Film- worth it?

I have showed game film to kids that age in the past and I'm not 100% sure of the cost/benefit tradeoff, but there is no question in my mind that the kids get something out of it. It's very easy for them to think, "Aw man, I did what coach is asking in the game, why is he giving me a hard time ..." but when they see it on the video, there is no arguing - they understand a lot better what they did and they take the coach's instructions a lot more seriously.

However, I'm not convinced it's the best use of the team's time. In most youth leagues, video sessions count against practice time, so an hour of video study is one hour less on the practice field. When I did it (which I haven't done in several years), I had the kids come with their shoulder pads off, we went into a room (in a building adjacent to our practice field) and we watched the video for about an hour - pretty much the max you can hold their attention, and even that is really stretching it), and then we did regular practice for an hour. I'm not sure it was worth the tradeoff in lost practice time.

I think with some of the software solutions available today, like Hudl, you'd be better off posting the video online with your coaching comments and requiring your players to watch it on their own time. It won't be quite as powerful as if you're actually there with them to drive the coaching points home, but they should get a lot of the value without sacrificing half a practice.

Most team film sessions are a HUGE waste of time
But Im a huge beleiver in film for my coaching staff.

We watch the film, tag it, then let the kids watch it at home via internet with all the comments

The kids that watch it are the ones that you can make into very compent players, others are just going to space out or ignore/play grab ass and waste everyones time. We dont give those kids a chance to interrupt the aggressive kids watching on their own time at home

Im not buring "practice time" for this EVER again.

When a player watches film at home on his own time on the internet, it doesnt count as a "practice" I would never do a film session instead of a practice, when I can have the kids watch it at home with all my comments in place

I think one player/coach film session per season is beneficial. I coach 9>10yr olds. I've done this. I will do it again I can find a place this season. Adhering to the old adage "A team makes the most improvement between the first and second games ( with no verification on my part), I picked out what I wanted from the first two games of the season.

I showed the players the differences of where they improved and what they were still doing incorrectly. I made them go over the techniques verbally and do walk-throughs right there in the room that we used. We drilled for improvements at the practice following film day.

The film day cost us a practice. But, I felt it was necessary. After that one player/coach film session, I didn't do it again. I didn't need to. The first practices following games, I'd gather the coaches & players for the 'Game Report' of what I saw on film. Players ate up the info like it was coming from a burning bush. They didn't question it when I pointed out their errors. Having seen film once, they accepted what I was telling them was true.

But, I think film benefits the coaches more than the players. My AC's are supposed to have specific duties during plays- things they are supposed to be watching for. You can audit the play calls and determine if coaches are spectating instead of monitoring their assignments.

You can also pick up on players' bad habits. For instance, our BB had a bad habit of looking back when lead blocking in games. He didn't do it in practice. But, he definitely would sometimes do it during games.

As alluded to earlier, film day had a serendipitous benefit. It helped eliminate players pleading their cases and making excuses. Trust me, they tried all of it during film day. I felt like Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction. Hit the rewind button in mid-excuse. I'm sorry, did I break your concentration? Oh, you were finished....? Well...allow me to retort.

1.) Here's your assignment. 2.) Here's you. 3.) Here's you not carrying out your assignment. 4.) Here's why you failed to carry out your assignment. 5.) You got anything else to say? 6.) Didn't think so.

Move on to the next issue.

In our youth league, we can have 3 practices a week, we practice twice and watch film once. It's very important for us. If you don't have a good facility to watch it at with a projector, then huddling 20+ kids around a TV is going to be counter productive. If that's the case, the next best solution is film on laptops at the field. This is a good install tool, backs watch install clips of previous team running play, then they run it.....