Video Analysis & Sports Coaching App

[hockeyscout]

Ubersense. Likes it?. Anyone know other programs?

[bottle]

Analysis Paralysis is overrated. You've gotta think. Okay, maybe you shouldn't think too much in competition unless you're Novak Djokovic. Okay, maybe there needs to be a big transition-- a time for new technical ideas to sink in. None of that alters the fact that a tennis player needs to think, and judging from the tennis players I know, he needs to think A WHOLE LOT MORE.

[don_budge]

Reality...

Also, Don Budge, you know golf, what is on the golf side for software that can be applied over to the tennis side of things? I read Tiger Woods believes the meteoric rise of young golfers skill-sets is due to the fact they can break it down quickly with software...

hockeycoach...yeah...I don't know. My mother told me a long time ago...don't believe everything that you hear and only half of what you see. I don't trust what Tiger Woods believes either...he has been known to be wrong. I have got to feel it for myself...firsthand.

I am certain that there is an interesting debate in there about the relative merits of sophisticated software and virtual reality coaching and the old fashioned notion of coaching. I tend to be more of a human being than anything else these days, so sometimes I find it difficult to relate to the current cult of electronic intelligence.

It almost seems as if this stuff is rendering our race of beings...dumb. As if we weren't dumb enough to begin with. We rely so much on the infernal computer to prove to us what is right or wrong in modern age living and to think for all of these millenniums we did without it. So our reliance is increasing on a daily basis...so one must ask where it is leading.

Have you ever heard the term "singularity"? That is when all of the artificial intelligence connects together and takes over...if it hasn't already happened. It's the existential nightmare!

Analysis is great! So is critical thinking. The ability to see and describe is at best a dying art. It becomes painful for the modern human being to try and articulate something without some backup from the internet. I have had my golf swing video taped and the pro draws all of his lines and vectors over the image. I can see what I see...but it doesn't make me feel. One day out here on the farm I was chipping and pitching some balls into the corral that I built. Lo and behold it dawned on me...the perfect swing. My partners always told me how they admired my tempo...my rhythm. But I always felt that I lacked the x factor. I found it...with Frankie my chocolate lab retrieving my golf balls.

So I don't put a lot of stock in such nonsense. I only say nonsense too because I know that will get the goat of the humanoids under the magic spell of Virtual Reality, under the umbrella of which we all exist. But my methods are all about reality...about love and true knowledge of the game and the ability to engage with human beings. At least to try and help them get in touch with their humanness...emotions and feelings. With Swedes, for example, it is about trying to get them in touch with their inner Viking. But unfortunately it has been engineered virtually nonexistent. A thing of the useless past...unfortunately.

I know nothing of software aids in teaching swings for tennis or golf...not to say that they have no merit. But I will match my human skills of engagement and communication against ANY software anytime...anywhere. That includes Brian Gordon and his gizmo's. I'll save you a couple of magic bucks in the process. A bit of video or even still shots can be of some assistance.

But being there is best of all. Real time. Hell...just give me a mirror. A reflection of reality...that is all that I need. Self reliant...with regards to teaching tennis. My eye sees what it sees and that is good enough for me...and my students. But where does one get that kind of confidence any longer when we are taught to rely upon Facebook for having "friends"? Virtual friends. Is that any way to engage? No...in my opinion...it is not. Truth is not a consensus either. I am alone...which is quite alright with me. Damn right...as John McEnroe said to Jiminy Glick.

It is politically incorrect to think like this any longer. You are under suspicion if you are not a member of Facebook...which I never will be. I wish to remain anonymous. A voice in the wilderness. I reject the use of artificial intelligence in the world of tennis...but care not a twit if others use it. They are...after all free thinking and free willed and discerning human beings...just like me.

But you see...I still read books and I say that a tennis player needs to feel. Above all else...they need to be in touch with their feelings. Much as you and I need to be able to trust our instincts.

[stotty]

My kid is using Ubersense. Likes it. Anyone know other programs? Also, Don Budge, you know golf, what is on the golf side for software that can be applied over to the tennis side of things? I read Tiger Woods believes the meteoric rise of young golfers skill-sets is due to the fact they can break it down quickly with software like V1 etc. Also, whats everyone's thoughts here on Analysis - paralysis?

I use Golf Analyzer. It's equally suited to tennis. It's dead easy to use and has everything a coach/enthusiast needs.

I do rate high speed video as an analysing tool for two core reasons.

1. The student gets to see his/her own stroke. Often an eye-opener in itself.

2. I get to see things which I might miss with the naked eye

Do I believe in paralysis by analysis? Yes, very much so, depending what is being worked on. Too much analyzing and working on minute details can make players physically frigid. They won't be flowing movers. It can make players start to look robotic.

Sometimes I've toyed with the idea that players should practice moving and getting into position first before even picking up a racket or hitting a ball, as movement and are being paramount to hitting good strokes anyway.

[bottle]

The poet and tennis player Richard Wilbur used the analogy of a centipede worrying about one or two of its legs. He actually was comparing the psychology of writing a sonnet and hitting a drop-shot and addressed the subject of how to screw up either.