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Post by cartwright on Nov 21, 2006 17:04:55 GMT -6
I've toyed around with the idea of building some software to help coaches scout, and then giving it away for free or at low cost.
I'm looking for ideas you'd want in something like that.
Things to track:
Down, Distance, Yardline, Hashmark, Formation, BallCarrier, Motion, Playtype (Run/Pass), Play, Hole, Result
Reports:
Down/Distance
Hashmark
Zone (Red, Black, Open)
Formation
Motion
In each of those, tracking R/P breakdown, preferred plays, ballcarrier, hole.
What else would you be interested in seeing?
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eagled
Freshmen Member
Posts: 57
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Post by eagled on Nov 21, 2006 18:15:38 GMT -6
I think you have the basics covered. If you put too much in there you get caught up in all the minutia. I like to keep it as simple as possible. If you develop anything, I'd be real interested in seeing it.
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Post by cartwright on Nov 21, 2006 20:37:10 GMT -6
Alright, thanks for the feedback. I'm going to try to whip up a free scouting tool when I get the chance, and then perhaps follow that up with playbook, stat tracking, and video editing stuff as well. This will be a work in progress.
What features do coaches want to see in a scouting program? Or any other football program? What would be most helpful?
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Post by cartwright on Nov 26, 2006 17:00:15 GMT -6
I haven't had as much time to work on this as I hoped, but I've made some progress. Here's a screenshot: img489.imageshack.us/img489/6815/screenshotxy9.pngI'm still working on the report generation (probably in HTML and PDF form). I'm going to try to add in video editing in the future, but that may take awhile. Let me know what other features you'd like to see. What reports would you like to see? If you have particular formats you'd like, let me know ASAP so I can build it all in. |
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coachf
Freshmen Member
Posts: 15
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Post by coachf on Nov 26, 2006 21:27:44 GMT -6
THat is looking really good. I have never purchsed any kind of scouting software because of the price. I would love to see this in its finished state.
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Post by cartwright on Nov 27, 2006 17:20:30 GMT -6
Coachf--
That's what I'm aiming for: something that is "good enough" for the majority of coaches but doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Unfortunately, I'm only able to work on this in my spare time and on weekends, so progress may be a little slow. I'll be sure to keep you updated as it develops.
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coachf
Freshmen Member
Posts: 15
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Post by coachf on Nov 27, 2006 19:09:01 GMT -6
Awesome, I can't wait.
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Post by larrymoe on Nov 28, 2006 8:44:58 GMT -6
That looks very cool. Let me know when you get the scouting portion done. That's pretty much what I do now, except I do it by hand and draw out the plays for every single down. With that software it would be much, much easier. Now if I could only get my wife to buy me a laptop for Christmas.  |
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coachf
Freshmen Member
Posts: 15
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Post by coachf on Nov 28, 2006 10:41:01 GMT -6
Perhaps your wife could buy your former assistant a laptop. That would be sweet.
By the way, Get fired up!
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Post by larrymoe on Nov 28, 2006 10:54:50 GMT -6
Bite me Russ!! Maybe she could buy my former assistant a clue!  |
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Post by groundchuck on Nov 28, 2006 11:03:50 GMT -6
It looks very good. I currently use the Digital Scout program. I like it but sometimes it is very cumbersome to use.
Be sure in your input area you allow for teams to enter how they call plays. Every program has this but not every program allows you many options. Like for us...we don't use numbers for our holes or backs. The program I currently use forces me to enter plays that way instead of just saying "Power C gap" or something like that.
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coachf
Freshmen Member
Posts: 15
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Post by coachf on Nov 28, 2006 12:14:39 GMT -6
Bite me Russ!! Maybe she could buy my former assistant a clue! It's too late for that! |
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Post by cartwright on Nov 28, 2006 13:36:21 GMT -6
Groundchuck--
You can enter playnames however you want. If you want to keep track of the hole (for tendencies), though, you need to enter that separately. So if you want to break down opponents tapes by play name (10 Dive vs 11 Dive), you can do it that way. If you want to break it down by type of play (Dive), you can do that as well. So you can check to see how often they run a particular type of play (Iso, Dive) or to a particular hole (0,1) or both. You add your own descriptions so it's fairly customizable.
