Prep football help

Don't forget:
• A generator in case the power goes out
• A tent incase you have to sleep there and the hotels are full
• A 3-day supply of powerbars
• water
• work boots
• Pictures of you family
• A lifejacket
• A glock, for protection and the inevitable hunt you'll have to go on
• Salt, for the deer you slay
• A long knife
• A first aid kit
• trash bags

 

Oh yeah. We all had company credit cards to use basically at our discretion. Times have changed in that area, too.

 

I wanted to bump this topic up. I'm headed to a college football game, and wanted to know the importance you place on play-by-play, from first quarter to fourth quarter? How detailed, and do you mark on a sheet the scoring plays and/or the game-changing play? Thanks.

 

Little, especially if they are handing out a running play summary. Look for trends.

 

Importance of play-by-play all depends on the game. If it's a blowout my play-by-play gets less important as the game goes on, especially in the fourth quarter. There is no point in keeping it for backups when you could be staring to write your lead or a few graphs of the key plays. If it's a close game, I continue to keep by best play-by-play. Yes you will get a full stat book later in the game with everything, but that's not until after interviews. If you want to ask the qb or coach about a specific play you'll need to look back at your notes to know the specifics.

I don't mark the scoring plays on a separate sheet because I already make it clear in my play-by-play and possibly type it on my computer. I do keep a side sheet for trends. The trends I write down usually become my post-game questions.

 

Bump.
What's the easiest and most ledgable way of writing play-by-play notes during high school games? I usually carry 5-star notebook or long pad on clipboard. Thanks in advance.

 

Everybody has their own method... find one that you like and go with it.
I have some notebook pages on a clipboard.
Divide the page in half. Left side for one team, right for the other.

Then I go play by play.

Eagles Start: own 20 11:40
#3 4 run r (No. 3 ran four yards to the right)
#11 pass #15 8 (11 passes to #15 8yds)
#3 56 run L TD 8:02 (kick #1)

usually, on a scoring drive, I'll write some more detailed notes in the margin about the scoring play, so I can recreate it later.

 

Easy and legible is up to you. As other have said, find a style and stick with it.

I either use a 6X9 inch notebook or a legal pad. I don't divide the sheet for football.

Kickoff to Team/school
82 returns to 25 20-yard return
down, yard to go, yardline, play
1 10 25 22 rush for 5
2 5 30 10 inc pass to 85
3 5 30 22 rush for 7
1 10 35 etc.

when a drive ends I put a few lines under the punt / touchdown to signify the switch in possession.

For bigger plays I give greater detail to the type of pass or where the run went.
Touchdowns I write bigger, put a star by it and sometimes highlight it so i can easily go back and find it. I write as much detail about it as possible. Then, if I remember, I total the drive time, number of plays and how long it was.

 

I started to do what you do. It makes my job at lot easier. But there isn't a one-size-fits-all system that works for everyone. Try different things and just see what works.

 

My method for keeping stats is rather simple.

On a legal pad, I'll have something like this using tally marks for attempts, completions, TD, INT and sacks:
West Bumfuck--Passing
Joe Blow -- Att.:
Comp.:
TD:
INT:
Sacked:
Yards: 4, 8, 10, etc., circling scoring plays along the way.

Rushing stats
No. 1: 1, 5, 6, etc., circling scoring runs along the way.

Receiving stats
No. 84: 45, 24, 10, etc., same as above.

For penalties, I just list the team and keep a running tally/yardage on the back of one of my stats sheet. It takes maybe 10-15 minutes to go back and add everything up that way.

In another notebook, I'll keep a running pxp.

 

I have three homemade stat sheets I created in Excel -- one for play-by-play, one for individual stats and one for adding up the box score stuff and scoring plays.

But I'm sort of a looser like that.

 

Does your individual stat sheet compute totals?