Coach's Technology Toolbox

Every year I work in this game I run across a couple of products that aid me in my coaching. I thought I would try to put them together in this list.

1. Ps2- The old steady eddy for me. It costs about 45 dollars today and works like a charm as a commando remote system. Simply drop the DVD in and you are off to the races. I like the ps2 for its portability and price point. When I am at home I use the PS3 which blows the PS2 out of the water but is still too expensive for me to throw in my back pack and bring to films.

2. VLC Media Player-Free media player that plays almost anything. I like this product b/c it allows me to take screen shots of film and drop them into PowerPoint. Additionally, you can record segments of a game if you would like too and they are saved in a windows friendly format.

3. Any Video Converter- A great free program that can be found on filehippo. You can convert your video files into almost any format with this freeware program. Additionally, it will easily record and transcribe video off of Youtube.

4. 3d Play book-One of my newest acquisitions but one that I absolutely love. It replaces the chalkboard and allows a coach to very easily accomplish the same thing on screen that looks similar to a Madden game. A coach can draw the play for his players and then have the digital players move on the field according to the lines that have been attached to them. Additionally, the program allows you to take screenshots of plays and drop the file into to PowerPoint.

5. Helmet Camera-I acquired a helmet camera about a year ago and it has been awesome. the camera sits on the inside of the facemask and records what the player sees. When you couple this video with the wide and tight shot it really adds to the ability for a coach to instruct a player on the finer details of a play. This camera is excellent for 7 on 7, 11 on 11, and inside run.

6. End Zone Camera-We bought our first end zone camera last year from a company called Endzonecamera.com. The product is excellent and worth every penny we paid for it. During the season last year there were multiple times when our camera was up and running in five minutes and the other team's end zone camera was sitting there collecting dust. The controls on the camera are extremely easy to use. The total setup time for this camera is five minutes and it takes about that long to teach someone how to use.

7. External Hard Drive- I bought an external hard drive last year that gets it power from the USB cord. After buying this type of external hard drive I will never buy one that needs an external power source to run.

8. Evernote-This is a cloud based product that allows a coach to place a myriad of items on it. I used it twice today. The first time was a practice today when we were running kick off return. During KOR a player had a question about their blocking assignment and I was able to pull up the blocking assignment on my Smartphone to show the assignment to the player and describe to them what they were supposed to do on KOR. The second time I used the product today was when I was preparing my notes for this blog entry. I hit the microphone button and talked about the topics. When I was ready to write this entry, I simply pulled up Evernote on my phone and hit the playback button to listen to my ideas that I had developed prior to the writing of this article

9. Join Me-Another free program that gives people the ability to view your desktop. I used it this week when I was instructing my qb on read keys for our quick game. Additionally, you can give the person you shared the desktop with access to your computer if you feel so inclined.

10. Watchgamefilm-I use this program on a regular and consistent basis. It is an excellent program to house video, pictures, word document, PowerPoints, and other football related files. I have worked with the guys from Watchgamefilm for several years and they have always been amazing to work with when and if an issue arises. The other nice part of this program is it sends alerts to your players when a particular file is ready for their viewing. If you are looking for an alternative to other football video sharing sites this one can't be beat for the price($99/ year)

11. Tversity-If you have a PS3 and you have your video files housed on your computer, this program will give you the ability to watch your video files on the PS3. I like this program because it is extremely easy to setup and easy to use.