Shonan Bellmare Interview

New use of video analysis software by Shonan Bellmare: How is team communication done with FL-UX?

Artículo original: Haz clic aquí

Translated to English by George Bulger

August 5, 2022

Hi there!

Today we have a piece of very exciting news! FL-UX was featured in an interview with Shonan Bellmare (professional football team playing in J-League 1) by footballista on November 30th, 2021. Satoshi Yamaguchi (Head Coach), Michishi Shiraishi (Analyst), and Naoki Yamada (Player) participated in this interview to discuss the video analysis tool FL-UX. 

“From Satoshi Ukishima to Satoshi Yamaguchi. Analysis tool “FL-UX” inherited at Shonan Bellmare”

Throughout this season, not only has Shonan Bellmare used FL-UX among the manager and the coaching staff, every single player created an account to allow the entire team to use the analysis tool. 

The interview discusses how the video was used to review plays and how FL-UX changed the way coaches and players communicate with one another.

In addition to the interview done by footballista, HALFTIME sports media conducted the interview and produced an article of their own. In this post, we will publish the full article written by HALFTIME sports media translated into English.

Today, the use of technology is indispensable in sports. The same is true in the soccer world,  and the video analysis software is being used at various levels, from professional clubs to college and high school teams. 

RUN.EDGE Ltd. a company based in Japan has used its patented video scene search and video analysis technology to develop the video analysis software FL-UX. Since February of 2020, the company has been providing the software by introducing “Collaborative Analysis” and “Real-Time Analysis”, two concepts previously not used by professional and amateur teams around the world. 

Shonan Bellmare in J-League 1 has started using FL-UX since the 2021 season. According to them, the tool has been able to dramatically shorten the time it took them to prepare the analysis content for the upcoming matches and has improved a common understanding of the team’s tactics among the manager, coaching staff, and players through the communication feature of FL-UX. 

Simple and easy to use

Satoshi Yamaguchi of Shonan Bellmare, who took over as the manager in September has treasured FL-UX since his coaching days. 

Satoshi Yamaguchi: The most important thing for me is that the operation is easy to understand, simple, and easy to use. Clipping the video and adjusting the duration is very easy. On top of that, you can add texts and markers to the video clip to emphasize, and you can even write instructions directly on the video. 

With video alone, you can only say this video clip is important as a whole. But with FL-UX, you can easily add arrows and other things to emphasize a specific part of the video clip. So it’s easy to express where I want my players to move next and where the spaces are.

 

The developer of FL-UX, RUN.EDGE has 70% of its employees as engineers and develops its own products based on its technology. The application “PITCHBASE” is a video analysis tool for professional baseball teams that was developed in 2018. Today the tool has been adopted by more than 11 teams in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and Major League Baseball (MLB). FL-UX was developed based on the technology cultivated from PITCHBASE. 

The biggest trait of FL-UX is the Real-Time Analysis feature that allows users to analyze practices and games on the spot. In addition, if you use the chat and scene-sharing functions that are similar to social media platforms, anyone can easily look back on the day’s training and check tactics while sharing videos. It has already been introduced to more than over 50 top professional and amateur clubs in Japan and overseas, including J-League clubs, B-League (professional basketball league in Japan) clubs, and European Football clubs.

Coach Michifumi Shiraishi
Photo HALFTIME sports media

Coach Michifumi Shiriaishi of Shonan Bellmare who works as the analyst under the manager Satoshi Yamaguchi realizes the merit of being able to use the software easily from anywhere. 

Michifumi Shiraishi: As long as I have internet access I can work from anywhere, so I can work at home moving around between my bedroom and the living room with a tablet in my hand and quickly do my analysis. It has definitely made my job more flexible. I can even work from inside a bullet train while traveling without a problem. 

Being able to clip and tag videos on tablets and smartphones can drastically shrink the time it takes to analyze. Until now, even creating a post-match highlight video or a scouting video of the next match’s opponent has required a significant time to produce. There have been times when the post-match highlight video wasn’t ready until the following day or the scouting video couldn’t be prepared during practice. Now, these videos can be ready even a minute after the match ends.

Satoshi Yamaguchi: The reduction in the work time is truly big. After all, the time to watch the video is limited, you can’t watch every game the same way. Having the video ready immediately and being able to start working right away on the post-match analysis and analysis of the next opponent changed our entire preparation process. 

