It’s a different world down on the football field today than it was 10 years ago.
Suspended cameras put fans right in the middle of the action, live-editing graphics makes following plays and first downs easier, but the most innovative upgrade to most of the games is one fans will probably never see, and for good reason. Tucked away in the grasp of the coach, shared only with the eyes of the star player, is probably a tablet that showcases, in high-definition, the next play to be run from numerous angles. Aesthetics aside, numerous apps have been developed for coaches, giving them as much control over the game as surgeons in the operating room. In a world where the NFL now has an official tablet partnership with Windows, the tablet is of ever-growing importance in sports.
Here’s a look at how tablets are changing the landscape of coaching not just for football, but the entirety of sports.
The key phases of coaching are recruiting, pre-game, in-game, post-game as well as team and individual player progress. Keeping track of all of these variables is becoming less of a daunting task and is moving away from being a “gut-feeling” profession, into a more quantifiable process, resulting in direct actionable steps to improvement.
With the Microsoft Surface, the NFL finds on the sidelines a tablet that allows coaches to continue their workflows and utilize the same applications that they do on their desktops. With the iPad and its Android-based competitors, their apps are separate from their desktop counterparts, if not unique to the platform.
Starting with an app like iScoutPad, coaches are able to use their tablet to keep a running tally of the strengths and weaknesses of potential recruits and match them up with that of their already established teams to see how well they may fit. Once a player has been chosen, the GameChanger app is the place where you keep the team’s individual statistics for comparison and the ability to zero in on a problem area.
For pre-game needs, Coach’s Eye makes it easy to catch video during practice (or a game) and focus on a problematic stance or form, or to illustrate where a player should’ve went left instead of right, by being able to mark the video TV commentator style. As a coach you know that sometimes the best way to drive a point home is when you can provide a visual aid, and show your players exactly where they need to make changes.
In-game applications are probably the most popular to use, giving you that almost futuristic feel we all have when we’re doing something other than playing games on our tablet. Coachbase and First Down are the apps coaches use to draw up plays, move players around and start from scratch when nothing else seems to be working. Skip the dry-erase board, pen and pad, or imagining little dots in the palm of the hand, this is the go-to for making sure team members are on the same page.
And finally, for post-game, the Hudl app lets coaches take film from the previous game, make annotations at particular points of interest and then distribute to players digitally. This is the perfect app for the heat of the season, when they have a busy schedule and need to get notes and critiques out as soon as possible so that they can be discussed in the meeting or practice prior to the next game.
The strength, and difference, of the tablet-oriented approach to traditional methods of coaching is almost purely administrative, but it alleviates so much time and effort by providing it all in one clear, detailed and easily accessible, mobile location. Coaches can now have an impromptu meeting anywhere, with stats and footage a finger swipe away. While it may seem miniscule, it frees coaches to do the truly important work of pouring into the players, and with laser-focused accuracy, get to the root of the obstacles that impede them from playing their best game.