Newsletter 11: July 2007
Welcome | Technical Support | Products | Coaches Corner | Case Study
The focus of this edition is on the release of SportsCode Version 7 which we have been working on solidly over the last 12 months.
We believe the new feature set included in Version 7 will move your analysis or editing to the next level.
As a result the technical section is a bit longer than usual. It addresses the Stats generator and the new Code Window.
The August 20/21 User Conference has been well supported by Australian sports teams and organizations. We had hoped a number of overseas people might look at coming to beautiful Sydney, maybe next year. If you are interested there are still a few places available. Contact me
In the next issue, we will focus on Sportstec Mercury, a new product we are releasing to address a number of sports that need specific tagging options. This will interest many of you I am sure.
Thanks for your commitment and continued support.
Philip Jackson, Managing Director
In this months issue:
Technical Support
What are SportsCode Statistics? You will find all you need to make a good start in our Technical Support section.
Products
The last few months have been extremely busy on the Product front for Sportstec. Check out our new products and updates here.
Coaches Corner
In the Coaches corner, learn how to save time by using Gamebreaker Plus (Version 7) to efficiently create presentations.
Case Study
In this issue find out how Ruben Barrera, coach of Beach Volleyball's elite players, has mixed high-level sport with computer science. As soon as he learnt Sportstec was developing Sportstec Mercury for Volleyball (among other sports), he supported the Sportstec team and contributed to the development of Mercury’s Beach Volleyball version. Read more
Technical Support
What are SportsCode Statistics?
Statistics is a simple count of instances in a Row of a Timeline.
Or it could be;
A very complex calculation, which is based on the Label contents, held within the instances in a Row, or multiple Rows, in a Timeline.
| $COLUMN |
$ROW |
ABS |
AND |
CEILING |
CELL |
CELL COLOR |
COUNT |
| DECIMAL |
END |
END TIME |
FLOOR |
IF |
INSTANCES |
INSTANCE [x] |
LABELS |
| LENGTH |
LIMIT |
NOT |
OR |
OVERLAP |
ROW COLOR |
ROUND |
SHOW |
| START |
START TIME |
SUM |
TIME |
UNIQUE |
WHERE |
Download |
List |
What do we need to make a start:
A Timeline (this is a simple example) is the minimum we need.
Open a statistical window: File > New > Statistical window
 The first thing we might want to do is to count the number of pitches made. So let us label the Column1, Row1 as “No. of Pitches” (you will have to drag the column joiner to make the text fit).
To count the number of pitches, is a simple count of all of the instances in “Pitch” Row of the timeline.
We do this by creating a macro/script in the "Row1;Column2" cell of the Statistical window.
Open the Edit script window by right-clicking on the "R1;C2" cell:
This is the window in which we will create our script:
We can title the script as a reminder of what the script does (Count Pitches).
Then in the main window we write our script.
We want to COUNT the number INSTANCES in the ROW named “Pitch” and then display the result in the Cell beside our Description: SHOW COUNT INSTANCES where ROW="Pitch"
To run the script we click on the  button in the Statistics window toolbar.
 That was pretty painless, and we now have the information displayed beside our Row label.
That is a good start – but we may want to know how many Change-up pitches were thrown.
To do this we restrict our count to only, COUNT those instances WHERE the text label “Change-up” is present.
 Let us label "Row2;Column1" as Change up and Edit script in "Row2;Column2" to
SHOW COUNT "Change-up" where ROW="Pitch"
and Execute the script.
So we can now set up a script to display each type of pitch thrown.
 SHOW COUNT "Fast" where ROW="Pitch" SHOW COUNT "Slider" where ROW="Pitch"
SHOW COUNT "Breaking" where ROW="Pitch"
SHOW COUNT "Splitter" where ROW="Pitch"
Now we can operate on a whole row, what about operating over a selected time range.
If we look at our Timeline – we could count the number of Base-hit’s given up in an innings.
We do this by limiting our COUNT to the time range of the innings we are interested in. This involves us looking at the Timeline Row, Inning, and counting all of the labels in the Pitch instances, that are Labelled with “Base Hit”.
The first thing to do is to select the Innings to count against and make this our reference, when found we store this information into a temporary location that we call a “Variable”. A variable is designated in our script as a text item that is preceded by a $.
Since we will be referencing our Innings of interest to a Variable lets call it $ref.
$ref=instances where row="Inning" Now we need to find the “end time” of the last instance, so we ask for “end $ref”.
We also need to find the beginning of this reference instance, so we ask for “start time”.
