Football Jerseys - the Great Transformation
By Leo Cuccione

Football Jerseys have undergone a complete change in its image, appearance and usage patterns. In the yesteryear sports jersey was just a part of the official sports equipment, nothing more nothing less. The jerseys meant for football players had long sleeves, were plain and their material was heavier than today’s National football league jersey. Their simplicity and plainness has been a reason for many comments. Reason for their plainness was that jersey was the team gear with no frills or designing. According to legendary football coach Darryl Royal, they were “working clothes”.

Custom Jerseys- A new Era in Sports Equipment

The growing popularity of National Football League (NFL) and advent of custom jerseys in the football teams has transformed the team gear. Team gear including the jersey has become trendier. Jersey has transcended its “working clothes” impression. Custom jerseys for today’s NFL football players have shorter sleeves, vibrant colors and attractive patterns. The football teams now pay considerable attention towards design and appearance of their team gear.

Wearing replica jerseys for NFL football matches to support their team has not been a new phenomenon for the football fans. However, now the jersey has taken a step ahead and you will find many people wearing NFL authentic jerseys even out of the football arenas. Wearing national football league team-jersey of their favorite football team or player has become a personal style statement of the younger generation. This transformation is the reason for increasing demand of sports equipment in general and jersey in particular.

Moreover, the extreme popularity of football as sport in America has further popularized the jersey. There are too many avenues for football fans; some of them are NFL Football, College Football, NCAA Football and very popular Monday Night Football. These events have added to the growing demand for football jerseys and team gear. Many people have a passion for collecting authentic jerseys (game worn) and replica jerseys of NFL stars.

Football Jerseys, Hockey Jerseys, Basketball Jerseys, Baseball Jerseys, Soccer Jerseys and Throwback jerseys. Visit http://www.a1-jerseys.com, your online resource for sports jerseys.

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“One For the Gipper” - The Original Story
By Lindsey Williams

President Ronald Reagan is tagged fondly as “The Gipper” as the result of his movie portrayal of Notre Dames’ legendary football player. The nickname is so firmly attached to the president that the real Gipper is nearly forgotten.

The true story is clouded by the mist of time. His hometown of Laurium, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, maintains a website devoted to their local hero. This much is certain: he was born Feb. 18, 1895 to Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Gipp.

He attended the Calumet public schools, but he never played high school football. However, he was an all-around athlete. He participated in track, hockey, sandlot football and organized baseball. The Laurium baseball team was the champion of the Upper Peninsula in 19l5, with George playing center field.

Gipp had not given any thought of going to college. He was, however, proficient in baseball, table pool, poker and dice. His greatest achievement was winning a gold watch for ballroom dancing.

The husky six-foot, 180-pound Gipp at age 21 was persuaded by a Notre Dame grad that he could have a baseball scholarship for the asking.

Beyond these statistics, we must rely on sports historians.

A colorful account of Gipp’s spectacular career is rendered by James A. Cox. It begins one autumn afternoon in 1916 with two freshmen playing baseball catch on the playing field of a Midwestern university.

Without warning, a football sails over the fence from a nearby gridiron where the school’s varsity was practicing. It hits one of the young men. He picks up the errant football and kicks it back over the fence 70 yards away.

On the other side of the field, a coach whistles in awe and races over. “Hey, You! You with the baseball. What’s your name?”

“Gipp,” comes the laconic answer.

“Where you from?

“Michigan.”

“Play high school football?”

“Nope.”

“Well, I think you’ll make a football player,” says the coach. “Come out tomorrow. We’ll suit you up and see what you can do.”

The young man shrugs. “I don’t know,” he says vaguely. “Don’t particularly care for football.”

Thus was the meeting of Gorge Gipp and Knute Rockne. A few days later Gipp shows up for a tryout.

* * *

There was no difficulty in switching scholarships when it was learned he could run 100 yards in ten seconds, throw pin-point passes half the length of the field and kick 60-yard punts with ease. He became an All-American halfback.

Gipp established a reputation in his first out-of-town game with the freshman team against Western Michigan State Normal. Wrote Cox:

“Playing halfback, Gipp piles up yardage. But the score is 7-7 as the fourth quarter grinds down with only a couple of minutes to go.

“The Irish have the ball. The quarterback calls punt formation - kick away and play for a tie.

