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| Success Stories |
| Adelaide Football Club: training at an elite level |
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Adelaide Football Club (AFC), nicknamed The Crows, is a club playing in the Australian Football League (AFL), based in Adelaide, South Australia. AFL or ‘Aussie Rules’ is a professional sport played extensively throughout Australia and to a lesser degree overseas. Competition season runs from March to September, with elite players training up to ten sessions each week, including weights, skills, swimming, running, recovery and flexibility, in addition to games.
AFC is always on the lookout for ways to help give its players a competitive edge. Yet adding together all the session training, matches, and sponsor commitments, the ability to carve out extra training time with the team was limited. “Rather than more time on the field, we realised we were looking for a training tool that would help the team and coaches work together for best the mental preparation opportunities,” explains Mark Upton, specialist coach at AFC.
Rewind, review, rectify
Having used a video analytics program for analysing games in play, AFC realised its benefit for post-match review. “The only shortcoming was that players and coaches could only collaborate together one on one during reviews. It was a cumbersome communication process that didn’t make efficient use of time. For example, if coaches wanted to ask players why certain moves had been made, they had to engage in lengthy e-mail communications with players, or set up time to meet with players individually,” says Upton.
Already familiar with Adobe solutions, Upton approached solutions provider Webqem for advice.
“Previously AFC had invested in an application built with Flex® and Adobe ColdFusion® to help manage and analyse its training data,” says Upton. “It was an impressive solution that introduced us to the power of Adobe software and technology”. All match planning and review notes—about 15 pages in length—are uploaded into this application for quick access and review. Webqem suggested Adobe Flash® Media Server, LiveCycle® Collaboration Service, Adobe Connect™, and Adobe Captivate® as a cross-media, training delivery and collaboration solution.
After a match, video of the game is uploaded to Flash Media Server and meta-tagged. Players can then review by name tag—via browser and Flash Player—each time they touched the ball in the game. Game plans are presented using Adobe Connect, with a training module created in Adobe Presenter used to test players’ understanding of the game plan. “It has really improved collaboration and interaction,” says Upton. “Coaches can ask ‘why did this happen?’ or in training they can check what a player would do in a certain situation.” For coaches, the Microsoft PowerPoint plug-in for Adobe Presenter has made it faster and easier to develop training content.
Players also welcome the interactivity. “If they see an error in the post-match video, they can easily identify the area and follow up with the coach,” says Upton. “Or, if reluctant to ask questions in a group, players have an opportunity to follow up privately”.
Adobe LiveCycle Collaboration Service is used on game day to communicate between coaches in the stands and staff on the bench. The matchboard is shared automatically between the two locations and synchronised. “As Adobe hosts the service, issues such as deployment, maintenance, and scalability are taken care of for us, which allows us to focus on our core competencies,” adds Upton.
Giving players an edge
Overall, Upton says Adobe has helped AFC realise increased efficiencies when it comes to accessing information for coaching. “The players work hard, and we can’t squeeze more out of them on the field. With on-field training, weights, physios, face-to-face meetings with coaches, and game plans, using eLearning built on Adobe solutions has given us extra flexibility when it comes to maximising training time,” explains Upton. “Players like having the flexibility to work from home. We’re leading the way with eLearning, as many clubs still do player testing with pen and paper”.
Upton says it’s hard to correlate the impact of the adoption in relation to the number of games being won, but assessment tests show the overall team average is getting higher, proving knowledge is being retained. “Whether they execute it on the field at that moment or in the middle of a live-match situation, it is hard to quantify. But the players now have the flexibility to learn away from the field, which I’m sure has an impact on mental preparedness for the live situation”.
Project Information
Challenges • Creating a remote accesstraining environment • Conducting regulartrainingwith interactive opportunities
Solution Adobe Connect for eLearning Adelaide Football Club uses: • Flash Media Server • Adobe LiveCycle Collaboration Service • Adobe Connect • Adobe Captivate
Results • Streamlined accessto training • Provided greater flexibility for team players and coaches to meet and discuss strategies in real time • Improved retention of training information Systems at a glance • Adobe Flash Media Server • Adobe LiveCycle Collaboration Service • Adobe Connect • Adobe Captivate • Flex • Adobe ColdFusion
For more information: www.adobe.com/products/livecycle |
Sports team gains competitive edge and extends off-field training time with media-rich eLearning and collaboration tools supported by Adobe® solutions
