Most Valuable Equipment?

I'd make a decision about the sled. Personally I don't care if we have one or not (we don't). I think we can get more bang for the buck in other ways so you may decide to put your money into other things. If you think that this is a one-time deal and it may not come again for a while you may want to go that way-get that sled now while the getting's good.

end zone camera.

HUDL!!!!

JUGS machine is a good investment; we get a ton of use out of ours.

Are their any directions online or naywhere on how to build a shoot out of PVC pipe? I would love to use one during practice.

PVC holds up pretty good, will probably have to replace every other year maybe, or a piece here or there. Easy to do, but hard to explain on how I made them.

absolutely - just want to make sure I am considering everything and wanting to know what you all find valuable.

I have some plans i made up for our PVC chute. The total cost for everything was around $60 and our local hardware store sponsored it for us so we got it for free. We just had to assemble it.

Ours basically is one long and endless line of pipe. Think of the back and front as 1 upside down flat bottomed U shape. The front was 50" and the rear was 58." The width of the chute was 10'

The front and back U shapes were connected by 2-45" pieces on the bottom sides. When connected, the entire finished product is one continuous loop. We also had three brace pieces up top to help with durability. If I can get my picture scanned I will post it for you guys. Hell, maybe I'll just upload a video to youtube.

AHA! Got it. The PVC chute
There's a bar down the middle of each gap (obviously) and a bar at midheight between each gap for better strength. I have a beefier version, but it was a little inelegant. If you want something more robust, that can be arranged.
First, some parameters:
n - number of gaps you want. Probably 2-5
H - height of your gap. This is the nominal, internal height, so the highest point your player's head is allowed to be.
D - The depth of the gap, how long the chute is.
W - how wide each gap is
G - the OUTSIDE diameter of the PVC pipe you are using. I recommend something in the 2 inch range. Maybe a Sched 40.

Part list:

A - a short radius 90^o elbow, FIP. Short radius means it's the tight corner. FIP means female at both ends, the pipe goes into the fitting (you know how it goes). You need 2n+6 of these.
B - a short radius 90^o Tee fitting, FIP. I assume you know what a T looks like. You need 6n of these.
X - These are the width components. They are roughly half the width of each gap. They are (W-G)/2 long. You need 4n
Y - The height components. Also about half the height. They are (H-G)/2 in length. You need 4n+4
Z - The depth. D-2G long. You need 3n+2

Directions. No Allen Keys, I promise.

1. Take (n+1) Z pipes and attach an A fitting to each end. This will form the bottoms of all the walls.

2. Put a Y pipe into each of the A joints used in step 1.

3. Take (n+1) Z pipes and attach a B fitting to each end into the stem of the T.

4. Take the assemblies from step 3 and put them onto the assemblies from step 2.

5. put a Y pipe into all the remaining openings of the fittings from the assemblies in step 4. Notice we have some walls coming together.

6. For two of the assemblies from step 5, put an A fitting on each Y pipe, with the free ends parallel to one another, but perpendicular to the wall.

7. For the remaining assemblies from Step 5, put a B fitting on all the free Y pipes on the stem. The crossbar should run perpendicular to the wall.

8. Take the X pipes and put one in each of the crossbar openings of the remaining B fittings. You should have a bunch of 2 pipe/1 fitting combinations, and no B fittings leftover, not a really long chain.

9. Take pairs of assemblies from step 8 and connect them with a Z pipe in the stems of the B fittings. You should have n assemblies that look like capital I's. Each of these is the "roof" of a gap.

10. Use the assemblies from step 9 to connect the assemblies from steps 6 and 7. Obviously, the two from step 6 go on the end.

Optional steps:

11. You can pour sand or concrete into the lower portionto give the chute some weight. I recommend doing this after step 4.

12. PVC cement can be used to make the chute more solid, and would allow you to pour water into the chute just before attaching the last part, a good way to add weight that is easily taken out at season's end. But then the chutes can't be disassembled for storage, and that stuff is a pain in the rear for the inexperienced.

For disassembly and storage, I would recommend separating thee walls from the tops, so that everything is in one plane and can be just lain next to one another.

The total width of this thing will be n*W+(n+1)G

The depth is the depth you gave it

The height is G+H

And gentlemen, ERTW.

cclement, two balls? What level are you coaching and do you throw the ball at all?

here is a picture of the file I posted

I love our Trap Chute. I also love hand shields over big bags.

I coach 3 teams, but this was for a 9-man grade 5/6 team. Our most common pass play was a hitch working back to the ball, because it got the ball back faster. The league is a little hard-up. The CFL ball was my own, the only equipment they gave me was the one TDY and some cones. So, if you have any extra stuff and you're feeling charitable...

As for ERTW, youtube it.