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Inside Bromley FC: Automating the Academy with Hudl Focus Flex

12 May, 2024

4 Min Read

By Tony Sprangers

Freshly promoted from the National League to League Two for the first time in club history, Bromley FC are a rapidly improving club on the rise.

Off the field, Bromley are placing a large emphasis on developing home-grown talent to ensure the future of the First Team. Their Academy is of course pivotal to this development.

In this article, we will learn how the Bromley Academy players translate their development journey from the classroom to the pitch using an automated analysis workflow.

Ronan Howard is the Lead Academy Performance Analyst at Bromley FC. His work oversees 15 teams - from Under-12 level all the way up to Under-21.

On the training ground, Howard is responsible for the capture and analysis of training sessions. Recently they have introduced Hudl Focus Flex to upgrade their video capture from manual to seamless automation.

Focus Flex is the all-new portable football camera that allows the Bromley coaching team to capture training footage at any location. It’s as simple as unpacking the camera, fixing it to a tripod, then using the Focus App to start recording.

“The portability of the camera is very handy for us, because we’re able to bring it out onto the training pitches, but an hour later we’re then able to take it out to the main stadium where we can film another training session or a game,” said Howard.

“To be able to take it wherever we want is very handy for us”.

The Focus Flex portable camera can be set up at any location, allowing Bromley's analysis team the flexibility to effortlessly capture footage of all of their Academy teams.

Playing in the fifth tier of English football means staff resourcing is not as plentiful as in the fully professional divisions above. This is why the automated capture is so valuable - removing the need for a dedicated cameraman, streamlining operations and freeing up an extra set of hands for more productive tasks on the training ground or in the analysis room.

Attacking formations, defensive shape, working in and out of possession - there are many different parts of the game that need to be refined on the training pitch. The ability of the Flex camera to capture in multiple angles of footage makes this process easier.

“We use the Focus Flex on our training pitches, where we set it up right on the halfway line,” said Howard. “It connects through our phone where we can then record multiple angles depending on what the training session is.

Using the practice mode with the Flex camera, we’re able to see what’s happening in both halves of the pitch. So even though you’ve got one camera in one position, you are able to see two things happening at once.”

The multi-angle footage from the Flex camera can be accessed live from both mobile and desktop platforms.

Instant review of Flex camera footage provides the opportunity for dynamic learning on the training ground.

With Focus Flex taking care of capture, the next part of Bromley’s new automated analysis workflow is the review of footage. The Flex camera integrates with the Hudl.com platform, where captured footage can be accessed almost immediately after a training session or match day. Head of Academy Coaching Jamel Wojtczak is impressed by the amount of time that is now saved for his department.

“Once we’re finished training outside and we come in from our pitch out the back, upstairs the Flex camera gets plugged in and by the time I’ve finished looking at my notes, the session is up so I can get it up and analyze it,” said Wojtczak.

“The players also get that footage, so they can share clips with myself, I can share clips with them and it's really effective and efficient. It means we’re always helping the players develop”.

“Once we’re finished training outside and we come in from our pitch out the back, upstairs the Flex camera gets plugged in and by the time I’ve finished looking at my notes, the session is up so I can get it up and analyze it" Jamel Wojtczak - Head of Academy Analysis, Bromley FC

In his analysis role, Howard takes a step further and integrates the Flex workflow with Hudl Sportscode, which allows the Flex footage to be tagged in Sportscode across multiple angles.

“I’ll upload the footage to Hudl.com, they’ll watch the training session back, they’ll send me the clips, then I’m able to get those clips, put them into Sportscode, access the multi-angle and be able to pick out the best angles to relate to what we are trying to tell the players,” said Howard.

For Bromley Under-18 Head Coach Luke Coulson the time saved with the upgraded analysis workflow means he can spend more time on coaching.

“The training clips are excellent because they get uploaded immediately and that means we can review them straight after, then we can actually coach players on the day as well as leading up to the next fixture,” said Coulson.

“I love to give individual feedback to players as well as to the team collective”.

After training is complete, Flex footage is available for immediate review by the coaching and analysis team.

Learnings from the training ground footage are transferred quickly to the classroom to educate the players ahead of their next fixture.

As Bromley push for promotion to the Football League for the first time in club history, the ideal plan is for the Academy players to be the future of the club on the pitch to help them stay there. Academy players who stand out well enough can also bolster the coffers of the National League club when teams from higher divisions come calling. 19-year-old Bromley products Kellen Fisher (transferred to Norwich City) and Ben Krauhaus (now of Brentford FC) are two recent examples of this.

The Flex camera allows the Bromley Academy players a higher level of analysis and therefore a better chance of growing to their full potential.

“So before we had the Focus Flex, if there was training on the back pitch, if there were games out there, it wouldn’t be recorded,” explained Howard. “The boys and girls who weren’t able to have their games recorded, or training sessions recorded, are now able to, which enhances their development”.

“Hudl is essential to everything we do,” said Coulson. “We now get to see every minute, every second, every movement and that’s vital to us as coaches, especially in the modern game”.

Capture, analyze and review. Anywhere, anytime: Take a closer look at Hudl Focus Flex