“Gipp demurs. He wants to try a field goal. The quarterback looks at him as he would at a crazy man. From where the kicker will stand, to the opposing goalpost — which at that time was on the goal line — was more than 60 yards. Nevertheless, the quarterback orders, ‘Punt.’

“The ball is snapped, Gipp drops it end-first to the ground - as was the custom then — gets a perfect rebound and booms the ball through the uprights. It was a 62-yard-field-goal that earned an enduring place in the record book.”

* * *

In the spring of his freshman year, Gipp tried out for the baseball team and made it as an outfielder. He played only one game.

Ignoring a signal to bunt, he blasted the ball over the fence for a home run.

“Why?” the manager demanded. “Don’t you remember the signals?”

“Sure,” replied Gipp, “but it’s too hot to be running around the bases after a bunt.” The next day he turned in his baseball uniform and concentrated on football.

He earned his way by waiting tables in the university dining room for board and lodging. He picked up cash by playing in nearby semi-pro and industrial baseball leagues.

He also frequented the pool halls and other low joints of South Bend.

A hangout called Hullie & Mikes became his second home. He once said, “I’m the finest free-lance gambler ever to attend Notre Dame.”

His room mate, Arthur (Dutch) Bergman, explained:

“Nobody around South Bend could beat him at faro, shooting pool, billiards, poker or bridge. He studied the percentages in dice rolling and could fade those bones in a way that made professionals dizzy. At three-pocket pool, he was the terror of the parlors.

“He never gambled with other students, though his crap-shooting skills helped pay the way through Notre Dame for more than a few of his friends. I’ve seen him win $500 in a crap game then spend his winnings buying meals for destitute families in South Bend.”

Gipp cut so many classes in 1919 he was kicked out of school. He took a job as a house player at Hullie & Mikes gambling emporium.

Aghast, Notre Dame alumni sports fans deluged the college with complaints. The university gave him a special exam — which he passed - and reinstated him. Thereafter, Gipp came to practice when he chose, doing what he felt like doing. No one complained. Coaches and players knew he was fiercely devoted to winning. The team revolved around him.

The 1920 season established Gipp as “immortal.”

One Saturday afternoon, Notre Dame found itself down 17-14 to Army.

In the locker room, Rockne unleashed one of his famous half-time fight speeches. Gipp seemed bored. Rockne turned to Gipp and challenged him, “I don’t suppose you have any interest in this game.” Gipp responded, “Don’t worry, I have $500 on it, and I don’t intend to blow my money.”

At game’s end, Gipp had piled up 385 yards rushing - more than the entire Army team. He scored one touchdown by running back a kick-off, threw two pin-point passes setting up a touchdown. He almost single handedly led Notre Dame to a 27-17 comeback victory.

Gip paid a price for that day’s performance. He was weary, pale and a little bloody. His distress was so obvious, the West Point crowd stood and watched in awe as he left the field.

There were four games left in the season. A clean sweep would give Notre Dame a shot at the national championship.

Purdue went down 28-0. At Indiana the next week, Gipp suffered a dislocated shoulder that sent him to the bench with bandages. The Hoosiers shot to a 10-0 lead, which they held into the fourth quarter.

The Irish pushed to the 2-yard line but stalled. Gipp jumped from the bench and shouted to Rockne, “I’m going in!”

“Come back!’ roared Rockne.

Gipp ignored the command. On the second play, he crashed through for a touchdown. Then he kicked the extra point, and returned to his bench.

On the next Notre Dame possession, as time was running out, the Irish worked the ball to the 15-yard line. Again, Gipp rushed from the bench to take charge.

He dropped back for a game-tying dropkick to tie the game. The Hoosiers stormed to block him. Calmly Gipp tossed the ball to a receiver on the 1-yard line. On the next play, with the whole Indiana team converging on Gipp, he smashed off tackle with his injured arm tucked close. It was a ruse. The Notre Dame quarterback danced into the end zone with the ball for the winning touchdown.

While the team returned to South Bend, Gipp went to Chicago to teach a prep-school team how to drop kick. Icy wind brought on aches, fever and sore throat. Back at South Bend, Gipp took to his sick bed.

