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AFM Magazine

AFM Magazine


Complete Coach

21st Century Football Coach
by: Rod Smith
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As a coach, your time is not only valuable, it's also restricted. And with a finite number of hours in a day, you can only accomplish so much. While many of your daily obligations - such as family, school and boosters - have little or nothing to do with coaching, these obligations force you to become more effective during the short stretches of time when you actually get to focus on coaching.

With this in mind, how can you both save and manage your timemore efficiently? The answer lies in two words: technology and computers. By employing several simple, easy-to-use technological or computer software advances, you can not only save time and better manage your far-flung coaching duties but also improve your teaching abilities and efficiency.

WHY TECHNOLOGY, AND HOW?

Whether you like it or not, we live in a fast-paced, digital society. Even a throw-back coach like Saints head man Mike Ditka uses a laptop computer to prepare for each game. This season, Ditka's offensive players got their weekly game plans off their laptops, not out of a traditional playbook. While your school may not have the progressive-minded administration, the computer-savvy staff or the deep-pocketed budget to do what Ditka and the Saints have done, there are other technological solutions that coaches at all levels can enjoy.

But where do you start? And how easy will it be to use the technology once you have it? From play-drawing software to computer-assisted scouting reports, there are hundreds, if not thousands of products on the market that promise to save you time and improve your chances of winning. Whatever you do, don't wait until July or August to purchase new software or computer equipment. Just like scouting next week's opponent, doing your homework and research on products to benefit your program will take more than a week. A hurried decision in August will probably do little to help you win a district game in October. Call the companies you are interested in or check out their websites. If you jump in too quickly, you may wind up with a product you won't use. And that, according to SimpleLife's Sherry Griffin, is not going to benefit anyone.

"We believe that all coaches should be able to use their software, not just buy it and put it on a shelf," said Griffin, who, along with her husband, have been trying to simplify coaches' lives with software applications since January 1997. "Whether it's our product or someone else's, you're not going to get the most out of it if you don't take the time to learn it."

According to Griffin, SimpleLife's No. 1 goal has always been to create software beneficial to every coach. The company's first product was PlayBook Power: Ultimate Xs and Os, a program that now includes play-drawing (with animation); drill-drawing; rosters; inventory; strength and speed-training; game plans; practice schedules; game schedules; scouting; statistics; and tendency reports. A similar youth league version comes without the scouting, statistics and tendency reports.

Recently, the company has tried to simplify things even more for coaches by creating an Internet site (www.coachingclinics.com) that provides a state-by-state list of coaching clinics and sports camps. "We found that coaches will drive clear across the country to see a certain speaker," Griffin said. "But if that speaker was somewhere closer, and (the coach) knew about it, he would attend that clinic."

Being able to access clinic and camp information at the click of button will save coaches time. Another Internet site that will help high school coaches save time and manage their team's statistics is Instasports.com. Launched in November of 1998 by AWS, Inc., the parent corporation of AirWatch (the Worldwide School Weather Network), this interactive site is a local high school sports reporting resource. Instasports not only reports the whole story on each game and player, it gives you the power to view information the way you want. This includes game results; individual performances; game schedules, directions and cancellations; current local weather conditions; and highlights and historical information. Coaches, players, students, fans or parents can act as reporters for the site. Once an Instasports reporter enters the raw data, you can analyze your team and even prepare them for upcoming opponents.

According to Andy Jedynak, the director of product for Instasports, the software fueling the site was designed by coaches as a unique and powerful tool for analyzing their teams.

"Really, Instasports is an analytical tool into which coaches can put their raw stats and be able to do analysis on their team's performance," said Jedynak, who feels the site and software will also help teams get the media attention they deserve. "It really is, in that sense, a full stats package."

GO DIGITAL, SAVE TIME

If you're like most football coaches, you utilize video tape sessions to prepare your team for its next opponent. But with all the fast-forwarding and rewinding, how much time do you actually spend watching video footage? Wouldn't your team be better prepared and your players more interested if they only had to watch what you wanted them to watch? You bet they would. And they can with the help of a digital video editing system. Such a system takes the actual game tape and stores it on a computer hard drive. This allows you, at the click of the button, to create custom cut-ups based on criteria that you select so that your players can study their own individual tapes at home.

One coach who uses digital technology successfully is John Amabile of Neptune (N.J.) High School. His team has won three state championships in the last four years and has been the No. 1 defensive team in the school's 44-team conference over that same time frame. Amabile, who digitizes the video himself, makes tapes for each of his starters and coaches.

"It doesn't change the way that you coach, but (the digital video system) is a tremendous time-saver," said Amabile, whose team now scouts opponents with video cameras. "The computer allows you the time where normally you'd be going crazy, going back and forth, reviewing and reviewing. Once the video is in (the computer) and you tag it properly, it's just enormous what you can get out of it.