Michifumi Shiraishi: There is a difference between how players see and how the coaching staff sees the match from on and off the field which causes friction. Sometimes a player can’t review their performance with a calm head. Video footage can help with both of these things. It’s also crucial that FL-UX let us approach it quickly. In an instant, you can look back on the video when the memory is fresh. It’s like “strike while the iron is hot”. It decreased the times we reviewed the game with faded memory due to the time lag after the end of the match and our meeting. 

Useful for communication

FL-UX is also helpful in the area of communication. Managers and coaches are able to write messages to video clips that show points of improvement on this platform, and players can message back or express concerning plays in the video from their point of view. It has become easier to remind each other of the team standard and make the role of each position on the field clear. 

The platform also has a group messaging feature. For example, you can create analysis content exclusive to the coaching staff, or exclusive to goalkeepers to review and exchange ideas. Coach Shiraishi says that he also uses this group messaging feature to take care of young players and players who have limited play time. 

Michifumi Shiraishi: How to keep an eye out for young players and players who are looking for their breakthrough to stand on the field, this is one of the important roles coaches have. You have to pay attention to all players every day no matter how small or short the practice sessions are. 

This player isn’t ready to play in a match, but he has improved compared to his past. The work ethic and performance improved. In these moments, coaches can give positive feedback to the player by saying, “you did great here.” When you do this, it leads to creating better relationships between people. Players can gain confidence and strength through these types of mental care.

Useful for team meetings

A scene from a team meeting using FL-UX.
Photo: Shonan Bellmare

FL-UX is also useful for having team meetings. Because you can review the footage immediately, you can review the plays and have the meeting while players’ memories are still fresh.

In addition to improving communication with players via FL-UX, they have told us that managers and coaching staff themselves can improve their coaching methods. 

Managers and coaches can use it to clarify team tactics and improve individual players, such as clarifying their roles in the attacking and defending phases of the game. On the flip side, the tool can also be used to check if the staff’s decision-making was correct or if there were bad decisions made during the match. 

Satoshi Yamaguchi: I try to reflect on what I’ve told my players during training and matches. Was what I was saying correct? Was the situation I was explaining the best approach? When reviewing plays on FL-UX, it sometimes makes me realize the decision made by the player on the field was better than what I instructed them at the moment. 

It takes a certain amount of courage for a manager to look back and admit their mistakes. But this is huge when you are trying to gain the trust of your players and lead them to improve the team overall. FL-UX is helping them to do exactly this. 

On top of this, Coach Shiraishih believes that it can be useful at the academy level as well. 

Michifumi Shiraishi: We all have smartphones nowadays, and academy coaches can share how the first team is training. The academy players can then watch how the first team is training every day from anywhere they are. 

As a club Shonan Bellmare, if we can develop player identities from the academy all the way to the first team, we can eliminate the adjustment period of academy players who get brought into the first team. This tool that can easily be used by anyone, anytime, anywhere should be able to do this right away, and this sounds very interesting to me. 

Shonan Bellmare is famous for its style of overwhelming the opponent with their fitness, the “Shonan Style.” FL-UX can be used even more to help shape this style at their club. 

In the past at Shonan Bellmare, there have been many players who were bought up to the first team from the academy and went on to become the first team players. Not only will FL-UX strengthen the first team, it has the potential to be used as a tool for player development. 

At Shonan Bellmare, Coach Shiraishi and everyone are using FL-UX for reviewing plays and communicating with each other today. 

At RUN.EDGE, we are committed to making our products better every day. We receive feedback from Shonan Bellmare and other customers on a daily basis to create new features and improve our platform. 

FL-UX which has been researched and developed based on feedback from professional clubs such as Shonan Bellmare is available to everyone ranging from high school, college, adult teams, individuals who are seeking to become an analyst, and more. FL-UX has now been used by over 70 teams (November 2021) around the world and growing. 

As a company, we will continue to be a technology group that “runs together” with Shonan Bellmare, and everyone who shares the love of the sport around the world. 

Thank you for your continued support!

 

You can learn more about the tool used by Shonan Bellmare from this site

Today’s interview and the article were brought to you by HALFTIME sports media.

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