During my 20% research this week, I discovered Hudl has a youtube channel called Hudl Studios. I watched my first of what I am sure will be many Hudl Studio videos, this particular one focusing on the ability to create your playbook using Hudl. Today, many NFL teams distribute their playbook using an iPad instead of handing out a hard copy in binders that can be overwhelming for young players. Hudl wants to offer that same feature for high schools and colleges that use their program. Hudl can allow teams to streamline the way in which they organize their plays by series, situation, or formation. By distributing a playbook on Hudl, players can see a visual representation of the play and their assignment, and then can click on the play and watch it unfold in a previous season. This applies to the learning needs of all student athletes by providing the information in multiple forms. As a coach, I obviously worry about the fear of information being hacked or the student athlete that transfers to the rival school and share the playbook with the enemy. Hudl has a plan in place to prevent this, and controls who can see and download certain information. Hudl is saving coaches nationwide more time on administrative tasks and allowing them to focus more on the actual coaching duties. Here is the link to the video since I know many of you are also coaches... and Hudl is for more than just football! See the video below!
Before I go further into looking at how technology can aid coaching, I wanted to get a more broad sense of the some ways that technology is impacting the game of football itself. In reading BleacherReport.com's article (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1643602-how-technology-continues-to-reshape-the-way-football-is-played-in-the-nfl), there are a number of ways technology will continue to change the game. You know that yellow line you see on TV that represents a first down? Soon, you will be able to see the same line on the field when you are at the stadium with the use of a laser.
Another way technology is going to change the game is that players' movements will eventually be digitalized so that you aren't actually watching film when they show you a replay. The company EyeScout, which has previously paired with the military to recreate soldiers' movements, will allow you to zoom in on the quarterback's hand and watch a digitalized image of the actual play on the field in a much finer detail. This will allow cameras to give the perception that they have every angle of every play, when in reality images will be able to be recreated digitally in a much clearer picture. A final potential area of focus beyond technology affecting football coaches is the way technology already is and must continue to make the game of football safer, specifically with concussions. The much feared and publicized Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) has gained momentum over the last few years as the scar that is left on the brain when a player suffers a concussion. Within the next 10 years, Ithaca professor of Exercise and Sports Sciences fully expects concussions to be diagnosed immediately through the use of technology with various sensors inside of helmets that measure the amount of force in an impact; and also a recognition of the needed chemicals in a brain that a player is lacking when they are concussed. I played with a concussion in high school. Anybody who loves the game has (NFL players do it every Sunday). But that's what needs to be re-taught. The braver thing to do now is admit you have a concussion and take yourself out of the game. Technology must be used to educate players about the dangers of concussions so that the game that so many love won't soon be placed on life support. If I were given 20% of my time to use technology to learn about something that I am passionate about, I would want to find ways in which technology itself can help me become a better football coach. Those outside of high school football would be surprised to know that game film is now most often broken down using a website called Hudl, which players and coaches have access to 24/7. Hudl has made both players and coaches' lives easier by allowing review of the previous game and scouting of the next game to take place in the "cloud". Coaches can write notes to players about what they did well and what they can improve upon on a certain play, and players are able to self-critique, or more accurately drool over themselves, whenever they choose to. Hudl also gives student athletes the chance to create "highlight playlists" that can be sent to college coaches at a every major college football program in the country. As you would probably guess by the name, Hudl was originally created specifically for football, the company has expanded to now have programs for other major sports like basketball, volleyball, track and lacrosse. Hudl has given coaches across the country to have many teachable moments with their students athletes.
With my 20% project, I will not only want to learn more about the various features Hudl offers, but also how other forms of technology are impacting the game. For example, in talking with an assistant principal at San Dieguito Academy, the CIF San Diego Section will begin allowing the use of iPads on the sideline in all sports beginning this Fall. I hope to learn not only more about the game of football, but other ways that technology is making coaching a more efficient passion. |