Lights, camera, sports in action: film studies

Time ticking down on the clock, the fleeting sound of a ball being thrown, the raucous cheer of a crowd. In any fast-moving sports game, crucial moments and plays occur often. The constant motion can make it difficult to understand every angle of what happens, including mistakes, moments of strength and opponents’ actions. Many coaches and players on teams such as basketball, volleyball, water polo and football review recordings of games to gain a better understanding of the sport. This practice is called film studies.

“In fast-paced games, it can be hard to see what you’re doing in the heat of the moment,” said senior varsity basketball and volleyball player Logan Wall. “You can lose perspective and that’s why watching film really helps, because you can get a better idea of how the game went.”

This concept can be seen when water polo players watch film in order to better understand parts of the game they lost track of. 

“Watching from above and not in the pool can tell [you] who is open and who isn’t,” said junior and varsity player Galevalin Suwannakoon. “But when you’re in the pool, you can’t really tell what’s going on.”

In most sports games, mistakes are bound to happen. 

“When we make big mistakes, we like to watch the film to correct them,” Wall said. “When you do something well, it’s easy to know, but when you make a mistake, sometimes [the cause is] not obvious.” 

Preventing future mistakes is a key reason to watch film. 

“When you tell [players] to fix something, it’s really hard to fix unless you … see yourself … [and] realize what you’re doing wrong,” said girls varsity volleyball coach Annette Gennaro.

Film is also useful for emphasizing skills and strategies players need to improve and can be used for positive reinforcement and teaching. 

“We always say film does not lie,” said junior varsity football coach Steve Henderson. “You can see … what worked or didn’t work, and that gives you an honest reflection of what you need to continue to do or stop doing. It’s not designed to beat people up. It’s designed to help people be better.”

For many players, preparing for games involves recognizing opponents’ strategies and strengths by analyzing their own film.

“We learn what defense we can run to stop [the] offense from making plays and we scout which players we have to be watching out for,” said freshman and JV football player Cade Mourton. “We look at some of their [tackle] plays that have worked for them in the past and figure out how to counteract those.”

Reviewing opponents’ games can be more helpful during later stages of the season. 

“For us, preseason is really difficult, regular season’s kind of easier [or] moderate and then [Central Coast Section] is really challenging,” said senior varsity basketball player Madeleine McGinty. “There are certain teams that we need to win against and so I think we’ve prioritized those, but for the most part, we try [to] be prepared for every game. [It] doesn’t matter if [the team is] good or bad. We want to be prepared.”

Watching film is considered by many to be a crucial part of training for many sports.

“I think that film is a necessary component to visually reinforce getting better at sports,” Henderson said. “The field is our classroom in sports … In any classroom setting, visual reinforcement is super important so film is just an extension of that for sports … It’s a tool that, when used appropriately, can really help kids improve.”

Film studies are used for different reasons and in varying circumstances, but they all provide visual representations of the inner-workings of a sport, giving players a resource to learn and grow as athletes.