by Carrie Bigbie, SFC Newsletter Editor 

“…so you want to extend your arms more and follow through with the ball.  I wish I had a way to show you.  Wait a second, let me go get my video camera  and we can download this to the computer and review it step by step.  I think I'm also going to send it to Coach Adams and get his feedback on it.”

 It's one of the most difficult aspects of your job as a coach: Training an athlete by trying to communicate what they need to change. 

If you struggle with this during your coaching, Dartfish can help with their ground-breaking video software designed specifically for coaches at all levels. They even have their own web sharing platform, Dartfish TV, so you can upload your videos and include tags, thumbnails, comments, annotations, analysis and keywords for everyone - you, your staff and the athlete - to review until they understand the change that is needed.  Dartfish has been proven to be helpful in coaching by showing the athlete what they are doing correctly when it comes to their individual mechanics, and what areas they can improve.

Dartfish TV is helping college sports programs in several ways:

• Save time and gain efficiency - your video content is accessible anytime and anywhere just by logging into your Dartfish TV platform and downloading the video you would like to view.  Whether you are in your lockerroom, or on the road, you can coach on the fly and teach through visual aids.

• You decide who sees what – whether commenting on a performance one-on-one, or sharing analysis with thousands, you decide who sees what by selecting who has access and sending them the link and password to your platform.

• Hit your target audience – create your customized channel on Dartfish TV and invite your audience to an unprecedented video experience so they can see what your athletic program is all about, and get the inside view on how you use technology to make your athletes better.  (Click here for an example of what USA Volleyball has put together using Dartfish TV!)

“We wanted to create a place where the athlete can experience the analysis”, says Ron Imbriale, Dartfish Senior Vice President, “Not only have we done that, now it can also be shared with others.” 

Depending on what type of sport you coach, Dartfish and Dartfish TV can help you.

Team Sports

With Dartfish software, you can capture and tag entire games to your computer live or after the action.  If you want to show a specific play, you can quickly retrieve that situation by categorizing the video to create an index of events.  It also includes user-friendly tools to help you make tactical analyses of specific game situations or technical analyses of players.  College coaches can also create effective motivational movies or prepare playlists of relevant events to show your team and other coaches using the Dartfish TV platform.  (Lots of college coaches use Dartfish's patented Stromotion technology to compare the mechanics of two different athletes). 

Individual Sports

With the visual support you get from this easy to use technology, you can improve communication with athletes by bringing them face-to-face with their own performances.  Dartfish allows you to easily integrate video during your training and give athletes instant visual feedback.  This helps make it easier for them to understand the adjustments they need to make according to your comments.  With Dartfish, you can make technical analysis of movement and performance by selecting key moments on the video, comparing them with reference clips and using drawing and measurement tools. 

“The Dartfish products have been designed for every kind of sport,” says Imbriale, “Whether you coach a team or individual sport, it will help you to reinforce your athlete’s understanding of your training.”

“Coach Adams responded with his feedback on the Dartfish video we showed him yesterday.  Let’s take a look.  He made annotations throughout the video so we can actually know which areas he is referring to.  I think this will help you understand a what I'm talking about a little better now.”

Distribute your videos.  Analysis. Multimedia presentations to other coaching staff. Showcasing your program and cutting-edge coaching abilitiesnew recruits, athlete’s families, fans, and alumni.  The Dartish TV platform can deliver it to college coaches.