SHOW COUNT "Base Hit" where (ROW="Pitch"and start time < $end_time)
Now we are getting some really good info out of the Timeline, and the process to do this is not as difficult as we may have imagined at first glance.
The resulting Statistic window from this exercise may look like this.
 after an innings
Please use this introduction as a stepping off point for your own Statistical output.
Before we finish, why don’t we move some of these results back to our Code Window, so that we can see things developing during the Coding of the game.
To do this is really simple as well. First you need a Code Window with a Button set up to accept the transfer of information.
Set up button by opening the Edit button Window.
Name the Button to reflect the data that you will pass to it (“Strikes;” in my case).
Check the  check box.
Now any output directed to the  button will be written into the – area below the Button title.
To send the result of our macro to this button we need to add a line to our statistics window script.
Remember that we used a SHOW function to show the output of our script within the statistics window, so to send the result to a button in our Code Window, it seems logical to use a SEND function to send the output of our script to a button.
To modify our script we take the original SHOW function
SHOW COUNT "Strike" where ROW="Pitch"
and replace it with the “Send to Button” function, and specify which Button we want to “Send” it to, so that the script becomes
Send COUNT "Strike" where ROW="Pitch" to Button "Strikes;"
Now when the script is Executed the  button is automatically updated with the result of the script.
 The resulting Code Window might look like this.
The last few months have been extremely busy on the Product front for Sportstec. Not only is Version 7 of the SportsCode family being released but also Sportstec Exchange is in the final stages of completion and testing.
Sportstec Exchange is a logical extension to the Sportstec product range by addressing the file sharing requirements of leagues or a tournament. Exchange is a web-based solution that enables schedules and guidelines to be set in advance that specifically meet the video exchange rules set by the governing body. Unique rules can be configured to define the responsibilities of upload/download for the home and away team and to set the number of allowable requests that can be made by each team. A unique feature we included was the ability to send email FTP links to video files for those situations of non-league play. With the schedules and guidelines in place, Exchange “manages” the uploading and downloading responsibilities and video request counts for all the users in the schedule with email reminders and graphical indicators on the website. The difficult process of managing the video exchange process has just got a lot easier.
We have built Sportstec Exchange with two options in file transfer technology, standard FTP or FASP. While FTP has been an industry transfer protocol standard, we are very excited about the possibilities that FASP offers our users. FASP technology leverages the available bandwidth on a users internet connection to unlock its full capacity. In recent canside-by-side demonstrations, we have experienced 10 times faster transfer speeds of FASP over FTP when connecting to servers located in the United States and Australia.
To put FASP in perspective, we will use the home internet connection as an example. The standard connection in most homes with broadband is 768kbps upload and 1.5mbps download. Using FTP, we will likely not exceed upload speeds of 160kbps for a file, at this rate a 2GB file will take 28 hours to upload. Leveraging FASP technology, we can open up this connection to achieve 680kbps upload speeds, with expected upload time of 6.5 hours for the same file. Cut those times in half for downloading files and we see a tremendous difference in terms of time for file delivery. Applying this same logic to an organization that will have far greater bandwidth capacities and we can really begin to see the benefits of this technology.
Coaches Corner
Save Time by using GameBreaker Plus (Version 7) to efficiently create Presentations
It has never been easier to create presentations in GameBreaker Plus. Using two new features, Combine Timelines and Selection Order, you can streamline your workflow and effortlessly create powerful video presentations.
We will start with the new feature of Combining Timelines.
What this means is that we can create a new timeline from multiple games. This will streamline our workflow enabling us to look at multiple games in just a single timeline. Here’s how it works:
To Combine Timeline Windows
You will need to create a new timeline that will now include multiple games. For example if we are Scouting North Carolina and we want to include 3 games. We will simply locate our Folder that contains those games:
UNC vs Duke 03.10.07
UNC vs NC State 03.03.07
UNC vs GT 02.26.07
If you want to combine these timeline windows:
1. Select File on the menu line and choose Combine timeline windows.
2. One by one select the “code files” you want to combine and click on Add. They will appear in the box on the right of the screen.
3. Click on Combine and a Save Dialog Box will ask you to confirm that you want to save the file.
4. This will become a new codes file. Name the codes and movie for the new combined Timeline window. Choose a location for the file.
Note: If the combined lines share code names they appear consecutively on the Timeline on a single code row.
You should now have a single timeline that contains the games and instances you wish to use when creating your presentation.
Now we will use the Create instances in Selection Order feature.
We return back to our combined timeline and find the video clips we wish to use, say for example the row named UNC OFFENSE.