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Post by larrymoe on Nov 28, 2006 13:55:16 GMT -6
Do you have an ETA on when you'll maybe get it done Cartwright? I'd love to look at it.
You've got me all fired up!! (I know you like that coachf)
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Post by cartwright on Nov 28, 2006 16:08:35 GMT -6
larrymoe--
A lot of it depends on how much free time I am able to set aside to work on it. It will take 100-300 hours of work to get a solid beta working. I'm guessing that in a month or so I should have something available that you can test. I will probably set it up so that it works fine for two weeks, but after that you need to submit an evaluation with suggestions to keep it working. That way I'm able to get feedback and improve it for everyone.
I have about a million ideas I want to implement, but most will just take time. So it probably won't be a "finished" product, but will constantly improve and have new features that come out in time.
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Post by larrymoe on Nov 28, 2006 20:55:50 GMT -6
That's cool. I don't mean to rush, but it looked pretty cool and I just wondered how close you were to actually completing it. Let me know when you "finish" it. I'd love to be a tester for you.
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Post by cartwright on Nov 28, 2006 22:57:58 GMT -6
Here's a new screenshot: img99.imageshack.us/img99/5444/screenshotqk1.pngOn my computer, there's actually a clip of the Nevada bowl game against UCF, though unfortunately it doesn't show up in the screenshot (I'm just using print-screen and MS Paint). I'm working on the video editing and trying to find a way to save plays and be able to pull up all of one type of play. I imagine that by the end of the year I will be looking for people willing to test out and (1) find out problems and (2) make some suggestions. |
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Post by utepminerfan on Dec 1, 2006 11:54:26 GMT -6
that looks like some good stuff, what software you using to create this?
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Post by poweriguy on Dec 1, 2006 12:30:03 GMT -6
Quick tip: to take a screenshot of windows media player, you need to set "video acceleration" to none.  |
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Post by cartwright on Dec 1, 2006 13:36:23 GMT -6
Thanks for the heads-up, poweriguy. I've switched over to QuickTime instead of WMP so that I'm able to utilize more readily the video editing capabilities of QuickTime.
utep--
I'm currently coding this in RealBasic, which gives the potential of making it fully cross-platform (Windows, Mac, and Linux). It would require some tweaking for the latter two, but it's definitely a possibility if there is enough interest.
Currently the user can enter plays and info and match up video clips with those plays. There are several general report types: R/P by D&D, Field Position Breakdown (R/P, Strong/Weak, Wide/Short) by field zones, PlayBreakdowns (Frequency of play by D&D), and FormationBreakdowns (Similar to Field Position but by Formation). You can also enter in the offensive players on the other team and have a chart generated that includes that information into the report. Currently, the report is generated as a .pdf file so it can be read by anyone, anywhere. I'm looking into making an HTML version of the reports that can be burned to a cd.
I've also put in a few video reporting options. You can view all run, all pass, all plays, by formation, by particular play, by down, etc. You select your options and the program builds a custom movie file that includes all of those plays. I'm trying to include the option for captions there but I'm having a bit of difficulty editing the videotracks. That feature may have to wait awhile.
A few features still to come:
(1) Image Editing, so you can draw plays/formations. You can include those in the scouting report or have them cut into the video reports.
(2) Help System/Tutorial: this may be awhile. I'll probably wait until after several rounds of beta to work on developing this once all the features are set.
(3) Playcards: For the scouting team. I want to generate playcards, either as .pdf files or picture files (.png, .jpg, or .bmp) that can be readily printed off to use.
(4) Quick CD creation.
There are also a lot of little things like tooltips for all the buttons, etc. that may have to wait a bit until more testing is done. At some point I will post up a file that people can download in order to test. The biggest thing involved with the testing is giving me feedback so I know how to optimize/improve the program. I've included a bug submission form: as long as you have an internet connection, you can submit bugs from the program and the reports will go directly to me.
I also need to come up with a name and a licensing scheme. I want this to be something that schools without huge budgets can afford to use, but it would be nice to be compensated for the work. I'm open for all ideas as to how to make this worthwhile for everyone. The development tools I have to pay for (programs, libraries, plug-ins) start to add up quickly. I want to make sure I don't lose money by creating this.
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