The next Friday, against Northwestern, Rockne kept feverish Gipp on the bench until the fourth quarter. Then, to chants from the crowd -”We want Gipp!” — he allowed his star to participate in a few plays - topped off by a 55-yard touchdown pass to pile up a 33-7 rout. .

* * *

On Thanksgiving Day, Notre Dame trounced Michigan State 25-0 to complete its second successive all-win season, but Gipp wasn’t there. He was in the hospital with pneumonia and strep throat - serious illness before antibiotics.

It was clear that Gipp was doomed. On Dec. 14, 1920, he converted to Catholicism and was given the Last Rites. His mother, brother, sister and Coach Rockne kept vigil by his bedside — while the entire student body knelt in the snow on campus praying for him.

While he was comatose, some one whispered, “It’s tough to go.”

Gipp heard it and roused. “What’s tough about it?” he said scornfully.

Beyond this we have only Rockne’s version.

Gipp turned to Rockne. “I’ve got to go, Rock,” he whispered. “It’s all right. Sometime, when the team is up against it, when things are going wrong and the breaks are beating the boys — tell them to go in there with all they’ve got and win just one for the Gipper.”

There is doubt that the usually modest Gipp actually made the dramatic death-bed speech, but Rockne always swore it was true.

It was eight years, however, before Rockne felt it necessary to invoke George Gipp’s last words.

It was at Yankee Stadium, New York City, Nov. 12, 1928. Notre Dame had lost two games. An undefeated Army team held the so-so Fighting Irish to a scoreless tie at halftime. In the locker room, Rockne stood up and addressed his weary players.

“Boys, I want to tell you a story I never thought I’d have to tell.”

Then Rockne related — in serious voice — George Gipp’s final challenge. When he reached the climax - “Go in there and win one for the Gipper” - it is said the players tore the locker room door ajar rushing to the field. The Irish played the second half as if the legend of Notre Dame led the way.

At game’s end the score was Notre Dame 12, Army 6.

The Gipper had scored one last time - from the grave.

Lindsey Williams is a Sun columnist who can be contacted at:

LinWms@earthlink.net

LinWms@lindseywilliams.org

Website: http://www.lindseywilliams.org with several hundred of Lin’s Editorial & At Large articles written over 40 years.

Also featured in its entirety is Lin’s groundbreaking book “Boldly Onward,” that critically analyzes and develops theories about the original Spanish explorers of America.
(fully indexed/searchable)

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Why Are College Football Authorities Against Playoffs?
By Nishan Wilde

As an avid college football fan, I have been wanting to address this issue for a while now. My question is this - why is there no post-season playoff in college football? There has been much speculation over the past few years that points to the eventual implementation of a playoff, but so far nothing has come to fruition. With so many reasons for a playoff, I simply can’t fathom why college football authorities are so against playoffs. What reasons you ask? Well, here are just a few:

1. Every other sport in America does it. Why do you think that is? Because it makes sense! What playoffs provide that the current bowl-game program does not is a clear-cut winner. There is never any debate as to who deserves the title unlike in the BCS bowl series.

2. Sometimes the polls disagree over who should be in the title game. Currently, three polls are used to determine the championship match-up - the AP poll, the BCS poll and the Coaches poll. In the past, these polls have disagreed about rankings. If these supposed flawless, algorithm-run super computers can’t decide on the top two teams, how are we supposed to know?

3. Scheduling - There are only 11 or 12 regular season games for each team during the college football season. This means that some of the best teams in the country simply don’t have enough room in their schedule to play other great teams. If they don’t ever play each other (like they would in a playoff), then there is no way to know who is the best aside from mere speculation.

4. Every year some team or another gets left out of the title race because of the limited number of teams (2) vying for the No. 1 spot. Last year, Boise State went 13-0, but were snubbed for a chance at the championship. Now, were they as good as Ohio State or Florida? Maybe, maybe not. But we can’t know for sure. This is just one more reason why there should be a playoff - so teams with perfect records can square off against each other in order to find out who is really the best.

5. Last but not least, let’s forget about being fair and giving all the deserving teams a shot at the championship. Why should there be a playoff? Because it would be the most exciting event of the year, that’s why. Just think about the matchups - USC vs. Oklahoma, LSU vs. Wisconsin, Florida vs. West Virginia, and Texas vs. Michigan. Who wouldn’t want to watch? I am on the verge of drooling just thinking about it.

