years computer technology hardware has taken a quantum leap. Personal Computer (PC) speed, memory and hard drive storage has increased nearly ten-fold. Yet the price of a typical desktop or laptop PC is half the price it was a decade ago. That is why a high school team can now afford the same type of computer system that the NFL and D-I teams used to do their digital video editing.”

AFM has isolated the most important technological products and services that you need to make you more efficient and effective in your job, keep up with your competition and produce more wins. Here’s our list of must-haves for today’s high-tech coach.

DIGITAL VIDEO EDITING SYSTEMS

Digital recording and editing of practices and game footage is just as superior to videotape as video was to 16mm film, according to Frank Girardi of APEX Sports Software. “The use of digital editing allows the coach and coaching staff to be more productive,” said Girardi. “Video editing takes away the old hunt and peck method that is used with vhs tapes. With digital editing, you can go from play 2 to play 102 in seconds. Digital editing also allows you to group your plays together which allows the coach or team to watch the same type of play over and over.”

Ron Wojcicki of LRSSports explains how digital systems allow coaches to transfer their knowledge to players more effectively. “Coaches have been breaking down film and video for decades. Digitizing the video allows them to be better prepared in analyzing the video more efficiently and getting more and customizable data reports quicker. They can also share the exact video cutups and data easier with fellow coaches and players,” said Wojcicki. “They can now coach even better and, hopefully, win more games.”

ONLINE GAME FILM EXCHANGE

The days of duplicating VHS game tapes, driving to deliver them and wasting a lot of time in the process are coming to an end. The increasingly-popular alternative is to upload your game video and exchange footage with other coaches online. It’s simple, quick and it eliminates the need to deliver or mail tapes. “Someday soon, all game footage will be exchanged online,” according to Bill Hoag, President of Game Film Solutions. Software is provided that enables coaches to upload, send and receive game footage through their secure network server. “With a few easy steps, coaches can exchange film that’s automatically formatted to their editing system. It’s quick, uncomplicated and very efficient.”

SOFTWARE

A coaching staff without computers is operating in the Dark Ages. For playbook diagramming, recruiting, video editing, and simple organizing and communicating, computers have changed the way coaches coach. “Computers and software help coaches be more productive and work in new ways,” according to Bruce Williams of BW Software. “For example, with playbook software, you save time by reusing your work and produce drawings that look better than you could have produced by hand. Once you have drawn a play, you can quickly duplicate the drawing and change parts of it to create another drawing instead of starting from scratch.”

The bottom line for coaches is efficiency and time management, according to Tammy Bertram of GamePrep Solutions. “Some may think a pencil and paper is an easier choice than a keyboard and monitor, but it's the latter that will free up your time as a coach, allowing you to reallocate it to your staff, players, and family. A great software solution for coaches should be easy to use, easy to understand, affordably priced, and above all else improve the efficiency of the coach.”

Stan Webber of Coach’s Office points out that today’s software is vastly better than early versions of coaching aids. “Software has improved dramatically in terms of functions and ease of use. Some software now offers a suite of modules, like Microsoft Office, that can perform multiple tasks such as drawing plays and saving them in a database, producing playbooks with built-in word processors, and building PowerPoint-like presentations with embedded digital video.”

COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

The ability of coaches to communicate with each other during the game changed dramatically with the advent of headset communications systems nearly half a century ago. Today’s systems are vastly improved and offer coaching staffs at all levels the capabilities once reserved for the pros. “Microprocessors and digital technologies have expanded the capabilities of sideline communication systems to the point where more coaches can interact instantaneously,” said John Hooper of Porta Phone. “Because a ‘winning idea’ can come from anyone, this capability can be the critical difference between winning and losing a game.”

Tom Turkington of CoachComm reinforces that a quality sideline communications system is indispensable to the winning coaching staff. “The pace and intensity of the game has really picked up in recent years,” noted Turkington. “To be competitive, coaches need to be able to pick up personnel changes, match-ups, tendencies, and much more all while making the right play call on every play. Quality sideline communications is absolutely critical for getting that done.”

Coach-to-player communication systems are an innovative way to give players one-on-one instruction during team practices. A coach’s headset-transmitter and a player’s receiver allow a coach to talk directly to a player without yelling and without disrupting the team. With up to 14 channels and a range of 200 yards, every position coach can be communicating and teaching their players, both starters and backups, before and after every snap of the ball. “From conversations with football coaches that are using the system, we’re finding out that coaches are discovering their own unique applications for communicating with their players and that the system is delivering results on many levels,” said Rick Meyer, President of RPM Sports, maker of the Telcommand system.

END ZONE VIDEO CAMERA

For teaching and training, the elevated end zone camera view is unbeatable. “With more and more coaches seeing the end zone view, they realize why it’s so valuable and such a great coaching tool,” said Mike Bokulich, President of U.S. Sports Video. “Since the evolution of the end zone camera more and more coaches are mixing end zone angles with the side line angles to get two different looks at the same play. It’s called ‘checkerboarding’,” according to Bokulich.

