Krossover Joins the Hudl Family

We’ve added Krossover to dou­ble down on our com­mit­ment to pro­vide teams more pow­er­ful tools, faster break­downs, and high­er qual­i­ty video.

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Today, I’m thrilled to announce the addi­tion of Krossover to the Hudl fam­i­ly and to share our vision for help­ing teams make bet­ter, faster deci­sions with video and data.

Over the past decade, Krossover pio­neered full-ser­vice video analy­sis and broke down games for thou­sands of coach­es. They changed the game in our indus­try. But in that time, the demands of teams have steadi­ly increased. They need high­er qual­i­ty video, faster break­downs, in-game insights and more expo­sure for ath­letes. These are all areas we’re invest­ing in aggres­sive­ly and why we believe Hudl is a great long-term home for Krossover customers.

I’d like to take this moment to share how Krossover fits into our mis­sion and vision for the future.

Our mis­sion is two-fold.

First, we’re here to help our teams win and our coach­es become world-class. Sec­ond, and equal­ly impor­tant, we’re here to give you time back to focus on what mat­ters — whether that’s spend­ing more time with your ath­letes, with your fam­i­ly or in the classroom.

You demand more data, faster, with less effort.

Ten years ago, coach­es kept stats by hand and spent hours break­ing down game film. Five years ago, the sim­ple pair­ing of video and data on the Hudl plat­form gave teams an edge.

Today, the lev­el of com­pe­ti­tion and the impor­tance of data-dri­ven deci­sions are high­er than ever. The bur­den this places on coach­es is real and has pushed us to evolve the role we play for our teams. It’s not enough to put pow­er­ful tools at your fin­ger­tips — we need to bring the insights to you. That’s why we launched Hudl Assist in 2015 and are now bring­ing Krossover into the family.

Hudl cus­tomers will ben­e­fit from the extra analy­sis firepower.

With the addi­tion of Krossover, we’ll strength­en our ana­lyt­ics tools and break­down ser­vices. Their com­mu­ni­ty of ana­lysts will help us break down more than one mil­lion games this year, and their best prac­tices will help us improve our prod­ucts. Along the way, you’ll see faster turn­around times and even high­er break­down quality.

Our pace of inno­va­tion is accelerating.

Our pur­pose is more than help­ing you win the next game. We’re build­ing solu­tions that deliv­er insights as close to real-time as pos­si­ble so you and your ath­letes can make adjust­ments as the game unfolds.

Five years ago, we offered the abil­i­ty to record and upload video with our mobile app. Over half of our teams use that method today. But, we can’t stop there. Last year, we launched Hudl Focus, our smart cam­era that auto­mat­i­cal­ly records and uploads games and prac­tices. This year, we’re adding live stream­ing and will test Focus for out­door sports.

We’ve expand­ed Hudl to offer sport-spe­cif­ic tools across ath­let­ic depart­ments, includ­ing reports and break­downs for foot­ball, bas­ket­ball, vol­ley­ball, soc­cer, lacrosse and ice hockey.

And there’s more to come.

This month, we’re launch­ing detailed attack ten­den­cies reports for vol­ley­ball. In the com­ing months, we’ll roll out new insights for soc­cer, Hudl Assist for ice hock­ey, and improved video qual­i­ty for every team. That’s a small sam­ple of what’s com­ing soon.

In the not-so-dis­tant future, we see a world where every one of your games will be record­ed auto­mat­i­cal­ly. Video will stream to you on the side of the court or field along with exact­ly the data you need dur­ing the game. Your fans that can’t make it to the game will enjoy a pro­fes­sion­al-qual­i­ty live broad­cast. Every key moment will be assem­bled into playlists for half-time review and high­light reels will be added to ath­lete pro­files as they hap­pen. Your post-game review will be primed and ready the minute the final whis­tle blows, and the scout­ing report for your next oppo­nent will already be teed up.

Keep push­ing us.

Our vision is big because that’s what you deserve, and I’ve nev­er been more con­fi­dent that we’ll deliv­er on it. Krossover join­ing the Hudl fam­i­ly takes us a step clos­er to bring­ing it all to life.

Thank you.

John Wirtz, Hudl Co-Founder and Chief Prod­uct Officer

 

This article was republished with the permission of  Training-Conditioning

Many teams hold training sessions or regular practice sessions in the early morning hours. Sometimes this is done out of necessity, other times coaches and strength/conditioning coaches believe it’s a good way to instill the value of hard work and determination their athletes.

But is it the best thing for your athletes?

Mike Nitka, longtime strength and conditioning coach and a Hall of Fame member of the National High School Strength & Conditioning Coaches Association (NHSSCA), believes that early-morning training can negatively impact teenage athletes.

Here are the “con’s” to holding early-morning practice or workouts that the article lists.

1. It can contribute to a chronic lack of sleep.

The article mentions the direct correlation between athletes suffering from lack of sleep and sports-related injuries based on studies that have been done..

2. Athletes may not have the proper nutrition base to get the most out of the session.

Many athletes forego eating a solid breakfast because they are shortening the time between waking up and leaving for the practice/workout session. The article writes that this can leave athletes in a glycogen-depleted state early in the morning. As a result, the quality of training suffers.

