FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ANSWERED
EMPOWERING PARENTS | COACHING ATHLETES
PHILOSOPHICAL STUFF
WHY DOES ECOACHIT EXIST?
We are here to help the athlete’s “first coach” – the parent – obtain quality skill analysis in a convenient manner that is also cost effective. Using video, we analyze and provide specific guidance to the parent/player using the footage you submit. With the pervasive nature of mobile phone video capture capability, the idea is to turn the parent into the videographer in order to facilitate the review. This reduces costs and engages the parent in the process – reinforcing the value proposition. To learn more about who we are and why we do this, check out our ABOUT US page.
WHAT IS THE ECOACHIT PHILOSOPHY OF COACHING?
We get this question frequently. Our philosophy is player-centric. As opposed to teaching a specific approach to the sport (using a baseball/softball analogy, teach a linear vs. rotational hitting swing) we prefer to analyze the athlete and provide the feedback to optimize their capabilities. This is not to say that our coaches are not well versed in various approaches/theories. On the contrary, what we have found is analysis based upon one specific approach is demonstrating a lack of experience and creativity.
EMPOWER PARENTS...WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
Youth sports is increasingly becoming monetized and therefore there is a gulf of misunderstanding out there about what to do and how to do it…parents are at an information deficit and we want to change that. Unfortunately, there seems no end to the opportunity to throw money at youth sports and informed purchasing is not always occurring. We want to be an impartial provider of coaching to athletes whose parents are struggling to just help there kid get better and enjoy their sport.
Now, depending upon who you are reading this you may have different opinions on what this is all about. Let us try to clarify things by speaking to various stakeholders:
- Parents – be clear that we are not here to turn you into a sports “helicopter parent”. The things we discuss here with you should be for your enlightenment and to help your athlete get better. We also know that coaches are overwhelmed and no one looks sideways at a helping hand and another set of eyes. Let this be for the benefit of your athlete and by extension their coach.
- Coaches – we aren’t here to take away your position or role. Rather, as said above we are here to help the athlete as another set of eyes. We desire to offer the parent an opportunity to stay connected to their athlete outside of the time you have them (we get it, it’s your domain when the athlete is there with you). We want everyone on the same page. If you prefer to be the sole voice, then we have a solution for that too…contact us to learn more.
- Leagues/Organizations – we aren’t here to steal your players into our programs – eCoachIt doesn’t have teams. We simply facilitate coaching for busy people in a way that is convenient and cost effective. Our agenda is the athlete…as far as they want to interact with us and to the extent they see benefit is the extent of our relationship.
ECOACHIT ANALYSIS PROCESS
HOW STUFF WORKS
HOW DOES ECOACHIT ANALYSIS CONVERT TO SKILL ENHANCEMENT?
eCoachIt utilizes the principles of qualified evaluation and feedback, teaching and reinforcement of fundamentals and offering the athlete the opportunity to visually learn from their own skill execution to create better practice habits and muscle memory. The coach will provide direction on skill modification within each analysis video.
CAN I QUIT USING ECOACHIT AT ANY TIME?
Yes.
DOES ECOACHIT CLAIM OWNERSHIP OF MY VIDEOS?
No. You own the raw video you submit. Anything we create as a derivative of your video footage – the coaching analysis and feedback and the compiled videos with the time-stamped notations – as well as any eCoachIt branding/intellectual property, code or know-how are the property of eCoachIt.
WHAT HAPPENS TO MY PORTFOLIO IF I QUIT?
If you terminate with eCoachIt, or fail to order new analyses within a 12-month period, we will cancel your account on our system. The coaching instruction, lesson plans, video drills and the compiled videos with the time-stamped notations are the property of eCoachIt and you will lose access to those once your account is canceled.
WHAT'S INDIVIDUAL ATHLETE ONBOARDING ALL ABOUT?
This is where the process begins for individual athletes to engage eCoachIt. We work with the parent/client to establish the athlete in our platform by creating necessary accounts, complete the onboarding questionnaire and complete the baseline comprehensive analysis. You can learn more about the entire process HERE.
WHAT VIDEO SHOULD I CAPTURE FOR ECOACHIT?
#1 – Don’t stress about it.
#2 – take your smart phone or video camera and press record.
#3 – If you can follow the filming suggestions we offer, then we can make necessary adjustments to make it work for the coach.
There’s no hard and fast rule here. However, there are general guidelines we suggest based upon our experience:
- Quantity does not equal quality – You don’t need 5 minutes of video for a 2-10 second skill.
- Capture what you believe is needed to accurately represent the skill under review. For example, if you are requesting a hitting analysis, 3-5 swings of the assigned skill review, from several vantage points (whether a drill, practice or live game action) is plenty to represent the skill.
- We select the most representative footage offering the best vantage for the coach to review. We generally do not use all footage submitted so submitting more than necessary only wastes your time.
- We seek to provide a full speed and slow motion version of the skill so what seems like only a bit of footage turns into much more. As an example, a 4 second pitch edited for proper start/stop will be turned into a 16 second video clip with full speed and slow motion versions.
Simple rules to follow:
- Get as close as you feel comfortable;
- Follow the eCoachIt filming guidance whenever possible.
HOW DO I SUBMIT VIDEO TO ECOACHIT?
When you have a user account fully activated on eCoachIt, you will be provided a unique URL to a folder that will house your video files when you upload for analysis.
HOW DOES THE VIDEO ANALYSIS WORK?
Once you submit video to eCoachIt, we select the best examples of the skill under review and then create the analysis video that the coach will use to provide feedback. Watch the following video to see how this works.
WHAT DOES ECOACHIT DO WITH MY VIDEOS?
When you send us video files, we consider these ‘native’ files and we copy those into our video editing environment. Those native files are yours to keep or discard as you see fit (we discard those files from the Google share drive after we are finished with our video creation process). Once in our editing environment, we review the videos for the best, most representative clips of the skill being reviewed. We then manipulate the videos for optimal review (if needed beyond native capture) and produce a video review file for the coach to evaluate.
WHY DO I SEE MESSAGES EVERYWHERE THAT I TAKE THE ADVICE OF THE COACHES AT MY OWN RISK?
Sports are not played without risk. Instruction on performing physical skills carries a certain amount of risk and should only be performed by someone healthy and capable of completing such tasks. Because this is an online environment and the instructor is not present while you perform the assigned drill(s), you are responsible to perform such activities only when you are physically capable of completing them.
WHY DOESN'T ECOACHIT USE 3RD PARTY VIDEO EVALUATION TOOLS
We believe there are many high quality evaluation tools in the market. Those solutions that use those tools are going to be different than eCoachIt as we look at instruction from a player-centric vs. philosophy-centric approach. Our solution does not require the player to conform to a “specific approach”, rather we seek to allow the coach to work with the athlete’s strengths and apply a solution that works for them.
WHY DOESN'T ECOACHIT USE LIVE VIDEO FEEDS FOR ANALYSIS?
There are solutions out there that support live feed interaction. This approach is analogous to in person training and while it offers a remotely located instructor to provide real-time skill evaluation, we believe that remains an inferior solution to eCoachIt. Our process allows the athlete to be evaluated on their performance of a skill and in turn they can see their actions for themselves. This creates a very unique merging of instructor feedback to athlete action that the athlete themselves can then review for themselves and internalize in a way otherwise not afforded to amateur athletes. As we have stated, there is no one right way of doing a skill or providing instruction for that matter. It is, however, our position that what you give up by way of live feedback you more than make up in long term results with athlete personal evaluation of them performing the skill and then having a mental picture of what adjustments need to be made.