Football Sideline Capture Coaching

Instant Replay at Practice: How to Get Twice as Good in Half the Time

Jun 24, 2016

3 Min Read

Hudl Sideline is a great game day tool, but why constrain its power to Friday nights? Here’s how to use instant replay daily.

There is no debating the crucial advantages instant replay with Hudl Sideline gives teams on game day. Schools all across the country used the information gleaned from instant replay to tackle opponents last fall.

But constraining Hudl Sideline solely to game days is putting a lid on its potential. This tool can also propel practice improvements, allowing you to help your players make adjustments on the fly. If you notice something on the field, why should you have to wait for the post-practice video to confirm it?

With instant replay, you don't have to.

Unearth Breakdowns in Execution Before Friday Night

If your players aren’t executing, it’s typically for one of two reasons. For one, you may be asking them to do something they aren’t capable of doing. If that’s the case, coaches must identify and decide if a different scheme or approach will help that player.

The second and more common reason is there’s a gap in knowledge, and it is a coach’s job to provide the solution so that players can play fast and confident on game day.

The better a team prepares during the week, the greater its chances of success come game time. Hudl Sideline allows coaches to spot even the smallest slip-ups in execution in practice, allowing for adjustments to be made during the calm of practice as opposed to the frenzy of Friday night.

Instant Schooling For Your Signal Caller

Any position can benefit from Hudl Sideline, but a few in particular stick out, especially the quarterback. Instant replay gives a signal caller immediate feedback with what he’s seeing on the field. For instance, using replays during scrimmages (and even 7-on-7) allows him to immediately get a look at a coverage and the decision he made moments after the play, when the actions are still fresh in his mind.

When watching film after practice, a quarterback is forced to recall dozens of individual events from the past few hours – it’s almost impossible for him to remember them individually. Hudl Sideline gives coaches the ability to call their field generals aside moments after the play and diagnose what happened seconds earlier. Not only should the passer better be able to recognize the play, but the coaches can put him in a similar scenario a few calls later to see what he learned.

Upgrade Your Ground Game

Linemen and running backs could also benefit from instant video feedback. Take an inside running play, for example. If a pulling guard has a tendency to lean back on plays during which he pulls, he should be able to recognize that – you’d better believe the defense will on game day. Now you can show him immediately how his positioning is off and coach to correct it.

And what better way for a running back to hone his ability to read running lanes than being able to immediately put the play in front of him for a second time, showing him how the play developed and where he needed to be, as opposed to where he was?

This is just scratching the surface on what Hudl Sideline can do. Cornerbacks can quickly see why their jamming technique isn’t working. Linebackers can see why they were fooled by a play-action fake. The opportunities are endless.

Get Set Up in Minutes

And Hudl Sideline is not difficult to operate. The time spent getting Sideline up and running won’t interrupt practice. It takes less than five minutes to complete the following steps:

Plug in the wireless router and set up your recording device for the desired vantage point.
Connect your recording and viewing devices to the wireless network and open the Hudl Sideline app.
Start watching and teaching from anywhere on the field.

It’s really that easy. With thousands of teams already planning to use instant replay next season, coaches and players will need to become comfortable with the technology. Practice provides a perfect opportunity to hone your instant replay skills. Coaches will learn how to give better instant feedback while players come to embrace immediate evaluation in the heat of battle.

Hudl Sideline is the game’s newest innovation for Fridays, but don’t limit its power. This new tool can be nearly as useful on a Tuesday afternoon. Everyone knows the saying, “There is no time like the present.” Hudl Sideline allows teams to put that to use.

With the season just around the corner, there’s no time to waste. Get started with Sideline now.