Christof Koepsel / Getty Images

Triathlete Valentin Lenz watches his swimming video with sports scientist Karen Stein during a sports performance diagnostic in Germany. Lenz is one of many athletes who use video to assess and improve performance.

Said the Bears’ Hendrickson: “It’s really been the advancement of computers that’s made the biggest difference. The ability to be tapeless. We used to make the same kinds of cutups, but we had to spit them out onto tape. That’s what the coaches would look at. Now with the digitizing of video, it allows coaches to sort six ways to Sunday.”

In the NFL, there is one game per week for each team, so coaches, players and video coordinators work to prepare for that one contest. In Major League Baseball, there are 162 games, but they can be prepared for by series. In leagues like the NHL and NBA, however, the schedule is a bit more erratic.

“We use video as much as the NFL does,” said Brett Heimlich, who is in his third season working in the Sharks’ video department, “but they have more time to break it down. This week, for instance, is our third game in five nights. Today we don’t have practice, so we’ll review a little of last night’s game. Then you move on to the next game. You just find a way to do it.”

Irving Roland is in his fourth year as video coordinator for the New Orleans Hornets. He said the Hornets break down their video study in terms of position — the smalls, the 2s and 3s, and the big men — and they critique their own work over the past five games with the help of an assistant coach for each group. Roland also puts together 5-minute to 8-minute videos of upcoming opponents, broken down by plays, defense, side out of bounds, baseline out of bounds, etc.

“You’re still discovering stuff,” said the Hornets’ Rasaul Butler, a guard-forward who is one of the team’s most ardent devotees of video study. “Even though we’ve seen guys around the league before, they’re still trying to add something to their games. Just like we watch tape, other teams watch tape. You might see a guy earlier in the year who doesn’t go to his left really well, but the next time you see him he predominantly goes that way, so you can see that he’s been working on that.”

With all the game preparation and individual work, you would think Roland would have his hands — and his hard drive — full. But he still finds time to help out when requests come in from college coaches who want video of Chris Paul operating the pick and roll.

“Chris is arguably the best point guard in the NBA,” Roland said. “But when it comes to the pick and roll, there’s nobody better. Every team that we face, that’s their biggest dilemma, how to cover Chris in the pick and roll because he’s so smart.

“Colleges coaches want to show film of Chris to their own point guards. I just finished doing one where I took about six games total and got about 70 clips of Chris on the pick and roll, so they can see as much footage of him as they possibly can.”

Roland estimates he gets a couple of requests a month for a Paul pick-and-roll clips package, and even more when he travels to camps in the summer.

In the end, whether it’s college or pros, it’s up to the individual athlete to spend time in front of a screen. The size of that screen, and the soundtrack playing in the background, varies according to the player and the situation.

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Angels pitcher Ervin Santana uses videos for visualization. A 4-minute video provided by the team shows Santana facing one A's batter, making one pitch over and over, with silhouettes highlighting Santana and the batter.

The video starts and ends with a motivational phrase in Spanish, roughly translated as: "Every day I feel and will feel better, better and better – as much mentally and emotionally as physically. That’s how it is and how it will be today and forever."

“It’s a collaborative project,” the Angels’ Lopez says. “Whenever I’m working with a player, I ask him how he likes to prepare. I find out his routine. The next thing is, what kind of music does he want on it, if we’re putting together a video. If it’s strictly a baseball piece, I use music and baseball. Sometimes I might put movie clips in there, or motivational phrases they might like. You gotta be a little creative.”

Said Hunter: “Diego loves his job. He’s always leaving me CDs of all my home runs, everything positive. Not so much negative feedback. I’ll get a CD for a ride to a certain city, pop it into my DVD player, and fall asleep on my home runs.”

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