There is a company in Nebraska called Hudl and it has put video footage of 14,000 high schools into servers rented from Amazon.
Hudl has grown into a multimillion-dollar business. Teams are using apps like GameChanger, which puts out scores and stats, and provides recaps of games and players.
Another app, called Coach's Eye, is for split-second analysis of sports moves. These are some of the options out there for coaches, players, parents and anyone who needs to get information for practically every aspect of sports.
In the South, these apps have become a tool for coaches and players. There are videos of teams and of high school football games leading the way of this digital boom. Some Midwest high schools have decided to invest in some of the options that are offered for athletics, a means of scouting, and even to showcase a player. The state of Texas and its high school football team programs lead the way in the use of this technology.
Many of these apps can provide video for coaches, players, parents and regular fans, enabling them to critique strategies and performances of players and teams, which all provide a new method for everyone to scout an opponent.
The old days when coaches would exchange game film has become a thing of the past. High school coaches used to travel for hours to exchange film. That is now a thing of the past, at least in Texas. Some of this footage is recorded with the use of drones— not kidding.
Some coaches have said that their players would come into practice with scouting reports. Many of these coaches are amazed at how the game is changing.
These videos can be sent into the cloud-computing services, like Hudl, quickly and cheaply. This new digital explosion is growing across the country and it's becoming common place on the social media, like Facebook and YouTube.
But this technology has gone beyond scouting, viewing and showcasing future college prospects. It also is being used with football hardware, like helmets.
Riddell, a leading maker of football helmets has invented a net, a hairnet, so to speak, that can be placed inside of a helmet. This net has a sensor mechanism weaved into it, which measures impact. The cost of this new techno-net is $150. So far Riddell has outfitted 3,600 helmets nationally. With the sale of the helmet insert, the company has also sold to 172 teams a $200 monitor for tracking head impacts. The monitor can be set for different levels of the game: high school, college and professional.
Companies, such as Hudl, now work with 18 sports besides football. It amazes me that in the constantly changing world of technology, it has now taken a giant leap into the world of sports.
Is it good for sports?
I guess the jury is still out. But in the modern era of the 21st century, why would anyone be surprised? There are so many forms of training that can be downloaded for all sports.
If you want to coach a certain sport, like basketball, you can learn an awful lot through a simple download. If you're a player/athlete and you need to prepare yourself with drills and techniques for any particular sport, just go online.
Preparation for a sport, whether as a player or coach, and a chance to see what the opponent does, is at one's finger tips on the keyboard. This stuff is something out of a Star Wars movie.
Just think how, through the use of a computer, a coach could operate a drone, and scout his opponent from the “friendly skies.”
This stuff is just beginning, and I like the idea of what it can do relative to the advancement of sports. The replay “thing” that many were against in professional baseball, may well be that so-called technology as archaic as a VCR.
I see no roadblocks in crossing over with the technology boom and into the world of sports. Whatever happened to transistors, or even better yet, the rotary phone?
Who doesn't have cell phone technology at their fingertips now?
Hold onto your seat. We are all in for a great unusual ride. Watch a few GoPro sports videos and you will get a good look into the sport of choice for a real ride!