"Our kids are almost able to call the football play as it is happening. I attribute that to the very fact that they are able to study tape on their own. Every one of my coaches gets a tape to take home on Sunday. They get all their grading done and by Monday morning, all the players grades are on the bulletin board."

The system Amabile uses is the Digital Video Editing and Scouting System for Football by LRS Sports, a relatively new player in the sports software market that has been developing, marketing and supporting software internationally since 1981. LRS developed its first sports-oriented software four seasons ago after they identified a void in the sports software market.

"One of the things that differentiates us is that we were the first company to create an integrated system so that you didn't have to have a separate scouting system and a separate editing system," said LRS's Bill Kelly. "Basically, you enter the data one time and, using the data that you've entered, you can go make any tapes that you want. Or you can go in and look at scouting reports. Then, of course, while you're looking at scouting reports, you can drill down and get back to the video that's behind the scouting reports. It's totally integrated and one doesn't even exist without the other."

Whether you're using the LRS version or other digital editing software from companies like Quik Scout or Avid Sports, chances are you'll like not only the time-saving features but also the versatility of digital editing. Plays can be specified by formation, back set, play name and other criteria. Once you've stored several games on the computer, you can access plays from an individual game, several games or the game of your choice. Instant video access allows for the creation of a video with the criteria you supply (e.g. all pro-set formations) in just a few minutes. And the quality of the video is always first-generation, meaning no more fuzzy, worn-out game tapes.

Digital video editing not only saves you time, it also helps you to scout your opponents and yourself. If you want to find out what your opponent does on 3rd and long, the computer will tell you. Do you want your players to see? Make a printout for each of them. Or at the team meeting, click a button and the computer will play the video clip for you. This immediate visual reinforcement will shorten your players' learning curves.

What are your team's tendencies? Do you always use a particular formation on third down? Tendencies can be broken down by hash, field position, down and distance and numerous other criteria. The possibilities are almost limitless. Which is something that can be both a blessing and a hassle.

"What we want primarily are formations," said Amabile who teaches his own players how to tag plays for future scouting tapes. "We want to know what they do out of certain formations on the run and what they like to do out of certain formations on the pass."

This knowledge allows Amabile to use the system as a learning resource for his younger players. "As a teaching tool, it's great because the young kids can see first-hand what the varsity kids are doing, and they've got a tape to look at," Amabile said. "You can go and diagram on a chalkboard until you're blue in the face, but when a kid is able to see that "32 outside" and see it over and over - maybe six or seven times how it's run properly - it becomes a great teaching tool."

AUTOMATE YOUR PLAYBOOK

Another way you can save time is by automating your playbook. A number of companies make football playbook software that are compatible with either Windows or MacIntosh-based computers. These programs allow you to draw your plays and formations the same way you used to on overheads, but they eliminate the repetitiveness of drawing the same formation over and over.

With a click of a button, you can add field position, hash marks, or you can flip the play around to show its variations. Text can be added to include names and specific instructions for your players. Offensive as well as defensive plays can be drawn in the same system. Make printouts of the entire playbook or select specific plays that you want your players to focus on. The choice is yours. Better yet, when you need to update the playbook next season, make the changes to the original and then simply print it out.

One example of such football playbook software is Playmaker Pro by BW Software. According to Bruce Williams, who started producing the software 11 years ago, coaches often find more uses for the program than simple playbook creation. "Coaches often buy the software with the playbook in mind, but they find out once they have it, it is useful for a whole bunch of other things. (Coaches) can make handouts for practice or cards to hold over their head when they do drills in practice."

From the NFL to the NCAA, and from the high school ranks to the youth leagues, coaches at all levels have provided Williams with valuable feedback on how to improve his software. PlayMaker Pro allows you to create handouts, enlarge plays for drill cards, and give presentations or animations with one simple click and without having to do redraw the plays.

"Football coaches want to create better looking playbooks and handouts in less time," said Williams, whose company makes similar products for basketball, hockey and soccer. "Their true love is coaching, not computing. Because of that, we try to keep the product simple so they're not overwhelmed by a bunch of stuff they don't need."

RECRUITING MANAGEMENT

For coaches at the collegiate level faced with the daunting task of recruiting and all of its legislative and administrative pitfalls, there are software programs that track everything from the standard biographical data to the last time a recruit was contacted. Some even store video clips, allowing coaches to analyze a player on the field as well as on paper. Moreover, consolidating your recruiting efforts can save you time, make the process more efficient, and allow your coaches to take important recruiting information with them on the road.

