Football Playbook Support

TurboStats Football Playbook Support

How to order	Creating New Plays	Editing Lines and Arrows
Opening Playbook Files	Organizing your Playbook File	Printing Plays
Style (Attribute) Selector	Rotating Plays (new in 2.0b)	Error Messages

The TurboStats Animated Playbook is a powerful tool for the 21^st century football coach. Designed by experienced coaches this state of the art product will revolutionize the way you design plays, analyze your opponents and win football games. The product is packed with advanced playbook features while still being very easy to learn and use. Using the TurboStats Animated Playbook you will be able to :

Create unlimited playbook files

Rotate Plays Up/Down or Left/Right (ver 2.0b)

Create offensive and defensive plays

Add over 1000 plays per playbook file

Create over 1000 steps per play

Create complex plays in minutes

Easily modify, delete and rename plays

Customize player numbers and abbreviations

Customize line, arrow and block styles

Run plays in full animation or one step at a time

Step forward, backwards or pause plays

Maintain a database of offensive formations

Maintain a database of defensive formations

Maintain a drill database

Setup plays with up to 22 players turned on

Turn on/off up to 10 cones

Publish playbooks with up to 9 plays per page

Share playbooks with other coaches using TurboStats

Getting Started

Before you get started using the playbook you must first install the program onto your hard drive

After the program is installed start TurboStats for Football using the Start> Program Files> TurboStats> TurboStats for Football menu

Open up any team file using the File > Open Team menu

Click on the Playbook Tab at the bottom left corner of the screen

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Working With Playbook Files

Opening an Existing Playbook

Each time you open TurboStats for Football your last playbook file will be automatically opened. To switch from one playbook file to another use the File menu. File > Open Playbook File

Note: You must open a TurboStats Team file to access the playbook features otherwise the menu choices will be disabled

Using the Database Selector

To quickly switch between your current playbook, Offensive Formation playbook, Defensive Formation playbook and Drills click the Database Selector pull down list.

Creating a New Playbook File

There are two ways to make playbook files:
1. File > New Playbook File will start you off with a blank playbook or

2. File > Save Playbook File As will start you off with a copy of the current playbook file.

Backing up and Sharing Playbook Files

To put a copy of your current playbook file on a floppy disk choose the File Save Playbook File As menu choice. Type in A:\Myplays or any other 8 character name. To move this file to another computer first open the playbook file from the floppy disk using File Open Playbook File and then choose File Save Playbook File As. You can also use you’re My Computer Icon or Windows Explorer to copy the playbook files which end with a .sit extension.

Creating New Plays

Plays are made up of a series of STEPS. In a step any or all players and the ball can move in a straight line from their positions in the previous step. When you first create a new play there is only one step. Step 1 is the starting formation step for both the offensive and defensive players.

Creating plays is both a fun and easy process. Just follow these simple steps.

Press New Play Button

Enter a play name when prompted

The new play will now appear in the play list

Rotate plays by clicking the [x] Rotate 90 button. Available on version 2.0b or higher.

The Formation Selector will pop up for you to choose your starting offensive and defensive formations

Select an Offensive Formation. Offensive formations can be copied from your current playbook file or your formation database file

Select a Defensive Formation. To use the defensive formation from your current playbook choose Use Above. Otherwise choose a defensive formation from your defensive formation database

Check [x] Rotate 90 deg if you want change the direction of the play

Press OK when finished

Set the number of players or cones you want visible for this play

Set the field display choice. Midfield or EndZone

Adding Steps

Now that you have created a play and set your player in their starting formations you are ready to add steps.

4. Press Add again to add Step 3. It is common when first starting to forget to press the add button when creating steps. The user presses Save and then just starts moving players for the next step. This will result in the loss of your work from the previous step.

5. Now it’s time to snap the ball. It’s a good idea to create a separate step just for snapping. It makes the plays look more realistic when they are animated.

7. Press Add again to add Step 4. Did you remember?

Notice that each time you add a new step, it starts with the players in the position of the previous step. It’s important to press Add while the last step is displayed. If you happen to scroll back a few steps and then press Add you can press the Delete button, move to the last step and press Add again to correct your error.

8. Now it is time to move everyone. If your goal is to create a nice printed playbook It’s a good idea to leave the defensive players alone and only move the offense. If you want the most realistic animated playback possible then you should move everyone. Also remember to move players approximately the same distance each step. If you move any player a far greater distance they will appear to be running much faster than the other players when the play is animated.

9. Press Save again when you are finished changing Step 4

Continue adding steps until your entire play is complete

Lines and Arrows

Lines and arrows will be automatically generated based on the x,y coordinates of each step. To preview the line and arrow display on screen press the Line button.

Creating a Reach Block

Probably the most difficult skill to master is creating reach blocks. Because the block is always perpendicular to the last line segment it is sometimes difficult to get the block angle exactly the way you want it.

Style Selector Tips:

Changing line styles will be displayed immediately if line mode is on.

After you change a line style press Save to end changes.

If you want to make the same change on more than one player continue to select players without pressing Save. The modified line attributes will be changed immediately as soon as the next player is selected.

Setting a line thickness disables the Dashed and Dotted line styles

The currently selected player will be displayed with an X on screen

Press the Close button to hide the Style Selector and remove the X in the selected player symbol

Organizing your Playbook File

As you add plays you will want to reorganize your playbook file. You might want to rename plays or even delete them. The Playbook Organizer is designed to do just that. Press the pencil and eraser icon to popup the Playbook Organizer.

Printing Plays

Now that you have created your animated playbook the next step is to get a hard copy. Using the Printing Selector you can print up to 9 plays on one page. You can also print one play step by step.

Click the printer icon, the following form appears:

Type: Choose full plays or steps for current play

Select the number of plays or steps on one page

Choose from various printout options

Switch printers or change from Portrait to Landscape mode

If your printer has enough memory choose High Quality Mode

Color mode will print lines in the colors you have set using the Style Selector

Error Messages

Printing Error: There may not be enough memory to print in High Quality Mode. Solution: This could be one of several issues. Try turning off the [x] High Quality Printing option. That option will remove the lines under the player symbols to make a sharper printout. Some printers don't have enough memory to do this. If this does not fix the problem there may be a problem with the play. Try printing a different play.

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