TEAM WEBSITE

You might not think that having a website devoted to your team is an essential technology tool. But consider how a website can save you time, promote your program and motivate your players. Websites are communication tools, according to Paul Bauersfeld, who's company provides free team websites to every high school football program in the country on usfootballnet.com. “With a dedicated team website, a coach can notify parents and players about important information such as meeting times, practice schedules or weight training,” said Bauersfeld. “A website is also a great way to promote your program in the community and with alumni. Plus, posting photos and articles about players can be a great motivational tool.”

For More Information on Technology

Product Key

1. Digital Video Editing Systems
2. Online Game Film Exchange
3. Software
4. Communication Systems
5. End Zone Video Cameras
6. Team Website

APEX Sports Software (1,3)
apexfootball.com

BW Software (1,3)
bwsoftware.com

CoachComm (1,3,4,5)
coachcomm.com

Coach’s Office (1,3)
coachesoffice.com

Game Film Solutions (1,2)
gamefilmsolutions.com

GamePrep Solutions (3)
gameprepsolutions.com

LRSSports Software (1,3)
lrssports.com

Porta Phone (4)
portaphone.com

RPM Sports (4)
telcommand.com

U.S. Sports Video (1,5)
ussportsvideo.com

Varsity Networks (6)
usfootballnet.com


WHAT'S NEXT?

What tech innovations will you be using in decades to come? One thing is certain – the technological devices that we use today will someday become obsolete as more powerful, more compact and cheaper products replace them. To give coaches a peek into the future, AFM asked industry experts to look into their crystal balls and give us their predictions about future technology developments that will help coaches become more efficient and effective in their jobs.

“In the future, computer hardware will be faster, cheaper, smaller and store more data. More coaches will be able to afford computer based video systems instead of using VCRs. High definition video will become pervasive. Wireless networking will have enough bandwidth to distribute video. Laptops will be able to store a whole seasons worth of video.”
- Bruce Williams, BW Software

“As the price of HD and HDV hardware comes down, this will become the accepted standard first at the professional, then college, then high school level as well. Standardizing the video format among all vendors will be a key. There is a movement now to move to MXF to exchange video and data.”
- Ron Wojcicki, LRSSports

“Sideline communications has been evolving rapidly over the past several years. Future systems will allow coaches to communicate more effectively by utilizing Digital Signal Processors running advanced noise suppression algorithms to remove crowd noise and other distracting sounds that hamper intelligibility, allowing coaches to hear every word even during high stress situations.”
- Tom Turkington, CoachComm

“Within five to ten years, we’ll see wireless receivers, which can be removed for games, integrated into helmets for all players, allowing coaches direct one-to-one communication during practices.”
- Rick Meyer, RPM Sports

“In the near future there will be training of football players in a Virtual Reality CAVE. I’ve seen it and it’s incredible. (Note: More information about how the University of Michigan has developed a Virtual Reality CAVE football trainer can be found at www-vrl.umich.edu/project/football/index.)
- Stan Webber, Coach’s Office

“Ten years from now digital technologies will continue to find their way into the football arena. The challenge for coaches will be for them to limit the reach of technology to the point where players, their preparation and effort, not the technological superiority of coaching staffs, determines who wins championships.”
- John Hooper, Porta Phone

“Digital video systems will be available that take practice and game footage directly to hard drives, eliminating the need to transfer images.”
- Mike Bokulich, U.S. Sports Video

“The new digital editing systems may have features that will allow opponents to access the video directly over the internet, share cutups through emails and possibly over cell phones. It's all about time and productivity.”
- Frank Girardi, APEX Sports Software

“The coaches of tomorrow will push software companies to develop applications that are far more detailed simply because they are living in a world with more sophisticated computing. The fear factor is diminishing.”
- Tammy Bertram, GamePrep Solutions


Turf TV: Biggest of the Big Screens

“Imagine being able to change the lines of a football field to the lines of a soccer field. No more removal of painted lines and logos, just a few strokes on a computer keyboard.”
- Sportexe President and CEO Mark Nicholls

So, you’re pretty proud of your new 50” flat-screen TV? Just imagine a 4,728” display. How is that possible? One day soon you’ll see when synthetic turf manufacturer Sportexe introduces its new infill turf system that incorporates fiber optic technology, allowing video-like images to actually be displayed on a football field. It’s been dubbed “Turf TV” and it’s been under development by Sportexe for more than five years. “We waited four years in silence developing the technology and waiting for the patent before we would talk to anyone and risk losing our idea and it has been two years since we received our patent on this,” said Sportexe President and CEO Mark Nicholls.

The turf system blends fiber optics with blades of synthetic grass to enable projection of images on parts of or across an entire field. Computer-controlled panels underneath the field will transmit light through the fibers and allow operators, with the touch of a button, to turn the field into a giant Jumbotron.

According to Nicholls, the day is approaching when fans in a stadium will see a giant American flag waving on the field during the national anthem, a yellow first-down line that moves as an offense advances or a car commercial at halftime. “All these things are possible and realistic. We have working prototypes and some of the best minds in the industry are making this a reality.”

The Turf TV field will also save the facility time and money when configuring the field for different sports. “Imagine being able to change the lines of a football field to the lines of a soccer field. No more removal of painted lines and logos, just a few strokes on a computer keyboard,” said Nicholls.






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