A Video Clinic

Every March the Iowa Football program hosts a coaching clinic intended for high school coaches in the state and the extended area. Aside from the Hawkeye coaches, other high school coaches are brought in from around the nation providing a different perspective. And at that clinic there may be a few people who have an interest in bettering their video by picking the brains of the Iowa Video Staff. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. But today we were able to host high school students who provide video services for a high school program in Central Iowa. Chuck Evans (center) is the high school football coach in Centerville. Today he brought his staff who shoot and commentate their games, as well as their Media Services director. Kim Mitchell (far left) organizes the staff consisting of Brenton Willier (second from left), AJ Anderson (second from right) and Austin Nielsen (far right).

Chuck had been the football coach at nearby Iowa City Regina High School but stepped down from that position to become the Director of Basketball Operations for the Iowa Women's team. But Evans looked to get back to the Friday night sidelines and the opportunity at Centerville opened. Knowing how important video is to a football team, no matter the level, he looked to the media services club to shoot, edit and distribute their games.

While all three of the students were very excited about the opportunity to visit the Hawkeyes, AJ definitely enjoyed seeing the technical side of the job. He was amazed by the amount of storage the Hawkeyes use to store video, the miles of cable run throughout Kinnick Stadium, and the number of DVD duplicators used to distribute discs to coaches and referees.

Willier shares the editing and capturing duties with Anderson, while Nielsen is "only the commentator." All three could not wipe the smiles off their face and knew they were experiencing something that many do not. And since Chuck got this started at Centerville, the other sports there found how important this staff was and began to use them to record wrestling and basketball. This club may be one of the most important in their high school, and becoming one of the more valuable.