5 Reasons Why It's Important to Study Game Film

5 Reasons Why It's Important to Study Game Film

There are several different reasons for watching game film. Check out our guide here to learn how this can make you a better athlete.

Keyword(s): game film

We all love watching sports. If we didn't, ESPN wouldn't have multiple different channels, an app, and online streaming services. But the teams ESPN films have millions of dollars.

What about the teams who want to do their best and play their best, but aren't having their plays broadcast by professional videotapers across the nation? Don't they deserve to watch game film too?

We think so - in fact, we've built our entire business around that belief. We truly believe that watching game film will change the way your team practices - and we've laid out why we think so, below.

1. Watching Is How Our Brains Learn

We're going to get technical here, but we promise it applies to sports - just stick with us. Neurologists and developmental scientists have spent decades studying our brains and how they learn. They were interested in how we learn behaviors before we're able to complete them as children.

After years of experimenting and theorizing, they discovered something called "mirror neurons". These are cells in our brains that can't tell the difference between doing something and watching something. They discovered this on Monkeys, by watching their brain while someone else made a hand movement - the monkey's brain lit up like it was moving its hand itself.

And while these are most active in childhood, we have mirror neurons our entire lives. Here's where it ties into football: when your players are watching film, the mirror neurons in their brain are going through the exact motions they see on screen. Their brains are going through the motions, even though their body isn't.

It's pretty cool - and a great reason to watch film. It's like practicing without ever having to move a muscle.

2. Different Players Learn in Different Ways

Writing out a play on a whiteboard and seeing it being run by real people on the screen are two very different things. Whiteboard play representations aren't as straightforward on a neurological level. The players have to remember what each circle you've drawn means, what steps one, two, and three are after you've erased them, and commit those symbols to memory.

It's much simpler to have them watch the play in real life, on film. Not only does it give their brains a break (allowing them to focus on the actual play, rather than all the details listed above), but you can rewind the video to show what each position is doing as many times as you like.

Now, when you go to run the play in practice, the players have those mirror neurons already in place, which gives them a leg up in the execution of the play. Additionally, research has shown that learning something through two different learning styles (visual, watching film, and kinetic, running it in practice) commits things to memory better than learning it in one way.

You likely have a mix of learning types on your team, so getting those plays into their brains in as many ways as possible will set you up for success.

3. It Allows Players to See Mistakes They're Making on Their Own

Part of your job as a coach is to give corrections to players, but that can easily turn into feelings of frustration when the player can't physically see what they're doing wrong. Taping practices will allow you to point these things out visually, giving them a better chance at understanding how to correct their motions.

Continually filming practices will allow you to show their improvement over time, which is good for their self-esteem and can show you that this method of coaching is working.

4. You Can Watch Your Competition

Some teams do the same things over and over - even if they know it's predictable. Take the Florida Gators under Dan Mullen. Their defensive coordinator Todd Grantham (who has since been fired) always ran the same play on the third down. It's called "Third and Grantham", you can look it up.

You can bet that the Gators SEC opponents knew exactly what that play looked like and were ready to run something against it - which was successful, given the Gators unfortunate records under Grantham/Mullen.

That's an extreme example - the Gators are a million-dollar football program, whose play patterns get national attention.

It's not that easy to recognize plays when you're playing at non-televised levels. That's why filming games over the years is so important - it gives you a look into the opponent's playbook and what works (and doesn't work) against certain combinations.

Depending on how good your analytics are, and how often your opponents change their play cards, you may be able to figure out what play they're about to call from the film - giving you even more of a leg up.

5. Your Competitors are Watching Film

One of the best reasons you need to be watching film is because your opponents are already doing it, and have been. That means they not only are practicing better as a team, but they've got their eyes on you and your plays.

Part of staying competitive is keeping up with the trends. If you're not already watching film, you're behind. Don't stay behind any longer than you have to.

Our company has hundreds of options for you and your team, from simple streaming equipment to multi-cameras, to tablet and camera mounts. We've got everything you need to bring your team up to speed with watching game film.

You can even live-stream your games to parents or fans with our equipment, which is becoming more important in this everything-virtual era we're in. No one knows when live sports are going to be back full force, so it's best to be prepared.

Watching Game Film: The Best Way to Set Your Team Up for Success

Now that you know how important it is for your players to be watching film, we hope you'll do the right thing and invest in the technology that makes it possible. If you have any questions about what gear you need, or how to make things work with your budget, let us know.

We'll be happy to create a custom solution with you, to set your game film journey up for success!