Sitting in the stands at the last football game, I witnesses a spectacular play made, and I said to the person next to me “I wish I could watch a replay of that.”

With the new website “Hudl,”it is possible to re-watch that highlight. Hudl is becoming very popular in VHS athletics and makes watching game film easy and accessible

Hudl, headquartered in the Haymarket District of Lincoln, Nebraska, is a site that allows coaches to put recorded games and footage online so only their team can watch. It keeps coaching presentations securely available to the entire team over the internet. The website is set up so the coach invites each of his players to their team’s page. From there the coach can upload full game footage. It can be used to study opponents, watch highlights, or just to re-watch a game. This website is very useful because instead of having to get the whole team together and watch film, each individual can access it from home. The games can be viewed on a computer and if one has a smart phone, there is an app that makes viewing portable.

Another interesting feature about the website is that during any of the games, the coach can make a note that automatically stops the video. The coach can add a message to what a certain player should do in that moment or just a tip of advice. This is a useful coaching tool because a player can be educated and coached at home and then bring any questions he or she may have to the coach the next day. Another great reason to have Hudl is that it allows you to save game footage for many years. So if for instance you play one team and don’t play them for another few years, you are able to go back in your team’s library and watch that game footage.

Hudl is a great tool in making the next step from high school athletics to the college level. It allows individual players to make highlight tapes. Senior Alex Kaslander, who would like to continue playing basketball at the college level, says about the site “It allows me to promote myself and dictate what coaches see about my game that I like and hide things I don’t do as well.”

The site works by breaking up games into numbered clips.  Users are able to pull different clips together from different years, and different games to form one highlight tape. This is very beneficial to athletes trying to create a tape for college recruiters.

The site is widely used at VHS, including by our football, soccer, basketball and lacrosse teams.