2006 PBVCA Winter Meetings Update

The Professional Baseball Video Coordinators Association, PBVCA, concluded its third annual meetings last week at the Swan and Dolphin Resort in Orlando. This year’s conference included eighteen Video Coordinators, eight video technology vendors, and four guest speakers from throughout Major League Baseball.

PBVCA members held workshops on integrating the latest technology into the daily video room workflow. This was highlighted by a Video iPod tutorial presented by the Colorado Rockies. The tutorial showed Video Coordinators effective ways to copy player highlight videos to their iPods and options for sharing Major League, Minor League and Scouting video with front office staff via their iPods.

Guest speakers included Dr. Charles Maher, Cleveland Indians Team Psychologist and Director of Psychological Services; Tim Belcher, Former Major League Pitcher and current Cleveland Indians Special Assistant to the General Manager; Dan Feinstein, Tampa Bay Devil Rays Director of Baseball Operations; and Joe Inzerillo, MLB Advanced Media Senior VP of Multimedia and Distribution.

Dr. Maher lectured on the Psychological Foundations for using video for performance development and enhancement in professional baseball. He covered the learning styles of professional baseball players and watching video with a purpose.

Tim Belcher expressed what players require, need and want with regard to video and how Video Coordinators can best deliver their services. As a former major leaguer who used video as a primary preparation tool, he went on to explain that “video analysis is a player’s greatest asset when attempting to find and fix flaws in his game… seeing is believing!”

Dan Feinstein, a former Video Coordinator with the Oakland Athletics, gave us a front-office perspective on video usage. He explained how the front-office uses video and specific ways this can be effectively delivered to them.

Joe Inzerillo, also a former Video Coordinator with both the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Bulls, gave us a report on the status of MLB Advanced Media. He helps decide how MLB video content will be shared between the league and each team. Mr. Inzerillo also discussed the latest technology in video coaching and how MLB Advanced Media will increase it’s coverage of Minor League Baseball and various international leagues.

PBVCA presented the Carl Hamilton Award of Excellence to the 2006 Co-Video Coordinators of the Year, Mike Hamilton and Brian Jones of the Colorado Rockies. In addition, members decided to continue meeting at the site of the Baseball Winter Meetings. The 2007 conference will be in Nashville.