The Recruiter by Cybersports is an example of this type of recruiting software. This database program allows coaches to track the entire recruiting process. From phone calls to official visits, and from compliance concerns to correspondence, the program records everything. The Recruiter provides immediate access to personal, academic and athletic information and has the ability to rank players using the program's report and listing capabilities. The database's network application allows all coaches on the staff immediate access to complete recruiting data.

Cybersports Marketing Director Candice Hobin says the software will soon come equipped with a data synchronization ability to allow additions or changes made by coaches on the road to immediately be available to everyone accessing the database. For now, accessibility, ease of usage and support are the program's strong points.

"If a coach has made a phone call to a prospect, it will be on the computer and another coach can access all the comments from that call without having to track down the person who made that phone call," Hobin said.

STATISTICS

Keeping your team's statistics in a regular database will allow you to make weekly adjustments quickly, but may not give you the team or individual reports you are looking for. There are many statistical software programs on the market. One is PowerStats by Holly Software, which allows you to create team and player summaries for any set of games. While other statistic packages may permit only single-game or entire-season summaries, Power Stats allows you to create statistical summaries for home or away games, conference games - you decide.

TICKETING

Granted, selling tickets is not a process that you, as a coach, are normally involved in directly. But if nobody buys tickets, you will undoubtedly find yourself out of a job. By managing and printing your own tickets, your athletic department can save both time and money. All you need is PC-based ticketing software. Ticketing software gives you complete control of the process, reduces wasted ticket stock, results in fewer errors, improves customer service, and gives staffers the ability to handle multiple events or ticket sales increases. Moreover, this software creates a ticket-buyer database, thus assisting your administrative staff with their marketing efforts. Whether you sell 100 or 100,000 tickets, you will know who is attending your games.

One example of PC-based ticket software is TicketStop's TicketMaker[TM] Professional for Windows. This is a base-level package that provides flexibility and ease of use. "(TicketMaker) is intuitive as far as usage," said Jocelyn Ewert, who helps market the company's six software programs and on-line ticket services. "Many times at the high school level, you'll be dealing with volunteer parents or students that are always changing. It's so easy to learn - a couple of hours and you're good to go."

Purchased earlier this year by the Internet-based company Tickets.com, future versions of TicketMaker will incorporate online ticket sales. A free demo of the current TicketMaker software can be downloaded from the company's web page (www.ticketstop.com).

PUT OPPONENTS IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND

If you are looking for a versatile, time-efficient means of scouting, you may want to consider purchasing a palm-held computer system. Pocket-sized computers are easy to transport, and with the aid of available scouting software, can be used virtually anywhere. Enter information about an upcoming opponent from the sideline, scout your own team during practice, or simply use the hand-held while you break down conventional videotape. One example of hand-held scouting software compatible with both Windows and MacIntosh is made by Digital Scout.

By combining scouting reports with hand-held technology, Digital Scout has crafted a coaching tool that will save you time and, in theory, help you win the battle of preparation. The Digital Scout software allows you to input your own terminology and do so with a point and touch data entry system. Place the hand-held computer in its cradle, synchronize it with your computer at the touch of a button, and the software can generate offensive and defensive reports. A sample offensive report not only includes running and passing tendencies, but it also scouts the opponent by down and distance; hash mark tendencies; field position; formations; down and distance by formation; and it gives a summary of big plays.

According to vice-president Jim Emery, who coached for 18 years, it's Digital Scout's plethora of reports that sets it apart from similar scouting software.

"Being former coaches, we produce the reports that coaches can use," Emery said. "We use a lot of visuals, not just a bunch of statistics and graphs. The format of what we produce is one of the keys to our success."

Eventually, Emery says, coaches will be able to merge the hand-held generated scouting reports with digital video editing technology.

FOOTBALL'S DIGITAL FUTURE

Even Sam Covault, president of Athle-Tech Computer Systems, which introduced the first analog and digital editing systems and the first game analysis programs, thinks football professionals have just begun to sample the fruits of the digital cornucopia.

"Many technologies are developed outside of education and football that eventually become applicable," said Covault, whose dissertation at Ohio State University focused on game analysis using a mainframe computer. "The football market itself is never going to be big enough for a technology to be developed just for it, but there is certain applicability with some far-reaching technologies from outside."

For example, technologies that involve game simulation and voice recognition. In professional baseball, simulators have already been used to help players visually simulate hitting against certain pitchers. And Covault's company experimented with voice recognition a few years ago. Instead of typing in information or even pointing and clicking, a coach would simply have to speak into a microphone, and the computer would record the appropriate data. But making these technologies applicable is the biggest challenge until coaches develop more technology savvy and prices come down.

"As the costs come down, (the technology) will go out into the rest of the (football) industry," said Covault, who thinks the digital technology will eventually reach even the high school ranks. "There's technology that exists now, but it's not really in the mainstream. As it gets better and cheaper, it will permeate out."






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