To sum up, without a playoff we can never really know who is the best team in college football. We can know who is the better of two good teams, chosen by computers to compete in the championship game. But we can never know who is the outright best in the entire country.

On the other hand, there have been certain arguments against a playoff in the past. But as I see it, these arguments do not hold water anymore. First, it used to be true that the NCAA didn’t want the season to go past January 1st. But seeing as how the bowl games go well into the first week of January, that argument can be thrown out the window. Second, college football authorities are worried that an extension of the season to accommodate a playoff would make the season too long, subjecting the players to an overly rough season. But even in a playoff system, only 4 teams would play more games than they do now. Furthermore, half of those would play only 1 more game. Come on!!! College football players, especially the ones who play for the best teams in the nation, can handle an extra game or two.

And here’s the kicker - more games = more money.

I just don’t see a downside. Implementing a playoff structure to college football would bring in more money for those involved and more attention to the game as a whole. Conversely, the changes (# of games and length of season) would hardly be noticeable. I think that college football does, in fact, have a playoff in the future. However, the powers that be need to hurry up and do it already. There are so many reasons for a playoff and none against it.

Nishan Wilde is VP of Sales at RobbinsSports.com, an online resource for Gym Bags and Portable Scoreboards

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Playstation Versus The Playground!
By L.K. Reid

These days I hear the word “play stations” more often than I hear play ground. I wonder how many play grounds still exist.

I would have loved to take sonny out and kick a football around with him and see him huff and puff as I displayed my dribbling skills. But that is not to be, as there is no play ground miles from where I live.

The only playing fields that sonny sees are ones in which sports events are shown on TV or a square, rectangular or circular digital patch he sees on the gaming console of his Play Station.

That is the world he dominates, as he is the unquestioned champion of these play fields. He is in full command as he races cars, fights alien monsters, and pits himself against the greats of all games on his own terms.

The characters in these games, with which he shares these playing fields, are his friends. They don’t fret if they lose a game or show no jubilance if they beat him.

He is thrilled when he scores over them but need not worry if he performs poorly. He can abandon a game at his will and send his contenders back to their digital seclusion till he summons them again to another game when he feels the mood for it.

I am often called to try my skills and spar with him but I always find some excuse to stay away from these intensely structured digital challenges.

On a couple of occasions when I did venture to accept a challenge, I must admit my skills with the joy stick did not even conform to the lowest levels of the game.

Sonny was indeed the winner. Give me a play ground and I will have my sweet revenge.

Attention Parents: Bone up on your video game skills with a Nintendo System Wii or a Play Station 3 console. You can buy Play Station 3 at reasonable prices or find your favorite Play Station 3 Game by visiting our site!

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A Story From The Stands - What Have Former Nebraska Football Players Learned From The Game - Tolly
By Kenny Miller

HOW TO LIGHT A ROCKET

Tommie Frazier may not have known the dentist working on his teeth was a Nebraska football legend, too. Both of these men were quarterbacks. Both had a part in big winning steaks. Tommie and team created one of the longest winning streaks in NCAA history and Dr. Harry Tolly and team ended the longest winning steak in conference history.

“October 31,1959 wasn’t a very nice day–kind of a rainy and dreary day,” Dr. Tolly said “It was also Homecoming and Halloween.” Oklahoma got the ball first and took it right down the field and scored. Most folks expected that,” he says as a smile comes across his face. “The fans didn’t expect us to do the same thing. We even went for a two point conversion but didn’t get it. That didn’t matter so much. We discovered they weren’t super human and we could play with them.” Tolly knew Oklahoma’s 74 game conference winning streak was in trouble.

“It was a close game all of the way,” Tolly points out. “We continued to hang in there with them and during the second half, the stadium started to fill.”

Crowds in those days were often sparse and on this dreary day with the dreadnought of college football in town, the stadium had plenty of great seats in the East and West stadium. No North or South stadium existed, other than the knothole section, nor were there any plays for those additions. Memorial Stadium could seat 48,000 folks and Coach Jennings thought that was more than the state of Nebraska would ever need.

“I guess people were listening on the radio and suddenly realized a little college football history was unfolding at the stadium. There were around 32,000 fans there by the end of the game. That was the largest crowd I had ever seen in that stadium.”

