Film Analysis for Beginners: Getting Started with Gridly

Film is the cheapest coaching tool you have. A phone on a tripod shows a player what you have been telling them all week. You do not need special software to start. You need the video, a few good notes, and a way to get both onto your players' phones before the next practice.

That last part is the job I built Gridly's Film Study page to do. Open it and add a film: upload the video file (MP4, MOV, AVI or WEBM), or paste a link if it already lives on YouTube, Hudl, Vimeo or Google Drive. Give it a title, the opponent and the game date, then write your notes.

Uploads count against your plan's storage. The free plan holds 2 films, up to 20MB each. Coach and Elite take files up to 2GB each, inside 25GB and 100GB of storage. A linked film uses no storage, though on the free plan it still counts as one of the 2.

Then choose who sees it. Share it with the whole team, or pick only the players who need it. Players find it under Film in their app, and parents find it under Team Film. Your notes sit under the video, so the player reads what you saw with the play right there.

Gridly does not cut the film up, mark plays or draw on the video. It plays the film as you uploaded it. If you need those tools, Hudl is built for them, and you can paste the Hudl link into Gridly so the film sits next to your playbook and your schedule.

A simple routine to start: 1) Record the game on a phone or camera. 2) Upload it or paste the link the same night. 3) Watch it once yourself and write three notes: one thing to keep doing, one to fix, one to watch for next week. 4) Share it with the players who need it. 5) Open the next practice with the fix.

Write notes that name the moment. 'At 4:10, watch your eyes before the snap' gives a player something to find. 'Better effort' does not. There are no markers on the video, so the time you write in the note is how the player finds the play.

It works the same in any sport: a volleyball serve, a hockey breakout, a baseball swing. Start small. One game, three notes, shared before the next practice, is enough to change how your players watch themselves.