Why – And How – To Use Video Technology: A Quick Guide for Coaches

Vital Tool For Coaches
Research has shown that coaches recall around 45% of incidents within a game.  This means that they miss more than half of what happens which is a significant chunk.  Having a backup in the form of a video of the match provides one with the possibility of calmly re-watching a game and the luxury of noting down what worked or what didn’t during the game.

These pointers can then be shared with the players – again with the aid of video – highlighting areas which need to be worked on with the visual element being a key teaching tool.

Look At Other Teams
If you want your team to press the ball like Bayern Munich, then video provides you with the

opportunity of highlighting exactly the movements that players make at different moments of the game.  This helps you when you are out on the training pitch because players already have a mental image of what you want them to achieve.

Music Is Important
For most ‘adults’ music in video – particularly highlights packages – might seem like an afterthought yet for kids this is a vital component.  In research it often comes up how the music influences their actions and the impact that it has when coupled with a video of themselves playing (for example).  There are two sides to this.  The first is that if you really want young players to get into such analysis then you have to make sure that there is music they like couple to it.  The flip side is that you have to be careful that it doesn’t pump them up too much, especially straight before a game, as they could go on to the pitch over-excited.

Experiment With Technology
As with most technology, recording equipment that once used to cost thousands of dollars can now be bought for a couple of hundred at most.  This means that the technology to implement video analysis is within most people’s budgets.  It also means that people

shouldn’t necessarily limit themselves to the traditional means of having a parent or volunteer record games.  There is more scope than ever before to be creative in one’s approach.

Cameras like those that are available by GO Pro can be put up at certain key points on the training pitch in order to view each action from different angles.  Similarly, these can be worn by players to provide them with the ability to rewatch footage from their training session and, as a result, the ability to discuss their performance (and the options that were open to them) from their point of view.

Those are just two ideas but it requires a coach who can think up of new ideas in order to come up with new ways to utilise the power that is now available to them.

Find Help in Editing Games
In Blueprint for Football’s interview with Simon Middlemas, the author of “The impact of video-based practice on the development of elite youth footballers” (his doctoral thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy of Loughborough University) he put forward an idea that many should look into.

“The best practice I have seen recently has been in New Zealand where I am currently based. We run a graduate diploma in performance analysis. The students film and code domestic rugby competitions and load the coded highlight videos onto a publically available forum.” 

“The coaches get free feedback from their games, and their opponent’s games, in the form of coded highlights (e.g. tries, scrums, lineouts and so on) and can chose to do what they want with that (e.g. feed it back to players, analyse their opponents, analyse parents’ behaviour etc)."

“Every local club has a local university or college and an untapped resource of sport science students looking for placement hours.”