“Pat Fisher ran a punt return to the Oklahoma three yard line and if he hadn’t had a sore leg, they would have never caught him,” Tolly recalls. “Ron Meade did everything on that day and Don Fricke and Lee Zentic had a good game, too. Lee recovered a blocked pun and ran it in for a second half touchdown that really got us going.”

It was worth the late afternoon hustle to get a seat in the drizzle. On the last play of the game, Meade made an end zone interception of Oklahoma’s last hope at a another notch in their seventy-four game winning streak. Nebraska 25. Oklahoma 21. History had been made in Lincoln.

“The crowd went nuts,” he said with a laugh. “The fans ripped the goal posts down and fans paraded them through the streets of Lincoln. Folks were still in the stadium after we had showered and come out of the field house.”

The celebrating continued the next day with a goal post snake parade from the campus to Chancellor Hardin’s home. He came out and greeted the students and called classes off on Monday to mark the Oklahoma win.

Tolly took a short detour on his journey to this day of fame. After graduating from North Platte High, he attended Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire. “Guess you could say I had my red-shirt year in high school.”

His father was a coach and this very happy “upsetter” of a quarterback was following in his dad’s footsteps. He was an education major and planned to go on for an advanced degree and become a coach, too.

“I had a scholarship opportunity at both Dartmouth and Nebraska. But even back then, if your were a Nebraska guy, you wanted to play for Nebraska. I took the Nebraska offer.”

With full-ride scholarship in hand, he packed his bags and headed for his destiny in Lincoln. His first varsity start came in the fall of 1957. “I don’t remember what game,” he says. It wasn’t a memorable year–one win and nine losses. “We beat Kansas State 14-7.”

His junior season was a little better–three wins and seven losses. “We beat Pittsburgh and Penn State and Iowa State that year.” His grin and memory were both improving. His senior year was even a little better with four wins and six losses but this may have been the Nebraska team that “started” the rivalry with Oklahoma.

A couple of pro scouts asked if he was interested in a pro football career but he wanted to move on to his coaching future. “Mick Tinglehoff, Pat Fischer, and Ron McDole went on to play in the pros so we were well represented,” he points out.

“I had an opportunity to become a graduate assistant for Bill Jennings after graduation and decided to take it,” he recalls. He liked Bill Jennings and admired his approach to coaching. “We practiced a lot and some say we left some of our best games on the practice field, but I think Jennings was on the right track.”

Jennings proved the point again the following year by beating Oklahoma again in Norman, 17-14, but his time at Nebraska was over and the new coach from Wyoming was setting up shop in Lincoln.

“I liked Bob Devaney but I was having second thoughts about coaching so I applied for dental school and was accepted. I told Coach Devaney about my chance to go to dental school and he told me to take it. He said if I had a chance to go to a professional school, I should do it because it would be a lot more secure than coaching.” Young Coach Tolly left the sidelines for the last time during the spring of Coach Bob Devaney’s first year at Nebraska.

“I knew Coach Devaney would be successful,” Tolly recalled. “One of the first things he did was take those lights off of the back of the Coliseum. So much for those long Jennings practices. The players loved that.”

And who did Coach Devaney name to the newly vacated graduate assistant post? “Some guy named Osborne,” Tolly said with a big grin. “That was my other big contribution to Nebraska football. I made room for Tom Osborne.”

Dr. Tolly is in a dental practice with his son in Lincoln’s University Place suburb. You can tell he was a great athlete because he is still in top notch shape and loves to play racquetball and tennis.

Tommie picked the right dentist. After all, who would know more about smash mouth football, winning the big one, and creating a winning smile than Dr. Harry Tolly, number 21, the quarterback from the Oklahoma-beating Husker team of 1959. Harry Tolly and his teammates taught a bunch of damp Husker fans how to light a rocket, and an entire state soon learned how much fun it is to watch it fly.

Kenny Miller has been in the creative business for over 30 years. He has created two advertising agencies and is the author of two books: The Last Flight of Kilo Mike; and A Visit to Hartington. Kenny is also a highly experienced professional pilot; a published photographer; and a top-notch storm chaser. Kenny also writes a sports column, A Story From The Stands, which tells the stories of former Nebraska players and what they learned from playing football. His site is http://www.nebraskawriter.com

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How to Shoot Video of Your Kids Sports Team So That Anyone Else Will Watch It!
By Kevin Rockwell

Break out that video camera, there is a game this weekend!

