Katherine Aiken, the Director of Technology Services for Athletics at the University at Buffalo, assists coaches with the Dartfish total solution tailored to meet the specific needs of sixteen UB athletics programs. A PDF version of this article is available.
Aiken’s goal at UB is to assist coaches in getting their athletes to the place where they can self-coach, self-adjust, and self-evaluate their performance to:
- Generate sports performance using proper technique specific to their sport
- Improve understanding of sport specific biomechanicsEmpower the athlete’s self-analysis of his/her performance
- Improve communication between the coach and athlete
When Aiken starts working with the coaching staff of a sport program at the University at Buffalo, she and her tech team begin by meeting with the coaching staff asking how they can best enhance that program by tailoring technology to meet that sport’s needs, while saving the coaching staff valuable time. Does the football program need scouting videos? Does the men’s and women’s basketball program need preseason workout sessions prepared using Dartfish Mediabooks? Does women’s tennis need a multi camera set-up for on court stroke analysis? Is immediate feedback with Live Capture and Instant Replay needed for an athlete learning a new dive? Will Mediabooks be needed to illustrate key skill positions fora baseball or softball coaching session on pitching, catching, or fielding?
Dartfish saves us time and money while providing a coaching toolbox packed with video analysis feedback tools – Katherine Aiken
When the need is defined, Katherine and her tech team work together with the coaching staff to develop a plan that best fits a specific athletic program’s needs and then incorporates Dartfish technology as seamlessly as possible.
What’s your workflow?
Dartfish integrates into the workflow of sport becoming a valuable asset for coaches, saving both coach and athlete time.
Having coached at the collegiate level, Aiken knows that technology is an indispensable tool in a coach’s toolbox, but she also understands that it has to be integrated into the workflow of the sport in a way that becomes a valuable asset rather than an ongoing obstacle. And it should save both the coach and athlete valuable time while improving performance. This means knowing the flow of the sport and the system of the coaching staff. This understanding assists in every aspect of equipment set-up from cable placement to camera angle, leading to the specific goals for video capture and feedback desired by the coach.
“We streamline and help make the workflow more efficient. At the front end of the process, I work extensively with each sport analyzing their workflow,” explained Aiken. “As the process developed, the coaching staff could see that they were spending less time breaking down and making videos/DVDs which gave them more time to actually coach.”
I am able to illustrate visually the progress an athlete is making over a period of time by comparing their before and after videos in Dartfish. And with the portability of the system, I am able to work in the gym or the weight room,with a single athlete or a whole team – Ed Fitzsimmons, UB Sports Performance Coach
A dartfish.tv channel, specific to men’s basketball, provides effective and fast feedback between coaches and athletes
“To streamline the process and make it the most efficient for everyone from the video coordinator to the head coach, Dartfish was determined to be the best solution,” stated Aiken. “The video coordinator or assistant coach uploads the video and then the head coach and/or other assistant coaches watch the video, adding comments to highlight particular points. That is the most attractive feature we found. They can watch the video and comment in real time. No more taking notes or making videos for later when meeting with the team. The team sees the comments the minute the coach puts it up there”.
Technology set-up at Buffalo
Thanks to Athletics Director, Warde Manuel, all athletic programs at UB share a centralized technology budget
All programs at UB have access to equivalent technology, thanks to the centralized technology budget model put in place by Athletics Director Warde Manuel, soon after he arrived at the University at Buffalo. Sports no longer have to make a choice within their budgets about whether or not to invest in technology. Aiken and her staff evaluate the technology needs of each program from a global perspective, allocating central resources considered essential for supporting the various sport programs in building winning programs while maintaining a level of fiscal responsibility. Her staff is constantly researching available technology and standardizes it throughout the Division of Athletics at the University at Buffalo with the goal of reliability on which the end user can depend. “We purchase hardware and software centrally,”stated Aiken, “making it available to programs who have a justifiable need and proven desire to become accomplished in using the tools we are providing them.I was able to spread our Dartfish licenses and related hardware into the sport programs that expressed the enthusiasm to expand their coaching toolbox.We provide a total solution – from computers to cables, firewire cards,to portable hard drives, making sure everything is compatible and working smoothly together. This past summer the Athletics Director, Warde Manuel, modified one of our practice facilities to include everything a team would need to record and review practices court side. All the sport has to bring to practice is their camera and a laptop, because everything else is already in place, providing the ability to capture and then project the footage via Dartfish In-the-Action onto a court-side flat screen TV. This forward-thinking investment is currently utilized by three separate programs.”
KATHERINE AIKEN is Director of Technology Services for Athletics at the University at Buffalo, NY. After earning two Bachelor Degrees in History and Health/Human Services while a two sport athlete at UB, she went on to earn four Master’s Degrees, from Higher Ed. Administration to Sports Management. Aiken coached volleyball at D’Youville College in Buffalo, NY before she came on board as the Director of Technology Services for Athletics. She currently coaches with the Niagara Frontier Volleyball Club. Even Katherine’s children know the value of video feedback as they are routinely exposed to Dartfish from stroke analysis in swim practice, to soccer game ball movement, to dance team rehearsals.
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