Ethics of filming opponents game.

They would not have taped the second half and they may have lost the camera, I am good friends with the Cheif of Police in my hometown and he may have had to hold it for evidence for a few weeks. LOL

It is not common practice here. It doesn't happen and is a violation of state association rules.

oh wow i had no idea they had rules like this in other states.

I think it is best if you DON'T film..and simply trade film. I think the biggest issue would be available resources...some wealthy well supported teams could have legions of filmers out filming...and some programs barely have enough for a camera.

I find different rules for film trading interesting. I was shocked when I was coaching college ball and found out from one of the girls basketball GA's that THEY don't trade film directly. She had to track down film of upcoming opponents FROM THEIR opponents. I didn't understand this at all...

Thats just the thing. Most teams we play don't even film themselves (Junior High), let alone trade. I would be happy to TRADE with them but they just showed up to film the game. My principal actually came down to the field at halftime and told me what was going on and asked what I wanted to do. I told him it is against IHSAA rules and he should ask them to stop. They gave him a little difficulty but complied.

We do not have many Jr high in KY. We have middle schools which is pretty much the same thing. One thing people have to keep in mind before they say it is illegal is that in some states middle school and jr highs are not governed by the same rules as the HS. They are High School Athletic Associations for a reason because they deal with HS.

We could practice football year round at the middle school if we wanted because we are not governed by any governing body. Here in KY I do believe a HS can not go and film another HS. That does not involve MS/Jr high and so unless those schools are in a conference with such rules it is not against it.

I do not have an issue with them filming on the lower levels unless they are filming signals and that type of thing. We had a team set up on our sidelien once and I did have an issue with that because the video could pick up what coaches were saying.

An easy way to handle this is send out an email to all th eteams you play an dexplain that you will not allow them to film the game unless they are playing. Let them know you are more than willing to exchange game tape with them if they would like.

It seems a bit hokie that they would show up to film only after their game was cancelled....and it appears you don't trade film. I don't think you are wrong to feel that it was odd.

I suppose I would have asked them for a copy of their game film. If they are sincere about their intentions...just getting their kids lined up in the right spot...then they would agree. But from your post it seems their intentions were to simply gain an advantage. i.e. they knew you don't have film on them and they want it on you.

Illegal here in Indiana, and I would have taken his camera, and his virginity.

We trade at the HS level, film at the jrhs level because the league rules permit it. The problem with trading film at the youth level is that the film is usually horrible, handheld film from a mile away at ground level is pretty useless unless you like dramadine.....unfortunately, our flim so far this year isn't much better...

Wow, I guess we are different here in PA. Our conference rule is to exchange the previous two game videos and each team will video tape the 3rd game with their scouts for the upcoming opponent. The only problems we run into are if the batteries run out on our scouts.

If it is illegal then it should have not been done, but if not, I don't see what the problem is.

So your conference has rules by defaulting back to the IHSAA. So then I would say there is an issue. If it was worded differently or not at all then I would not see the issue.

As i said, junior high, no one asked to trade. I would happily give our film to get film.

I'm also in Virginia. Even though we trade we'll film as often as we can so that we can have a marked digital video. That cuts out a couple of steps for us.

Opposite extreme here in the SF Bay area - we film everybody all the time. Most teams don't exchange films at all (I haven't seen our team exchange with anybody the past 4 years), except in the playoffs when you have to bring all your game films and they take any 2. I will provide teams with our scout videos of common opponents with the direction/permission of the HC.

Even at the youth level I always scouted the other teams and did the (minimal) game breakdown. But, that was our own self-contained local league.

I'm sending students all over the place to get scout video. I teach them what I want, how to get it, where to sit/stand, provide them with a camera, etc. I then take all that and do the computer analysis thing with it.

I'm always surprised at the "no video scouting" rules that are all over the place. Just very different from the environment I've been operating under.

Ethical - If the association rules prohibit it then it is against the rules and knowingly going against the rules is wrong. But if it is unethical in your area due to association rules it don't make it unethical in mine.

Casey
IHS Vikings