1. You bought a video camera
2. You want to shoot sports of your kid
3. Here is how to do it right!

What a wonderful age of technology we live in. You can buy the greatest gadgets now days to record video and music and play them in all sorts of ways on other great technology gadgets from computers, DVD’s, MP3 players, VCR’s, and many more. It is all great stuff. But they all come with thick owners manuals that do not always get you going the right direction. You may eventually learn to use your great new camera for instance, but that does not mean you will necessarily take pictures that are worth looking at down the road. Rolling tape in your camera is one thing and creating video that is high quality and interesting is another thing. The goal of this product is to bring you up to speed with using your video camera (whatever format, and whatever brand) to get the best results for recording those precious moments of your kid’s athletic achievements.

We as parents spend plenty of hours out on the field, court, pool, or track watching our kids take part in and compete in youth sports. If you have a video camera you are going to want to record some of these events for posterity and perhaps education. Following the simple steps in this guide will help you to capture them in the best possible fashion so that it is watch able but also usable down the road.

My video expertise stems from two decades as a network television cameraman and as a parent with several kids actively involved in youth sports. In my years of shooting video professionally I have been around the world and seen just about every type of news event. I also spent 15 years covering pro sports events for my employer. These were the best type of assignments as far as I was concerned. In my entire career the things I have enjoyed most is being able to go to places where the average person cannot. In sports that usually means being on the field, next to the court, in the press box, or in the pit. I have shot football games of all levels up to and including NFC and AFC championship games. Living in the Bay Area has allowed me to cover many baseball pennant races and several World Series. I was right behind home plate the night the earth shook in the 1989 World Series. Talk about a shock. I had to give up covering a World Series between the two Bay Area teams to go and cover a huge news event. Baseball seemed small for a while after the magnitude of the earthquake. The point in this is that I love sports, have been around sports my whole life and I know how to shoot video of sports. With that in mind I will do my best to give you advice on how to do the same.

Gear

Now whether you have the latest DV camera in your hands or an old VHS format camera there are basic things you will need to keep in mind if you are going to shoot sports. As we say in the video business your camera is only as good as the glass that you hang in front of it. The better the lens the better the results will be no matter what kind of recording format you use. Now you already have a camera in hand and may never have heard this particular bit of advice so it is too late to factor it into the equation. However if you have camera in hand and it has any limitations on what it can do due to the lens being less than wonderful there are things you can do to mitigate the situation. We will discuss those things in more detail later on.

The key factors before setting out on your game day video assignment are to make sure you know the operating functions of the gear, have a tape supply in hand (soon to be DVDs with the revolution in gear design that is taking place right now), and batteries fully charged. I know these may seem like the simply obvious things but even the pros have to constantly remind themselves to check and double check these items.

A little aside here about preparation. Over the many years of covering news I learned lots of little tips from other photographers in the field and applied them to my work regimen. In the early days of video we always had to carry around a portable hair dryer because the record decks would seize up if the moisture levels got to high. So in the winter time if you came in from the cold outside into a nice warm building the air would condense inside the machine and cause moisture build up. The warning light would come on and bang we were dead in the water. One of us would have to run to the car and get the hair dryer, fire it up and chase the water away from the record heads of the deck. It caused some very funny moments in public places I can assure you. (This by the way can still be a problem even today with electronics/VCRs/lenses. Too much moisture can cause havoc. So just remember a portable hair dryer can save your day)

Another thing I learned from others is the value of backup. A few years ago I was out on assignment and we had a young eager college intern along with us in the field. This young man wanted to learn all about what we did in our job. He was very interested in how to take pictures, unlike most of our interns who only wanted to become reporters or anchors. He asked many questions and after seeing that he was really paying attention I decided to take him under my wing and really fill him up with information. One tidbit that I shared with him was to always have an emergency stash of tape in his car when out on assignment. He didn’t quite understand the importance of this at first since I had already drilled him about always bringing tape stock with him when going out on assignment. I filled him with stories of times when something or other happened and I’ll be darned if you didn’t need another tape and there under the seat of the car was that emergency spare. So anyway he went off to graduate from college and get a job in a small market TV station. He would send us progress reports from time to time, which I really enjoyed. Then lo and behold one day he sends me a letter telling me how he got into a jam one day on a story and needed that emergency tape. He had dutifully tucked one under the back seat and it was there to save the day. I hope that what you learn in this book will in some way keep you from having a video failure down the road. What I learned in my career is that video production is 80% of it is dealing with the curves and problems that are thrown at you and 20% talent. If you can learn to trouble shoot then you will always be successful.

