MONROE - Classrooms at Monroe Middle School are not the only area where iPads are being used.
The use of iPads has spilled onto baseball and softball diamonds. Many baseball, softball and even track coaches are finding the value of using the iPad in their spring sports.
Monroe baseball coach Dustin Huffman said the iPad is a tool he and coaches use to help teach the fundamentals of hitting with baseball players during the spring.
Huffman records each player's swing and has the ability to watch it with them in slow motion to help them make hitting adjustments with their hand placement on the bat.
"It's a nice tool because you can send video to them to watch," Huffman said.
Hitters are not the only ones who are becoming students of the game by using iPad apps. Huffman uses the iPads with pitchers, too. There is a scorebook app that can keep track of pitch counts, balls, strikes, the number of offspeed pitches, the percentage a pitcher throws a certain pitch in a certain count as well as any defensive stat.
"Any stat you can think of, it does for you," Huffman said. "We try to get our pitchers to throw 60 percent strikes. We are able to use it and show the importance of getting ahead in the count."
Both the Monroe baseball and softball teams use the scorebook app for the iPad. Both baseball and softball teams are barred from using an iPad app to record a pitcher or hitter during the game. The WIAA doesn't want one team to gain an advantage, but more teams are banking on iPad apps as a weapon for improving the fundamentals of baseball and softball.
Huffman said it makes keeping track of statistics throughout the season much easier since he doesn't have to go back in a traditional paper scorebook and tabulate stats.
The baseball and softball diamonds are not the only fields where various iPad apps are used to try to give athletes an edge. Monroe Athletic Director Dave Hirsbrunner uses the iPad app Ubersense to coach high jumpers in track and field. The Ubersense app allows a coach to record a video analysis of each athlete's attempt in the high jump. He uses the app to slow down and dissect each athlete's jump at a certain height. He can use a drawing tool to write coaching notes on the video. Each high jumper can see where their head, hands, plant feet and arms are for every jump, as well as have their steps to the approach fine-tuned.
"Our high jumpers probably watch more video of their jumps than anyone else in the state," Hirsbrunner said. "They watch hours. It's been a great benefit for improving performance."
For the first time this year, track coaches are allowed to share video recordings of athlete's jumps with them during competition as long as it's not their turn to jump. In the past, the WIAA barred coaches from recording high jumpers and using it during a meet.
Hirsbrunner said he has also used the iPad with teaching athletes how to start out of the blocks, hurdlers and pole vaulters.
Monroe assistant softball coach Noel Herbst uses the iPad scorebook app GameChanger during games. The Cheesemakers have a scorebook on the iPad, and they use a traditional paper copy scorebook.
Herbst said the iPad is beneficial in keeping stats and accurate in looking back to see how certain players hit against the Cheesemakers in previous games.
"I really like it because it gives us instant stats right away," Herbst said. "I always look at the pitching stats like pitch count and pitches per inning. Society is moving more to technology. I think it will really make it (the game) better."
The use of iPads has spilled onto baseball and softball diamonds. Many baseball, softball and even track coaches are finding the value of using the iPad in their spring sports.
Monroe baseball coach Dustin Huffman said the iPad is a tool he and coaches use to help teach the fundamentals of hitting with baseball players during the spring.
Huffman records each player's swing and has the ability to watch it with them in slow motion to help them make hitting adjustments with their hand placement on the bat.
"It's a nice tool because you can send video to them to watch," Huffman said.
Hitters are not the only ones who are becoming students of the game by using iPad apps. Huffman uses the iPads with pitchers, too. There is a scorebook app that can keep track of pitch counts, balls, strikes, the number of offspeed pitches, the percentage a pitcher throws a certain pitch in a certain count as well as any defensive stat.
"Any stat you can think of, it does for you," Huffman said. "We try to get our pitchers to throw 60 percent strikes. We are able to use it and show the importance of getting ahead in the count."
Both the Monroe baseball and softball teams use the scorebook app for the iPad. Both baseball and softball teams are barred from using an iPad app to record a pitcher or hitter during the game. The WIAA doesn't want one team to gain an advantage, but more teams are banking on iPad apps as a weapon for improving the fundamentals of baseball and softball.
Huffman said it makes keeping track of statistics throughout the season much easier since he doesn't have to go back in a traditional paper scorebook and tabulate stats.
The baseball and softball diamonds are not the only fields where various iPad apps are used to try to give athletes an edge. Monroe Athletic Director Dave Hirsbrunner uses the iPad app Ubersense to coach high jumpers in track and field. The Ubersense app allows a coach to record a video analysis of each athlete's attempt in the high jump. He uses the app to slow down and dissect each athlete's jump at a certain height. He can use a drawing tool to write coaching notes on the video. Each high jumper can see where their head, hands, plant feet and arms are for every jump, as well as have their steps to the approach fine-tuned.
"Our high jumpers probably watch more video of their jumps than anyone else in the state," Hirsbrunner said. "They watch hours. It's been a great benefit for improving performance."
For the first time this year, track coaches are allowed to share video recordings of athlete's jumps with them during competition as long as it's not their turn to jump. In the past, the WIAA barred coaches from recording high jumpers and using it during a meet.
Hirsbrunner said he has also used the iPad with teaching athletes how to start out of the blocks, hurdlers and pole vaulters.
Monroe assistant softball coach Noel Herbst uses the iPad scorebook app GameChanger during games. The Cheesemakers have a scorebook on the iPad, and they use a traditional paper copy scorebook.
Herbst said the iPad is beneficial in keeping stats and accurate in looking back to see how certain players hit against the Cheesemakers in previous games.
"I really like it because it gives us instant stats right away," Herbst said. "I always look at the pitching stats like pitch count and pitches per inning. Society is moving more to technology. I think it will really make it (the game) better."
