“For VCPS, PlaySight’s video technology was the best solution for our streaming and coaching needs.”
VALLEY CITY, NORTH DAKOTA (December 3rd, 2020) – PlaySight Interactive, the leading global sports video technology platform, is pleased today to announce a new partnership with Valley City High School. PlaySight’s Smart sports AI connected camera platform is coming to the sports facilities across the Valley City Public School District in North Dakota, soon giving Hi-Liner student-athletes and coaches access to a pro-level technology platform, validated and used daily throughout the NBA, MLB, NHL and collegiate sports.
We had the pleasure to catch up with Michael Schultz, the school’s Activities Director, to learn a little bit more about their decision to invest in PlaySight technology over other camera platforms.
Why did you decide to invest in PlaySight’s Smart video technology?
“Even before the pandemic, we were exploring ideas to provide video streaming to our Hi-Liner community. With 22 different activities and the various levels within each activity, there were many events that are unavailable to our fans and the family members of our students. We also needed a solution for our athletic programs to have access to analytical tools available with video to help our student-athletes and coaches grow our programs.
In an effort to expand access for our community through streaming and the benefit of being able to use video analytical tools, we felt that PlaySight technology would be the best solution for us. The SmartTracker cameras give us the ability to stream and record without a camera operator. The GO unit gives us the ability to stream and record from remote areas where we don’t normally have opportunities to do so. The entire system with multiple camera angles gives our community a much better viewing experience.
For VCPS, PlaySight’s video technology was the best solution for our streaming and coaching needs.”
What made you decide PlaySight was the right fit for Valley City Public Schools?
“In researching the various options out there, we found that there were limitations with most of PlaySight’s competitors. None of them offered a combination of an indoor and outdoor solution, a remote solution, integration of our school and local media, sport analytics tools, and the ability to own our content. During this time of restricted fan attendance, it is very important for us to have the flexibility to offer our content free to our fans and family members. We also felt that we need to be able to partner with our local media and keep our content available to the media businesses here in Valley City.
We are a small community that needs to work together, and our business community has been over the top in supporting our activities programs here at VCPS. PlaySight gives us that opportunity to continue with those partnerships.”
How has COVID-19 impacted your sports programs? How do you see PlaySight helping your athletes and fans during the pandemic and in a post-vaccine world?
“The impact of COVID-19 on our sports programs and all of our activities has been immense. How we practice, protocol for our competitions, and how our fans attend has been very restrictive. We realize that things will likely never go back to how they were before COVID-19 and we need to start making adjustments for how we will move forward.
Our coaches are talking of remote film study rather than watching video on site at our practice facilities. PlaySight gives us the opportunity to film, cut up, and send out video to our players from not only games, but of practice as well. The reductions in the number of fans that we can host has pushed us to live video stream our competitions. PlaySight gives us the opportunity to offer our events to our fans free of charge during these difficult times, but also allows us to monetize our games to make up for lost revenue streams of live fan attendance in the future.“
What excites you the most about partnering with PlaySight?
“In reaching out to other schools and academies that have moved to PlaySight, I asked about customer service. The overwhelming response was that PlaySight was excellent to work with and on top of any issue that may pop up. Even in these times when things are extremely chaotic and busy, the people at PlaySight are responsive and helpful when problem-solving issues that are bound to come up. That is important to us at VCPS.“
How do you plan on utilizing PlaySight for streaming and athlete development?
“Our conference requires us to upload video to a storage service that is available to all conference schools. At the beginning of the 2019-20 school year, we started looking for an alternative to our manual cameras. The main focus was to find a system that uses unmanned cameras so that we could record all levels of games and practices. We felt that this was an important player development tool that could be used by several of our athletic programs and provide an easy way to upload to the required storage service.
This was a lower priority in our facilities upgrades at that time. Once COVID-19 hit, we have adjusted our focus to a system that can serve a dual role. We still want the system to be used for our player development, but also want to provide our families and fans the opportunity to watch games remotely. As an additional bonus, we plan to use the GO system as a way to stream other activities such as music and drama performances. PlaySight provides us the ability to fulfill a number of needs that a year ago were not priorities.“
