1. Getting set up (2 minutes)
- Open hurricanes-scoutbook.netlify.app in your phone or tablet's browser. No account, no password — the link is the key, so don't post it publicly.
- iPhone/iPad: tap the Share button in Safari → Add to Home Screen. Now it's an app icon.
- That's it. Everything the staff has tagged is already there, and everything you do shows up for everyone else within seconds.
2. The sync chip — how your work is saved
Top-right corner of the app, there's always a little pill telling you where your work stands:
| Chip | What it means |
|---|---|
| Synced ✓ | Everything is saved to the team cloud. All good. |
| Syncing… | Saving right now — give it a second. |
| Offline — will sync | No internet (at the field, etc.). Keep working — it saves to your device and uploads automatically when you're back on WiFi. |
3. Watching film
Go to the Tag Plays tab. The film box sits at the top of the screen and stays there while you scroll. There are two ways to watch:
The easy way — streaming (needs internet, nothing to download)
Tap Watch film in the Film box. The whole game streams play by play from our Google Drive, picking up where you left off. Use ◀ Prev play and Next play ▶ to move through the film — the line under the video tells you which play you're on and whether it's been tagged yet.
You can tag while streaming: watch the play, tap your buttons, hit Save — the tag links to that exact clip and the film moves to the next play automatically. You can tag a whole game from your couch with nothing on your device.
The orange ▶ next to any play in the Play Log jumps the film straight to that play.
The fast way — loading clips on your device (works offline, best for tagging)
- Get the game's clips from our Google Drive: in the app, tap Open film link in the Film box, and download the folder to your device. On iPad, save it into Files → On My iPad.
- Back in the app: Load film file → Choose Files → tap ⋯ (top corner) → Select → Select All → Open. All the clips load at once.
- Now you get playback speeds (0.5x for reading blocks, 2x for skimming), and saving a tag auto-advances to the next play.
4. Tagging plays
This is the heart of it. For each play, tap what you saw. Every button is optional — tag what you can tell, skip what you can't.
| Field | What to tap |
|---|---|
| Down / Distance | 1st–4th, and Short (1–3), Mid (4–6) or Long (7+) to go. |
| Formation | How they line up. See a look we don't have a button for? Tap + New, name it, done — it's a button forever after. |
| Play / Direction | What they ran and which way: Dive, Off-Tackle, Sweep/Toss, Counter, Reverse, QB Keep, Pass, Trick — Left / Middle / Right. |
| Motion | Tap if anyone went in motion before the snap. Huge tell at this level. |
| Result | Loss, 0–3, 4–9, 10+, TD, Fumble, INT, Incomplete, Penalty. |
| Ball carrier # | Jersey number of who got the ball. This builds the "who to key on" report. |
| Note | Anything worth remembering: "pulls both guards," "QB stares down his receiver." |
Then hit the big orange Save play & next. Formation stays selected (teams repeat looks) — everything else resets for the next snap.
Their defense too
Flip the toggle to Their Defense to tag fronts (5-3, 6-2…), blitzes, whether the edges crash or contain, and the jersey number of the kid blowing up our plays.
Made a mistake?
Every play in the Play Log has Edit (fix any tag, keeps its clip) and ✕ (delete).
5. Cutups
With clips loaded on your device, open the Cutups card and filter: every Sweep Right, everything out of Wing-T, every play by #22. Then Play all runs them back-to-back like a highlight reel — great for finding a tendency, even better for showing the kids at practice.
6. Coach notes
Bottom of the Tag Plays tab. Put in your name once, type a note, hit Add note. Everyone on staff sees it, with your name on it. If you're watching film when you add it, the note tags that play — anyone can tap ▶ on your note to see exactly what you're talking about.
7. Reports & the scout sheet
The Report tab builds itself from everyone's tags: run/pass split, direction tendencies, favorite calls by down and formation, who gets the ball, blitz rate. The more plays tagged, the smarter it gets (trust it from about 25 plays on).
Game plan box: type the practice-week bullets, one per line. Scout sheet makes the one-page printout — keys to the game, the numbers, the plan — with Print and Download buttons for sharing.
8. Adding games & self-scout
On the Games tab: opponent name, date, Add game. Choose My team (self-scout) to tag our own film — that report shows what opponents see when they scout us.
When new game film comes in: upload the clips folder to the team Google Drive, then send Coach Kevin the folder link so the streaming buttons get hooked up.
9. House rules
- One tagger per game at a time. Two coaches tagging different games at once is fine; two coaches tagging the same game at the same moment can step on each other.
- Notes are always safe — add coach notes any time, from anywhere.
- Don't delete games or plays you didn't create without asking.
- Use this link only — hurricanes-scoutbook.netlify.app. If you find an old claude.ai version with an orange "moved" banner, that one's retired.
- After big sessions, whoever tagged grabs a backup: Games tab → Download backup.
10. When something looks wrong
| Symptom | Fix |
|---|---|
| ▶ buttons do nothing / no video | You need internet for streaming. Or load the clips from your device (Section 3). |
| Video plays in a weird spot or won't load | Refresh the page. If streaming still fails, use Open film link to check the Drive folder is reachable. |
| Chip stuck on "Syncing…" | Check your internet. Your work is safe on the device; it uploads when connection returns. |
| Don't see the latest plays | Pull to refresh / reload the page. Sync usually lands in seconds. |
| Something's really broken | Don't delete anything — tell Coach Kevin what you see on the screen. |