3. A regular routine of early-morning practies/workouts can inhibit recovery and tissue repair.

“An athlete will only get stronger if they have sufficient time between weight room sessions for the body to repair itself, and early-morning workouts can sabotage this recovery—leading to performance decrements and, potentially, injury,” the article states. And this is especially the case if the team has evening practices or games followed by an early-morning session.

“The recovery process for high schoolers seems to be an afterthought for many coaches,” Coach Nitka said in the article. “High school workouts are about progressively developing strength and power in our athletes. Where do we help them improve their diet choices?  Where do we educate them on how to rest and recover between practices by discussing sleep needs to maximize their ability to compete?”

4. Regularly practicing and training in the morning can lead to increased stress for athletes.

Athletes are already stressed enough, and sleep deprivation can contribute to excessive anxiety. “We already know that athletes are more prone to injury during periods of high academic stress, so adding the physical stress of training compounded by a lack of sleep can create a perfect storm of stress for teen athletes,” the article says.

5. If the early-morning session is a strength/conditioning workout, is it properly supervised?

Coach Nitka has seen first-hand that many training sessions are not properly supervised—at any time, but especially in the early morning.

“I’ve been to schools where the weight room is open at all hours, so kids can get their lifts in. I’d find the door unlocked and kids lifting unsupervised—or supervised by someone other than a qualified strength and conditioning coach, like the seniors on the team,” he said in the article.

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We’d love to give you the details on our limited time offer.

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LIMITED TIME OFFER

Everything you need to capture, analyze and improve.

Don’t miss your chance to get Hudl, Hudl Assist and an elevated camera.

Get Started

CAPTURE VIDEO

This SVT Advantage kit will ensure you have the perfect recording angle for every match.

• HD camera
• 16′ pole
• 7″ field monitor
• Adjustable tripod
• Camera remote
• Folds to under 4′
• 25lbs

Want this deal?

We’d love to give you the details on our limited time offer.

Learn More.

 

Goal #1: Set expectations for success this season

Meet your club’s new best friend—Hudl. But like any friendship, you need to set a foundation. It’ll take some planning, patience and persistence.

To help you and your team get to know Hudl, we created ten goals to focus on. Like getting parents on board, and creating highlights to get your team and players noticed. Each goal is paired with a game plan full of tactics you can use to reach that objective.

In the end, everyone at your club will be more aligned and ready to get the most out of Hudl’s tools. In other words, that friendship will be rock solid for years to come.

Ready to dive in? Keep scrolling to see the first goal.

Commitment—/kəˈmɪtmənt/ (noun): the state or quality of being dedicated to a cause, activity, etc. Let’s go ahead and add team to that definition. After all, you’ve made a commitment to your team by signing up for Hudl (high-five).

So what’s the driving motivation behind your decision to add Hudl to your team? Maybe you want to use Hudl to find insights into your team’s performance more easily and efficiently. Or you signed up so your athletes have access to tools that allow them to create highlights in seconds, get noticed and have a chance at the next level. Is it because you want to help build your organization’s brand and attract more athletes to your club? If so, you’re on the right track—you’ve already shown that you’re committed to helping your athletes and teams be the best they can be.

It’s time to share those motivations with your head coaches and set expectations early.

For example:

• As a 12U team, we want to use Hudl to help athletes learn the game and build a culture of video review early. We’ll hold team film sessions after each tournament and ask athletes to watch on their own at least once a week. We’ll call this is a success when video review becomes part of our weekly routine and athletes consistently do it on their own (through the individual activity tracking feature on Hudl).
• As a 17U team, we want to use Hudl to give our players the best chance at reaching the next level, while also using it as a promotional tool to attract top talent in the area to our club. We’ll be successful when X% of our athletes are committed to playing college ball, and we see an increase in the amount of players trying out every year.

From there, it’s a cascading effect. A committed head coach can set expectations with their assistant, athletes and parents so every single person at the club (regardless of role) knows how and why they need to get the most out of Hudl.

But let’s not get too ahead of ourselves. First we’ll need to get your head coaches bought in. Here’s the game plan.

• Host a kickoff meeting with club directors and head coaches to determine what your expectations are going to be for using Hudl this season. Have a good ol’ brainstorming session and write any and all ideas on a whiteboard or on sticky notes posted to a wall. You could even write up a survey on Google Forms and have this core group vote on what they relate to the most. From there, you can discuss and narrow it down to what motivates you the most.
  • Pro tip: Not all of the teams at your club need to have the same motivations. Like the example above, your 12U team might be using Hudl to improve and learn the game, whereas, your 17U team could be using Hudl to create highlights for recruitment purposes.

• Now decide on a rallying cry. Sure, it sounds cheesy, but it’ll help—trust us. When it’s crunch time and your team plays in 15 minutes, remind everyone of the rallying cry and the commitment you all made to the team. For example:
• You’re the 12U team whose Hudl motivations include helping your athletes learn the game, so your rallying cry could be “Focus on the basics.” Before the match, remind everyone to focus on the basics so everything else can fall into place. The next time you review video, don’t let your players dwell on just their shots—remind them to focus on the basics. Learning the game applies to the less flashy parts too, like dribbling and passing.

Don’t forget to share the expectations and rallying cry with everyone (assistants, parents, directors, etc.). Create a snazzy PowerPoint presentation, Google document, or host a meeting so you can talk about it in person. Everyone needs to be on the same page for this season to be a success.

Continue to Goal #2: Get parents and players on board.