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Post by gators41 on Apr 24, 2018 9:10:23 GMT -6
Coaches,
We have gone to a period based segment practice. each Period is 5 Minutes.
I love the idea, just the execution is lacking
Is there any cheap way to let everyone know what period we are in, or what period we are going to.
Obviously I can yell it out, but that kind of defeats the purpose.
Any apps, synchronized clock or something??
Thanks guys
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2018 9:24:37 GMT -6
Use your phone as a timer. Get an Air Horn. Blow it every 5 min to signal the end of a period.
You can yell the number of the period out and have each coach relay the number to the next group, buy a bullhorn and do it yourself (or have a manager do it), or ask a manager/walking wounded to use a PA system to announce it if you have access to a battery powered one or the stadium PA during practice.
Since I'm sure every coach has a smartphone now and most can carry it on the practice field, if being loud is a problem or you have coaches working on separate fields you could just record your own as an mp3 file sometime. Take 2.5 or 3 hours or however long the longest day you spend in practice will be and record an mp3 file that long. Every 5 minutes, record an alarm and your voice saying "Period 2. Period 2. Period 2." or whatever. Then give it 5 more minutes and do the process again for Period 3, Period 4, etc. Then have each coach download the mp3 file and start their file at the very beginning of practice on a whistle.
Boom! You now have a fancy electronic segment timing app.
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Post by gators41 on Apr 24, 2018 10:26:49 GMT -6
Use your phone as a timer. Get an Air Horn. Blow it every 5 min to signal the end of a period. You can yell the number of the period out and have each coach relay the number to the next group, buy a bullhorn and do it yourself (or have a manager do it), or ask a manager/walking wounded to use a PA system to announce it if you have access to a battery powered one or the stadium PA during practice. Since I'm sure every coach has a smartphone now and most can carry it on the practice field, if being loud is a problem or you have coaches working on separate fields you could just record your own as an mp3 file sometime. Take 2.5 or 3 hours or however long the longest day you spend in practice will be and record an mp3 file that long. Every 5 minutes, record an alarm and your voice saying "Period 2. Period 2. Period 2." or whatever. Then give it 5 more minutes and do the process again for Period 3, Period 4, etc. Then have each coach download the mp3 file and start their file at the very beginning of practice on a whistle. Boom! You now have a fancy electronic segment timing app. Damn that is an awesome idea |
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Post by hsrose on Apr 24, 2018 13:43:26 GMT -6
I use a app timer on my iPhone called Seconds Pro. It is used mostly for workouts but works for timing 5-minute segments for practices. It has a countdown feature that will countdown the last 5 seconds or something. And it will come in over other music you have playing. So I set it up with one of the portable PA speakers, get the music going, and start the timer when we start. After that the music plays (Pandora, iTunes, internet radio) and at every 5 minutes you get the call out that the period has ended.
You can set it up with text for each period so you can have it say 'Starting period 5' or whatever.
The issue I have with not having a segment timer is that you can lose track of which period you are starting. You know the period just ended/started, but which one is it? Without the visual cue on the timer it can get confusing.
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Post by QBCoachDurham on Apr 25, 2018 8:30:49 GMT -6
www.bsnsports.com/segment-timer-w-wireless-remoteWe use this one. It is loud and easily visible from a distance. You can program the periods to be as long as you want. We've had it for 5 years, never had a problem with it. We usually plug it in, but the battery will last a long time if not plugged in. It comes with a chain so you can hang it up if you don't have something to sit it on. It also comes with a plastic cover for rainy days.
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Post by brian3413 on Apr 25, 2018 9:59:37 GMT -6
I use a app timer on my iPhone called Seconds Pro. It is used mostly for workouts but works for timing 5-minute segments for practices. It has a countdown feature that will countdown the last 5 seconds or something. And it will come in over other music you have playing. So I set it up with one of the portable PA speakers, get the music going, and start the timer when we start. After that the music plays (Pandora, iTunes, internet radio) and at every 5 minutes you get the call out that the period has ended. You can set it up with text for each period so you can have it say 'Starting period 5' or whatever. The issue I have with not having a segment timer is that you can lose track of which period you are starting. You know the period just ended/started, but which one is it? Without the visual cue on the timer it can get confusing. can you customize the segment lengths? |
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lmorris
Sophomore Member
Posts: 195
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Post by lmorris on Apr 25, 2018 11:01:09 GMT -6
I use a app timer on my iPhone called Seconds Pro. It is used mostly for workouts but works for timing 5-minute segments for practices. It has a countdown feature that will countdown the last 5 seconds or something. And it will come in over other music you have playing. So I set it up with one of the portable PA speakers, get the music going, and start the timer when we start. After that the music plays (Pandora, iTunes, internet radio) and at every 5 minutes you get the call out that the period has ended. You can set it up with text for each period so you can have it say 'Starting period 5' or whatever. The issue I have with not having a segment timer is that you can lose track of which period you are starting. You know the period just ended/started, but which one is it? Without the visual cue on the timer it can get confusing. can you customize the segment lengths? also what is the difference in the pay for version vs free version if any? and is there a limited amount of segments that it can program? |
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Post by coachbdud on Apr 25, 2018 11:22:06 GMT -6
I have a timer app on my phone and connect to a block rocker
I will play music and the timer at the same time
like others have said the down side is no visual to look at
if you are perfect on time/schedule it is no big deal, but every now and then you get so focused on something that it is like oh crap, did the horn blow? what period? am i on time or over time ? crap
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Post by hsrose on Apr 25, 2018 12:43:43 GMT -6
The difficulty with Seconds Pro is that it's pretty well fully customizable which means you can get caught up in changing segments and names and times and all that. At one point I had a 'workout' (practice) where I had it call out each segment 'Now starting period 13, punt return'. That lasted for a bit until I got tired of having to change everything when I did a new workout/practice. Now I just have it repeat the 5 minute rotations. You can change the time, have it play specific sounds end of the timer, all kinds of stuff. Now I've backed off to just being really simple with it. It also has a web interface but I haven't played with that. Apparently you can setup your workouts on a web site and share it to the iPhone, which might make the customization easier.
Visual - The problem I have is coaches that knowingly ignore the timing. They don't think it applies to them so they plead 'I didn't hear the timer...'. Now that I know that it's not going to fly anymore.
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Post by coachplaa on Apr 27, 2018 13:57:35 GMT -6
I have the same timer that Coach Durham has above. We use it in spring, summer and fall to keep us on schedule. You can find a dealer on Amazon that usually will save you some money. You can customize the length of each period if you want, you can add break time in between periods if you choose. We plug it in but it has a battery if you need it. We just bought a new one we like the old one so much. The old one lasted us about 8 seasons, totally worth it IMO. You can hear the horn and see the display from 100 yards away.
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