Web 2.0 for Squash Coaches – Part II

In our first post on Web 2.0 for Squash Coaches we looked at WordPress (blogging) and Skype as two practical, easy to use tools for coaches.  We continue with the ubiquitous YouTube and Facebook.

No more bulky VHS tapes, and tape compatibility issues, no more burning CDs and DVDs, no cumbersome e-mails files.  Now squash coaches can broadcast and distribute video media to their teams and fans effortlessly and for free.  Here are some of the best things that YouTube facilitates:

  • broadcast team matches for fans & semester abroad athletes
  • publish instructional videos
  • refer athletes to training videos
  • refer athletes to Pro squash matches (who needs TV?)
  • video recruiting adverts for your program

Broadcasting your own video, for example a squash game, can be done is a few easy steps:

  1. Video the game using a digital camcorder (all the camcorders are digital now – if not under $300)
  2. Transfer video from camcorder to PC (Mac or Windows).
  3. Use free software (Windows Moviemaker or Apple iMovie) to edit video to under 10 minutes.
  4. After opening a YouTube account, upload video to your account.
  5. Send or publish link to interested parties.

This blog has a channel  here, and we have used YouTube for both team stroke analysis (Dartfish on the cheap!) and recruiting.

If you really want to stay in touch and get to know your team outside of practice, the social utility Facebook is a great tool.  This is a great place to form a community of team, alums, friends and supporters to help everyone stay in touch in and out-of-season, through, chat, e-mail, photos, video, posts, all in one place.  It has a lot less formal feel than e-mail, and it is very easy to set privacy limits, something that initially was a concern when Facebook came on the scene.  Here is a great article from the Chronicle of Higher Education that provides an update on Facebook.

If you have not already, find out a bit more about the four Web 2.0 tools we have covered and perhaps give them a try!

Ahead…IPhone for Squash Coaches

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 12th, 2008 at 12:07 AM and is filed under Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to Web 2.0 for Squash Coaches – Part II

  1. Science of Coaching Squash says:
    April 18, 2009 at 4:24 PM

    […] Squash but it is not quite blog-worthy.  That is where another one of the seemingly endless Web 2.0 tools comes in – and right now it is the hottest – and that is Twitter! Twitter with Science of Coaching […]

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