"It's motivation for the kids because they can see their progress," said Madison Athletic Director Pete Bendorf, who used the same program at Oakton, where he was the head football coach. "To older, more veteran coaches, technology is a bad word. But the truth is it makes everything more efficient. If you spend 20 minutes showing the defense video on Landro, instead of an hour on a VCR, you can get out onto the practice field sooner."
Georgetown Prep Coach Dan Paro is one of the area's most successful coaches -- and one of the most tech-savvy. He has scouted opponents on his PDA for almost seven years, digitally animated plays on his laptop for nearly as long, used a professional-quality digital camera for three years and this summer purchased Landro.
When Theodore Roosevelt Coach Daryl Tilghman watches football video games, he literally sees his team. Tilghman tinkered with a popular video game to add his program's offensive plays so players could learn visually.
(Preston Keres -- The Washington Post)
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Paro's favorite program is Digital Scout, which he runs on his PDA. He watches an opponent's game on video, pausing between plays so he can input formations and other information about individual plays into the PDA. After logging all the offensive plays -- he said it takes him 20 to 30 minutes to input about 40 -- he downloads the info onto his PC. The Digital Scout program prints a detailed report that shows what plays his opponent prefers to run on which down, what plays he might expect when the opposing offense lines up in a specific formation and other tendencies.
Even with that, this fall Paro plans to introduce a new wrinkle: He's going to project game video onto a greaseboard, where he will stand before his players with a remote that doubles as a laser pointer. He can freeze frames, then uses a grease marker to diagram what should have happened.
"As a high school coach, all those things save time for people who don't have much time," said Paro, who is also the athletic director at the Rockville private school. "It's made life easier for me. Your players still have to go out and block and make tackles. But technology provides a quicker and more efficient way of preparing your staff."
But not all schools have a tony private institution's budget. Theodore Roosevelt in the District is one of them. But that doesn't mean the Rough Riders aren't dabbling in technology, thanks to a little ingenuity by Coach Daryl Tilghman.
Two years ago, he bought a PlayStation 2 and EA Sports' Madden football video game for the lounge where his players hang out. One day, Tilghman decided to fiddle with one of the games and discovered that it had a practice mode that allowed the user to design his own plays. He then got his players to load it with Roosevelt's offensive schemes, which he continues to update when he makes changes. Now, he uses the PlayStation as a training tool, bringing in quarterbacks to work on distinguishing opposing defenses.
"We've been having a lot of fun," Tilghman said. "Nowadays, a lot of these kids aren't football savvy. The stick figures on the chalkboard don't move. You have to try to figure out what piques their interest and try to do things they're interested in."
Senior quarterback Jamal Gilmore is a fixture in front of the television with the game controllers, constantly running passing plays through the system. He said it has helped improve his ability to see the entire field and react more quickly when faced with blitzes or other defenses. He has even installed the Rough Riders' offense on his PlayStation 2 at home.
DeMatha's Scott and teammate Anthony Wiseman said they've been using video games as a learning tool for years, and that many of their friends on other teams do, too.
"Putting plays into Madden helps you remember the plays," Scott said. "It helps you prepare for the other team, too, because you can see how it plays out with artificial intelligence. Everyone does it now."
Staff writer Judith Evans contributed to this report.
