Back when Mark Stewart played football at the University of Washington, film sessions were pretty basic.
Players set up a projector, grabbed a couple rolls of film and watched a few dozen plays of themselves and their upcoming opponent. The sessions weren’t particularly efficient because there was no way to organize plays by formation or scenario.
Oh, how things have changed.
Stewart, a first team All-American linebacker at Washington who played for the Huskies from 1979-1982 and spent two seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, is beginning his ninth season as Meadowdale High School’s head football coach. Like other prep coaches, Stewart uses video-editing technology and other tools to help his team prepare for games.
Improvements like wireless headsets helped coaches, but nothing has had a greater impact than video-editing products, Stewart said. They let coaches slice and dice game films into specific, useful categories, making video sessions more efficient and productive. For example, in less than 20 seconds Stewart can cue up every veer formation play from a particular game film.
Stewart has had his editing system about six years and is satisfied with what it does. But newer programs have a voice-recognition input system and allow coaches to quickly compile detailed scouting reports on their opponent.
High-tech preparation has become the rule in prep football, not the exception.
“Everybody has some type of video breakdown system,” Stewart said.
The main benefits are saving time and identifying an opponent’s tendencies, said Lake Stevens head coach Tom Tri.
This season Tri is using a new video-editing program. He expects it to be a big improvement over what the team used before.
“It’s doing the hard work for you so it’s allowing you to focus your energy and attention to detail on other things,” said Tri.
The new program, which has a voice-recognition option for labeling plays, is exciting but also scary, Tri said. He worries that he might invest more time in the long run because it has so many functions.
“It’s overwhelming right now but it’s going to be great,” Tri said. “It’s going to do everything that we’ve always done in less than half the time, and it will do more than we’ve ever done.”
Here’s an example of how Tri can use the video-editing system to give his team an edge on defense: a timer on the video screen shows how long an opposing quarterback waits before throwing a pass. Said Tri, “If a kid’s averaging more than three seconds, then we’ll blitz that week. If a kid’s going to get rid of it real quick on average, then we’re going to drop seven or eight into coverage.”
Editing programs aren’t cheap. Lake Stevens paid about $4,500 for its new one. Snohomish head coach Mark Perry said he spent $7,000 on his system. Coaches pay for the equipment with money generated by team fund-raisers.
Another benefit of using the fast-paced video-editing systems, coaches said, is that it’s easier to keep players’ attention. In addition, it’s relatively simple for players to create highlight reel DVDs and send them to college coaches.
Stewart embraces other tech tools too. During practice he records particular sequences with a digital camera. If a player does something wrong, Stewart can immediately call the player over and replay the clip for a quick lesson.
Technology clearly helps, but it won’t make a bad team beat a good one.
“It’s just a teaching tool,” Stewart said. “But the important part is you still have to teach and the game is still the game. It’s still blocking and tackling and execution, so if you can help enhance that a little bit, then that technology helps.”
Writer Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at www.heraldnet.com/doubleteam.
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