To play and/or Save instances in Selection Order:
This new feature allows you to select multiple clips in the Timeline. The order that you select these clips will be the order that they will play in your Movie.
First, click on the “Movie Control Box” in the Timeline Toolbar and change it to Selection Order.
To highlight the relevant instances, press the “Command” Apple key and click on them. Remember to click on them in the order that you want them to play back – first to last.
Click on the Make Movie button on the Timeline Toolbar. The instances will play in selection order. Simply Save and name your new movie file. Or combine this movie with other selections.
You have 4 options to save this file:
1. as a GameBreaker stand alone move
2. as a GameBreaker reference to original movie
3. as a Movie Player Stand Alone Movie
4. as a Movie Player Reference to Original Movie
We suggest you save it as the 1st option: GameBreaker stand alone move.
Now, you are ready to continue the process and then combine all your instance movies to create your final presentation.
Case Study
Ruben Barrera - Assistant Coach Brazilian Beach Volleyball pair Ricardo/Emanual - Brazil
Name: Ruben Barrera
Date of Birth: 12/08/1964 in Cordoba (Argentina)
Nationality: French – Argentinian
Career Beach Volleyball 2007:
- Coach of the Women’s Canadian Team Moscowitz / Marcovic (World Tour 2007)
- Coach of the Women’s Belgium Team VanBreedem / Mouha (World Tour 2007)
- Assistant Coach of the Men’s Brazilian Team Ricardo/Emanuel (World Tour 2007)
Emanuel, Ruben Barrera and Ricardo.
Ruben Barrera has been following the Beach Volleyball World Tour and coaching the Beach Volleyball Elite for the last ten years. Ruben has progressed during this time, adapting his work environment accordingly. He has always been rigorous and willing to contribute to the development of new analysis methods within his sport. This led him to seek advanced technologies and to research suitable tools for his sport: “Throughout my player and indoor volleyball coach career, I used software adapted for this high level. I wanted to benefit from this experience and develop a similar software for Beach Volleyball”.
For more than 4 years, Ruben won recognition among the best beachers of the World Series, trying to prove the performance and efficiency of an alliance between high-level sport and computer science. At that time, the French Volleyball team was one of the only teams using technology as a coaching tool and it was logical that Ruben got in touch with the team. They were using the video analysis system Volleysoft, whose developer Lionel Bonnaure, recently joined Sportstec.
It followed that Ruben and Lionel dedicated many months developing an application, starting with an indoor environment and bringing it to the sand field, “I spent hours and hours working on the implementation of tools adapted to Beach Volleyball. Lionel had the ability and will to transcribe “my” sport’s specificities for a Beach Volleyball analysis and performance measuring system.
“BeachMobil” (software’s name) was the first step and soon Ruben, through his relentlessness at work, became the coach of the only French pair qualified for the Athens Olympic Games in 2004 - Canet and Hamel.
“At that time, BeachMobil was already doing numerous services, such as statistics combined with video analysis”. Ruben explained that that software was the first step towards a genuine performance analysis tool.
How did Ruben react when Sportstec and Lionel started the development of more evolved solutions for Volleyball? “As soon as I realised this software’s potential for indoor volleyball (used by the French volleyball team), I egged the Sportstec team on to develop Mercury’s Beach Volleyball version”. Ruben Barrera contributed his experience with the former software to Mercury’s Beach Volleyball version.
 2007 saw Ruben become assistant coach of Brazilian pair, Ricardo and Emmanuel. Sportstec’s developers created the tool that he considers today to be the main partner of a Beach Volleyball team. “I couldn’t imagine finding as much response and analysis power as I did with Mercury. It is not only a cutting edge tool but also a tool for the future. With only 3 clicks, I can find my videos combined with statistics and trajectories. Mercury benefits from an exceptional dimension thanks to the interactivity between tables, suited to Sportstec systems, but above all, it has the ability to render a service that no other system could. Mercury includes functionalities that allow for deciphering a team game and converting it into representations that are now essential for the coach and players”.
 Time will soon tell. After winning the 2007 Paris Grand Slam, the Portugal Tournament in June and now the Montreal Open, the current leaders of the 2007 World Tour, and also Olympic gold medalists, are bounding forward towards a new destination - the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. Alongside the current world champions will be Ruben Barrera and Mercury. Supported by an ambassador such as Ruben, Mercury should reach the growth expected by Sportstec, within the exclusive world of Beach Volleyball. “I have and will always strive for sport and Beach Volleyball. If Mercury were to grow on the tour, I would be very proud. I would like to thank Sportstec for its work and support…”
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