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Good or Bad? This System Records Entire Sporting Matches, But Highlights Just Your Child
A case where parents (probably) want their child's movements tracked by software
Over a decade ago, the prolific writer and artist Chris Ware highlighted the negative effects smartphones were having on our society. His spot-on cover for the January 6th, 2014 cover of The New Yorker was titled "All Together Now:"
In 2014, the video quality of smartphones was pretty good. Today it's practically broadcast level, and it shows in how we behave at concerts and sporting events. The next time you're attending your child's game, look around: How many of the parents are taking in the game, versus being wholly focused on recording their child's individual performance?
A Texas-based company called Trace believes they have the solution, though it's a good deal bulkier than a smartphone.
Their Trace camera is something you set up at midfield on the sidelines, assuming you've got access, on its included* four-foot tripod. The tripod has the ability to extend to a height of sixteen feet, and you use the included trio of sandbags to stabilize the thing.
The camera captures a panoramic view of the entire pitch. The company's PlayerFocus AI technology then spits out a video that tracks only your child, like this:
*The cost is not cheap. First off, you can't buy the camera; you lease it, along with the tripod and sandbags, for an indefinite period. In order to use it, you must have a subscription with the company, which starts at $25/month or $180/year. For that Basic level subscription, you cannot download any of the videos, and can only watch the last five matches by streaming them through the company's app.
If you step up to the company's $300/year Pro subscription, you can access all matches recorded and download them.
If you can muster seven families or more that want to share the camera for a Team subscription, you get the lease for free, and each family pays their own subscription fee, choosing either the Basic or Pro, independently of the other families.
Here's the question: Would this object increase or decrease the sad friction that already exists at children's sporting events, with apoplectic parents getting into it with coaches and other parents? I also wonder about the logistics of seven families coordinating a Team subscription and assigning responsibility for the camera toting and set-up.
That said, I could see this tool being useful for coaching staff.
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As a father and coach, this is a waste of money for parents. This kind of device is good for players from the age of like 14 and up. Younger kids just need to enjoy playing the game and learning the basics.
Used and administered this system extensively for a high level youth soccer team over the course of a few years. It was much better when they were using on-player trackers, small gps enable motion sensors that players slotted into a sleeve on their dominant foot. This allowed every touch on the ball to be recorded and put in a play list. This was the real value of the system: Compressing a 90 minute game into a list of watchable moments that could be reviewed incredibly quickly. The trackers were small enough to be non-invasive and rarely came out or got lost. They do require more on field management as they are kept together in a charging case that also downloads the data, so they need to be pissed out and collected every game. Not a big deal. There were some issues with reliability mostly due to contact issues in the case, likely exacerbated by sweat, but those were manageable with care (cleaning, monitoring) and having a few spares. There was some additional administrative overhead of assigning trackers to players, but not a big deal. They could be reassigned on field using their app or even after a game was recorded. I suspect the real reason they did away with the trackers was cost. Now the system is just the camera with AI tracking of players. It's unfortunate as the new system doesn't provide the same accuracy of tracking and is completely devoid of the most important feature of player moments. Without which you have to scan the entire video manually. Perhaps this will improve with time, but the value and utility of the system was so much reduced that players stopped using it. Very sad as it was an important tool for improvement.
I bought a knockoff gopro and a stand: total cost is less than $100. I set it up by the opponent's goal and when something interesting happens I stop start the video for a time marker. It’s not as good as a handheld phone but it’s a lot less active work.
If it keeps the pervasive phones in pockets, I'm all for it. Phones are ruining games, concerts, any public event.