Aug. 20, 2006
BELLINGHAM, Wash. -
JOE SUNNEN, BELLINGHAM HERALD
It's the 10th day of training camp for the Western Washington University football team and the defense is installing a blitz package.
It's a classroom learning session before their afternoon practice, the second of the day. Most of the players are dressed in shorts and sweatshirts, looking a little weary from the grind of camp, but interested in the lesson.
Each player has a playbook opened to the X's and O's page that corresponds to that day's lesson. Some have notebooks already filled with information.
It doesn't take long to realize this is not the way Vince Lombardi taught the game of football.
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It's the 10th day of training camp for the Western Washington University football team and the defense is installing a blitz package.
It's a classroom learning session before their afternoon practice, the second of the day. Most of the players are dressed in shorts and sweatshirts, looking a little weary from the grind of camp, but interested in the lesson.
Each player has a playbook opened to the X's and O's page that corresponds to that day's lesson. Some have notebooks already filled with information.
It doesn't take long to realize this is not the way Vince Lombardi taught the game of football.
WWU head coach Robin Ross stands in front of the auditorium-style seats at the head of the classroom, remote control in hand, moving through the same information that is in the playbooks, but now shown on a movie theater-sized screen.
With the touch of a bottom, a red line appears on the screen, indicating the defensive end's assignment. Another squiggle appears on the screen while Ross talks about the way a linebacker should line up.
Assistant coach Greg Malo keeps one eye on a laptop computer while Ross scrolls through the information and another eye on the team to make sure the players are paying attention. On this day it's not an issue, most of the players are taking notes. Another laptop designated for football use sits at the same desk nearby.
"You walk into a classroom and this how they teach these days," Ross said. "You can't just say this is football and draw it up on a chalkboard because that's how we've done it for 100 years. That's not the best way to do it anymore."
WESTERN EMBRACING MULTIMEDIA
When Ross started coaching football nearly three decades ago at Long Beach State University practices weren't filmed, game tape was shown on a reel-to-reel projector and a coach's fingertips were just as likely to be holding a chalk stick as they would a whistle.
"Things have changed a lot since then," Ross said. "In athletics you either need to be with it or ahead of it. Now you have to try to go outside the box even more. You try to get that edge."
Over the past six months, WWU has starting looking for that advantage through a myriad of multimedia devices.
The university recently invested in a state-of-the-art digital film system for the team that can store thousands of plays and retrieve each in a split second. A computerized recruiting database has been created to track prep athletes from around the state and the nation at the touch of a button.
Where there were once one or two computers for the coaching staff there is now one on nearly every desk in the football office.
Call it the age of electronics for Western athletics.
"One of our big goals is to teach the players how to study the game," Ross said. "Anything that you can do that will make that easier is a good thing."
Digital Sports Video, a national company that specializes in the software, created the program Western is using. Some of the more interesting features that it includes are on-demand play cut-ups, the ability to draw routes or other visuals on top of game film and an easy interface and video capture systems.
Coaches can access the system from anywhere on campus through a linked hard drive.
Ross and his staff also create Power Point presentations for the players to watch during classroom learning sessions. Together with game film and playbook learning, it reinforces all the points the coaches are trying to teach two, three and four times in a short meeting.
"What we did before was study tape, and it worked, but this way it's just a lot more effective," senior James Monrean said. "Now we break down the material a lot more than in the past. Before we were just doing cut-ups with VCRs. Now we can really analyze things. I think you need something like this with everything that's out there."
Ross also is hoping players will have an easier time paying attention to what the coaches are trying to teach and learn the material faster and with greater success.
"This is totally interactive, and visually it gives the players a lot better idea of what they should be doing," Ross said. "This way you're not just looking at drawings or looking at things on a board."
Such computerized systems are hardly new to football. Professional and top-ranked college teams have been using them for years. Even some Division III and high school teams have similar tools at their disposal.
It can also be expensive. According to Rick Anderson, a salesman with DSV, it typically costs around $8,000 per access station to install the program. Many teams purchase several access stations for coaches to use. "Having all of the plays on a computer or on disk has made everything so much faster," junior linebacker Shane Simmons said. "You just have to click where you want to go. It's so much easier. It's highly efficient."
FLASH DRIVES AND DVDS
Many of the technological advancements Ross is bringing to the program are similar to the system that he used as an assistant at the University of Oregon. When he first arrived on campus in December it wasn't uncommon for him to stick a flash drive, a version of a floppy disk with much more memory space and about half the size of a finger, in a computer and bring up a Power Point presentation he created for a special teams meeting when he was with the Ducks.It's a big step up from those coaches who still are intimidated by e-mail or swear by VCRs and dry-erase boards.
"You're always looking for that little teaching technique that you can use to make someone a better player," Ross said. "You try to look at everything that might make you a little better on the field."
Eventually Ross plans to give Western players a DVD of the plays that have been installed in the spring and fall for further study and review. The day might also come when players receive their playbook on a flash drive as well as hard copy.
Some systems even allow game film to be downloaded onto a video iPod or create playbooks that can be used with popular football videogames.
"You can get a lot more done because you can be a lot more efficient," Ross said. "The other side of that is that there are so many things that you can do with it."
Such advancement doesn't come without its downside, either. Coaches can get overwhelmed with the minutia of a presentation or get caught constantly making changes to a presentation because there are so many options.
"You're more efficient and you have more knowledge, but now you have to decide what the most useful way to do things is," Ross said. "Otherwise you can bog yourself down with technology."
So far, the Vikings have been able to install their spring practices and scrimmages into the system as reference points for lessons. As the season goes on that database will grow. By the time the freshman class graduates, it will be able see very specifically how it has developed as football players.
"From the first day of practice to the last day they are going to hear millions of words," Ross said. "They're not going to remember it all. But we feel like this can help players remember what's important - what they should get out of each day."
