Advice for getting the most out of your video scouting package, even in a tight window.
April 28, 2016 by Kyle Weisbrod in Opinion with 3 comments
Yesterday, Ultiworld released the Video Scouting Reports. This product is the fruit of many hours of watching and cutting video this Spring. I’ve been doing this work for my team for a couple of years and thought other teams might find it useful.
With only hours left before Regionals though, it’s important to get the most out of the videos quickly. Here is a quick explanation of what you’re getting and my recommendation for how to best use the video resources.
- Pull Plays – Footage of every time the pull lands in bounds and is caught or picked up prior to the defense being set. Clip continues until (a) at least 15 seconds passed and offensive momentum stops or (b) turnover, score, or another stoppage. This clip includes both person-to-person defenses and zone defenses.
- Set Plays (O-line and D-line) – Any time the offense starts from a static position. Bricks or turnovers where the O does not pick up the disc immediately. Clip continues until (a) at least 15 seconds passed and offensive momentum stops or (b) turnover, score, or another stoppage.
- Endzone (O-line and D-line) – Every time the offense moves within approximately 20 yards of the endzone. Clip continues until the team scores, a turnover occurs, timeout is called, or a stoppage occurs (If a stoppage occurs there will be another endzone video for that possession; in some cases where the stoppage is short the clip continues through the stoppage).
- O Highlights (O-line and D-line) – Times outside of Pull Plays, Set Plays, and Endzone where the offense moves the disc approximately 40+ yards in flow.
- Turnovers (O-line and D-line) – Every turnover from ~10 seconds prior to the turn including at least the full thrower’s possession that precedes the turn.
- D Highlights (O-line and D-line) – Every time where the defense runs something outside of person defense including non-traditional poaching/switching or something notable in person defense. Does not include handler sagging. Clip continues until turnover, score, or defense completes transition into person defense.
Some clips may be in multiple videos. For example a stopped disc possession that starts at midfield and quickly moves to endzone offense before a turnover occurs may be viewable three separate times.
There is very little discretion in terms of the clips. If huck just short of the goal is followed by an immediate two yard pass to the endzone, that clip will be in the endzone O compilation even if it’s not terribly useful.
The clips remove a great deal of context which provides you another way of seeing the game. Seeing pull play after pull play can help you identify patterns, strengths, and weaknesses of a team’s pull plays in a way that watching a full game through can not.
If you’re pressed for time, here’s how I would prioritize watching:
- Pull Plays
- Identify the most common personnel, positions, and tendencies of the O-line
- Figure out your best match-ups
- Identify defenses within your current portfolio that will disrupt the offense
- Design customized stunts or defenses to disrupt the offense
- D Highlights (D-line first)
- Identify the most common non-person defenses that your opponent plays including what are they trying to take away and what are their weaknesses
- Identify adjustments that will help you beat their defense
- Set Plays (O-line and D-line)
- Identify opponents’ priority cuts and/or players for isolation
- Ensure you get the right match-ups on turnovers
- Develop stunts to disrupt set plays
- O Highlights and Turnovers (O-line and D-line)
- Identify what your opponent is looking for in flow including which lanes they look to in which positions
- Guide markers to challenge specific spaces and disrupt your opponent’s offensive movement
- Endzone (O-Line and D-line)
- As many team’s offenses adjust near the goal line, identify the new patterns
- Identify common goal scorers
While you might be hesitant to throw a new defensive look that you haven’t run in practice, let me encourage you to use your knowledge to take chances, particularly against teams that are favorites against your own. To help you on your way, I’ll leave you a quick anecdote:
We used exactly this type of video for prep before Regionals last year for the top teams in our region, but didn’t have time to practice the specific work we were going to do. I hoped that we’d have time between games to walk through some of the ideas. But, the tourney had other plans and we lost to a lower seed well into cap immediately before having to face the top-seeded team in our region, a team that had lost once all season. We had to start almost right away and chose to burn a timeout before the first pull to get on the same page. We threw our new defense and were able to generate a bunch of turns on our way to a two-point victory, the first time we’d beaten that team in three years and their final loss of the season on the way to a national title.
You can watch these clips on your phone between byes or on Saturday night before Sunday play or Regionals and get right to the important stuff. What you do with it is up to you. Good luck.
