How a phone revamped Harlequins’ coaching

Never afraid to explore new ways of training, Harlequins have been making giant strides in recent weeks using…a 5.5”-screen mobile phone.
For just over a month now, the Premiership champions have linked up with phone manufacturer giants Samsung using the latest Samsung Galaxy Note II every day at training and during games.
With its fast quad-core processor and its pocket size, this new tool has helped Quins’ coaches and analysts to be even more precise in their different fields.
“The main advantage to use the Note II compare to a bigger tablet is its portability. While an iPad can be hard to carry around, the Galaxy Note II fits in your pocket and as a result all our coaches have one on the pitch during each training session or games,” said Harlequins Performance Analyst Kevin Gill.
“The S-pen is also a great tool to make it more user-friendly. It’s much easier to write on the screen with a precise pen rather than using your fingers.
“With the iPad, because of its size, we had to prepare and plan everything while, with the Note II, we can just do it at any given time. It’s a much more efficient way for us to work.”
If the VNC connection linking all the devices together including laptops and PCs in the offices is making document-sharing and data-taking much easier, it also quickly became a new coaching tool for Conor O’Shea and his team.
Using the ‘Coaches Eye’ application, footage can be captured, paused and rewind instantly. They can also draw on the footage to highlight tactical issues which makes it easier to explain to the players.
O’Shea said: “The ‘Coaches eye’ app is what coaches love. You can bring the players in and show them what they’ve just done and analyse it with them while on the pitch. It’s making everything we do better.”
Even the players have fallen in love with it like lock and lineout captain George Robson.
“As the lineout captain, using the Note II has been great so far,” said Robson.
“I get analysis and information about the team we’re about to play on Sundays on my drop box. I can then prepare tactics for the game and send it to the guys via email and they can have a look at it too. It’s much easier than carrying a piece of paper around.
“The ‘Coaches Eye’ is also great for catch-and-drives. When you’re in there it’s hard to see what goes wrong. But with this app, we can stop and have instant feedback.”
NICK VERDIER