Roll in the cameras. Set up the iPads and turn on the Live stream. Prep the players and let the games begin.

With the integration of technology over the past few years into high schools’ athletic programs, everything from scoring to running practices has modernized.

At Stevenson High School, the basketball and football teams record their games and practices to better their athletes.

During practices, iPads are set up to film certain plays. These videos are directly uploaded to HUDL and High School Cube, allowing coaches like Joshua Hjorth, varsity football coach, to instantly pull up each play and replay it. This allows Hjorth to determine what the athletes need to work on.

“Years ago, I would spend 10 hours out of my Saturday to burn discs of all the practices for all of our athletes,”  Hjorth said. “But now with all of this new technology, we are able to instantly find the things that the athletes need to work on and they also get to see what their strengths are almost right after the play is made.”

Athletes are encouraged to watch every video. At each game and practice, they evaluate themselves in order to improve. Jack Sorenson ’16, varsity football player, also uses the footage to study opponents. He does this to learn the style of plays that the other team uses as well as to learn their weaknesses.

“I watch the videos every single night after I finish my homework,” Sorenson said.  “Being able to see everything I work on during practices really helps me see my highlights. It’s also an essential part in really showing college scouts everything that I have to offer.”

An additional benefit of increased technology allows for not only improved athletic performance, but also helps the athletes create profiles of themselves to send to college scouts later.

“Making a highlight video of all of my best work really benefits me in the process of submitting myself to college and university coaches,” Sorenson said.

The videos are available to all the athletes on HUDL. This also increases accesibility to the student body.

SHS TV allows for students like Daniel Weiner ’16 and Brandon Weisner ’16, to broadcast each event.

“We make sure to be very prompt with the uploads because we want to make sure everyone has access to the games”, Weiner said. “It’s especially useful for the athletics program to be able to see athlete performance, and I think that in the future, there will be even more tablets and TVs on the field to increase the amount of on-field communication after almost each play.”

The use of iPads, TVs and video cameras on the field in the future will most likely increase, allowing for technologically advanced methods of playing sports whether it be practices or games.