My first suggestion for shooting your kids sports activities is to go watch TV. Yes sit down put your feet up and watch some sports on TV. Really watch how they make it interesting at the top level. Then watch the news and see how they cover the games from a news perspective. Don’t pay attention to the content; just watch how it develops visually. Now of course you can never duplicate what the networks are doing with just your one camera. However if you can glean anything from watching it should be how they try to bring intimacy with the athletes out in the broadcast. All the new improvements in covering sports have to do with getting you the viewer as close to the athlete as they can. Bring you into their world. From cameras on wires overhead that swoop along the field to cameras in the net of a hockey game to cameras inside the cars at Daytona, it brings you into the game. Now you cannot stand on the pitchers mound at your kids’ baseball game but you can learn some techniques that can make your baseball video more intimate and therefore more compelling to watch.

A side note here, if your task is to capture the whole game or sporting activity for review as a coaching tool you should focus mainly on getting a good high view and putting the camera on a tripod. Pan slowly to follow action and don’t zoom in and out. My main goal here is not to teach you this skill since it is pretty darn basic. However if this is what you are doing you should do it right. Find the right framing to keep as much of the activity in the frame and follow it carefully. Some sports move quickly from one end to the other and you will have to be smooth. Resist the temptation to follow the ball on full zoom. You will lose. Those guys that shoot sports on TV are full on pros using much better gear than you will ever have at your disposal.

Now in order to get a good video of your child’s game you need to find that emotion and excitement that exists in any game. Think of it as capturing a few of the things that occur and making those golden. Does the team do a pre game cheer? Get up close, stick your camera wither way up high over their heads looking down or get underneath looking up and shoot it in a way that takes the viewer where they can’t go. Capture an at bat in baseball by taking a full pitch cycle in close-up of the pitcher, and then one of the catcher and then as close as you can of the hitter. Show their face if you can. If they get the big hit don’t go crazy rushing to zoom out. Follow the runner down the line. It will be almost impossible to follow the ball so stay with the runner. Look for the angles that will give you these emotional shots.

Some sports are more of a challenge due to the size of the field and the amount of movement up and down the field. Take soccer of instance, if you follow the ball the camera is moving all over the place and the viewer gets queasy. To capture some good video of your kid playing you need to focus on specific shots and not try to follow the play. Look for moments such as throw ins, free kicks, kick offs when things are predictable and you can get closer to the action. Walk down the sideline and wait for the action to come to you. If you child is playing right forward then get ahead of the play and when you see the ball moving towards you then you can find you child and roll tape in anticipation of them playing the ball. Be sure to get some shots of the crowd cheering, the coach watching (not yelling I hope) the goalie waiting in anticipation.

Hold your shots steady for 6-10 seconds at a time. If you are taking a shot of someone watching the game actually count it out in your head (thousand one thousand two…) This will ensure that you get good solid shots and that you don’t run on and on with the shot. Brace your arm against your chest for stability and use your other arm across your belly underneath to create a stabilizing platform. This is in lieu of a tripod of course. If you have a tripod it can always be a good thing to use if it does not get in the way.

Use creative angles as much as possible. Get down low and wait for the action to run by you. Don’t pan with it but rather let the action race through the frame. At a swim meet get the camera down on the deck for more of a swimmers perspective of the action. Of course you may not want to stay there when the swimmers approach for a turn. Digital electronics do not like water inside them. I was getting the most awesome low angle shots of some open water ocean swimmers one time and the boat lurched on me and salt water sprayed over the camera. I had a cover on the camera but salt water seeped into the crannies and it caused us much grief getting it cleaned out so as to avoid damaging the electronics of the camera.

Kevin Rockwell worked as a network TV cameraman for 20 years shooting news and sports. Now a devoted fan of digital photography and video he works to gather information, tips and news for digital camera users. Oh and he loves to shoot pictures of his kids playing sports.
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