Company helps lift burden that falls on coaches

Sunday, August 20, 2006 High schools could give their players free exposure. By TOM WILLIAMS VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF With 23 years of professional coaching experience plus another 15 at the collegiate level and being the parent of two high school players, Struthers native Ron Lynn has an appreciation for what coaches at all levels of football endure. That's why Lynn, 61, leaped at the chance to work for a company that will use state-of-the-art technology to help high school athletes get exposure to college recruiters. "High school coaches are overworked and underpaid," said Lynn who began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at the University of Toledo in 1967. "Most of them are good guys trying to do right by their athletes. It takes a great commitment to present their young men to colleges." The firm Say hello to Athletishare, a new company based in California's Silicon Valley but reliant on the Internet. The company allows high school coaches to submit roster information and digital video footage onto its Web site for free. The plan is that college coaching staffs will pay the company to download the information to help decide which players to target. "Our system simply requires a digital camera and an Internet connection," said Athletishare spokesman Kirk Reynolds, a former director of public relations for the San Francisco 49ers. "Once the season begins, our built-in capture software will automatically do all the work. "All the coach has to do is plug his camera into the computer and the software does the rest," Reynolds said. "The games will be stored in a secure server," said Reynolds, adding that no high schools have access so opponents will not be able to scout through the system. But the footage will be "instantly available to every college in the country at the same time." As a parent, Lynn understands the pressures to promote top players for their best college opportunities. "I knew of high school coaches getting 50 requests a week for film [of top players]," Lynn said. "It takes too much time. Their time could be so much better spent — I mean, God forbid if they have a family life. "We want to make it easier for a high school coach," said Lynn, who played quarterback for Struthers High and Mount Union College. "And in the long run they can save money. "We wanted to make it free so high schools with small budgets can participate," Lynn said. "We can expose every kid on the roster, not just the stars." Lynn said he believes the players that will benefit most from Athletishare services are those who aren't surefire Division I prospects. Recalling his days at Mount Union, Lynn recalls how coaches for a Division III program "might not get film until February or March. "I remember from coaching in college how difficult it can be to get video footage of players who aren't top prospects," Lynn said. "With this system, coaches don't have to come out looking for tapes — the tapes are still sitting there. Bottom of food chain "The lower down the rung you are, the more difficult it is to see film in a timely fashion," Lynn said. "This way, the Division III kid gets same exposure as a Division I prospect." After a team's roster has been downloaded into the system, Lynn says the next step is for coaches to add digital video footage of games to the Web site. Once in the system, Athletishare keeps the footage for up to three seasons. That way, college coaches can go back up to two seasons to uncover footage. The key to making the system work is video from digital camera. This enables a high school's camera operator to upload game footage onto the Web site minutes after the game ends. "Once they plug the camera into a computer, it takes about two minutes to fill out a form," Lynn said. "By 10 p.m., that game could be viewed [by college coaches]." "You could send tape out and you may or may not get feedback," Lynn said. "When they download the film, they are downloading for a reason." The Web site includes players' statistics (height, weight, games played, honors). Best of all, it shows how many times the footage was downloaded and who has been looking at it. Lynn credits Nick Demonner, the son of a former coaching colleague at San Jose State, as being the brainchild for Athletishare. Demonner had the connections to create a system that contained enough room for video storage. The company's CEO is Steve Mason, who has ties to the Silicon Valley near Santa Clara, Calif., where Athletishare is based. Among the Valley high schools already signed up with Athletishare are Mooney, Canfield and Chaney. Lynn has been reconnecting with former players he worked with at Mount Union, including Chaney's Ron Berdis and Lisbon's Jim Tsilimos. Reynolds said Hubbard, Austintown Fitch, Columbiana, Howland, Liberty and Warren Harding also are participating. williams@vindy.com Coaches interested in learning more about Lynn's program can reach him by e-mail at rlynn@athletichare.com or call (408) 617-0420.