A powerful new feature available in Sportscode Elite Version 7, the Sorter Window is a spreadsheet style window that will allow you to view, sort, and organize your instances based on various criteria such as Groups, Text Labels, and frequency in order to create a seamless final presentation.

There are countless advantages that the Sorter Window introduces to Sportscode. Most notably are the ability to efficiently sort much larger sets of data than were previously possible, as well as various sorting methods.

 

I have exported a number of instances from a timeline to this Sorter Window. 

 

 

a. Sort Ascending will sort all instances alphabetically according the data in this column. (Numbers will precede letters)

In this case, PLAY CALL is sorted by sort ascending.

b. Sort Descending will sort all instances in reverse alphabetical order according to the data in this column.

 

 

 

In this case, PLAY CALL is sorted by sort descending.

 

 

 

 

 

c. Sort Frequency Ascending will sort all instances according to the data in this column from the least frequently used to the most frequently used.

 

 

 

In this case, PLAY CALL is sorted by sort frequency ascending.

 

 

 

 

d. Sort Frequency Descending will sort all instances according to the data in this column from the most frequently used to the least frequently used.

 

 

 

In this case, PLAY CALL is sorted by sort frequency descending.

 

 

 

 

e. Sort all rows by movie time will sort all instances in chronological order in relation to the timeline. Only the Time Reference column can be sorted by this method.

 

 

 

In this case, the Time Reference column is sorted by sort all rows by movie time.

 

 

 

 

Nest Sorting
Nest Sorting will allow you to sort within a sort. First, sort the instances according to the data in one column. Then sort the data in a second column without rearranging the initial sort.

For this example we will find which PLAY CALLS took place the most frequently, and which player SHOT the most frequently within those PLAY CALLS.

1. Check Nest Sort .

2. Hold the CTRL key and single click on the title the PLAY CALL column. Sort the column by frequency descending.

 

 

 

Notice that the instances are now sorted with the most frequently ran PLAY CALLS at the top. 44-CHEST was the most frequently ran PLAY CALL.

 

 

 

3. Hold the CTRL key and single click on the title the SHOT BY column. Sort the column by frequency descending.

 

 

 

Notice that the data in the SHOT BY column is now sorted with the most frequent SHOT BY’s at the top. However, this sort did not disturb the initial sorting of the PLAY CALLS.

 

 

 

We are now able to determine that U. Haslem shot the most frequently within 44-CHEST, which was our most frequent PLAY CALL.

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Products / Updates

A more efficient way of delivering videos to players led the ACT head coach of the women’s hockey programme in Canberra to the innovative use of iPods for distributing information.

In a first for an Australian sport, Anthony Thornton has devised an effective method of making video information more readily available to his players in the hockey programme via a tool the size of a cellphone.
"They’re truly amazing" Thornton said of the iPods. "I can export from the iPod, play it through a data projector, the TV or back into a computer if I wanted too….all those types of things, so really it’s a video storage device in a certain format that has the ability to be watched".

"One of the key things for me was that the players are aware technologically and are fairly adapted to using it. My group is relatively young so they might be going to school or university on the bus or something like that and they have the time. iPods are also a sexy kind of tool at the moment and while they’re sitting on a bus for 10 minutes they can have a look at some hockey video".

A New Zealander, Thornton has been with the ACT for 2-1/2 years. He was previously coach of the junior men’s programme at NZ Hockey for eight years and jumped at the chance to be involved in the professional coaching set-up in Australia.
In a full and demanding role, Thornton works with Canberra’s elite players, those who have been nationally selected at all levels and the ACT Academy of Sport elite squad. He is also responsible for all representative programmes through the ACT at women’s level, from under-11s through to national league and is head coach of the national league side.

Hockey in Australia has a long tradition of being one of the first to embrace on-going technology and Thornton’s capacity to make a viable contribution through the iPod is no exception.
Reading an article 18 months ago where a US professional baseball team was looking at the possibility of using iPods for analysis work, sparked Thornton’s interest. With no set formula to work from, it took the innovative coach time to work out how to apply the concept to hockey when he was wrestling with the idea of how to get the players more video to watch. "I had been using DVDs for them which is a really slow, clumsy process and when you’re trying to burn in on a computer 15, 16…20 DVDs, it takes for ever and it also ended up to be quite a costly exercise" he said.

After buying an iPod and software to compress the video process effectively, Thornton struck the jackpot.
After having a game of hockey coded using SportsCode product and taking out the information he wants, Thornton then sets about getting it to the iPods.
"I can apply words or text or both in SportsCode, export it and compress it into a form that is suitable for an iPod," he said. "At the moment I put them as podcasts on a small website or I sinc my iTunes with the iPods and stick them on that way".

The players can then download them from home for viewing on a computer or transfer onto their iPods.
"Really, it came about from trying to find efficiency in terms of cost and in terms of time in the way I delivered a video to players," Thornton said.
"The players love the idea of the iPods. I thought I’d be continually forcing them to watch videos but, in fact, it’s the other way round. The players come to me all the time demanding more video they can stick on their iPod, so what it’s created is this massive uptake which has been fantastic".
"They are continually asking questions of the material provided and they’ve watched a lot more hockey than they ever would have watched, so their education of hockey is improving all the time. Overall it’s been a big positive".