Apps for video analysis are getting easier and easier to find. This week we review two: Sprongo and Coaches Eye.
And I have to admit these are a great innovation. If you are a consensual coach this will be an attractive tool to build dialogue and engagement with your crews.
Sprongo
Sprongo.com users started on July 15th 2011 and the site is still in beta.
The founders were ski racers and their inspiration was the frustration athletes feel at having to wait for the coach to bring the video down – the time delay between shooting it and sharing with athletes.
The company claims that among their users are USA Rowing and 51 other colleges, high schools and universities including Syracuse University, Kansas University, South Jersey Rowing Club and the “Essex Rowing” team in UK.
How it works:
- You invite members (athletes) by email from your home page.
- Once you are a member only the individuals on the page can see the content.
- All videos relating to you show on your profile.
- You can be a member of multiple teams and still have your own profile with your own page where you can also upload videos. If you are a member of multiple teams you use this to find your content.
- All video uploads are date stamped and you can tag it for different users.
- At the bottom there are 4 separate slow motion speeds you can select
- It will become a “Freemium” service although it’s free now. An account with 4 athletes will be free for up to 20 people will be $99 per month.
In our interview we discussed how coaching is changing
We are trying to change the mentality of the coach perspective, in the past the athlete didn’t have any say – now he can interact with purpose. Anyone invited to view can make a comment and you can have a dialogue.
Coaches Eye
Coaches Eye is an iPhone and iPad app that has seen a lot of engagement with school and club coaches for team sports. I saw it demonstrated at a conference last month for a rugby team. And an Android version is in preparation.
The app costs around 2.50 and is not a beta product – this is a full release.
How it works
- Using your apple device, you take video either with the app or using another programme
- You can review the video yourself, using the slow motion flywheel feature you can frame-by-frame review each video or just set it to play in slow mode
- The Drawing features bring up lines, arrows, circles and freehand so you can highlight key parts of the video and then save them as overlays on the original film.
- You can also voice over your own commentary.
- Re-saving the video with the drawing overlay completes the job and then the film can be shared using social channels, SMS or by email.
