NMHC NIJMEGEN

Matthijs Brouwer, a promising coaching career linked to Nacsport 

Matthijs Brouwer tells us about his career as a hockey coach and how Nacsport has been linked to it. From his beginnings at Breda up to his current team NMHC Nijmegen at the Dutch top-tier, Hoofdklasse.

“After I finished my career as a hockey player, I started as head coach of the Bredamen’s senior team. They played in the second category of the Dutch hockey system. It was a new step in my career as a coach. That new responsibility required me to do video analysis, with all games recorded and available for all the coaches.

This meant more video to analyse both our team and opponents. So I started to use Nacsport Scout Plus. That year I also started to use Tag&go, which was a great addition to my analysis workflows. I could tag games live and then, at the end of games, just link the analysis to video file. I cannot imagine my work now without this app.

Step from Breda into NMHC Nijmegen

Last year I started as a coach for NHMC Nijmegen Women’s senior team, as the previous coach left the team in the middle of the season. When I started with them, they were in first place of the league (with real options to promote to Hoofdklasse, which is the highest category in Dutch hockey).

Video analysis then became more important than ever. From that moment on, I have been more actively involved in setting up a whole database of opponents.

In presentations, we can show the players the possibilities we have in decisive actions: how you can defend the best way with corner defence or how opponents score goals and how they concede. This information gives you a good indication as a coach of where you must focus. Some items I will give extra attention, like various ways of the build-up and press. 

We finally did a good job and got promoted to the top-tier category after winning the playoffs against MOP. It was a dream come true for my girls! Playing at the highest level of Dutch hockey was another step forward into my career and, as a consequence, there was even greater need of video analysis.

Now, I am using Nacsport Scout Plus Unlimited, which means I made an upgrade from my Scout Plus licence. The advantage of theScout Plus Unlimitedlicense for me is that it makes it possible to collate data from all the teamsin the league–not just five- into a single presentation.

In this competition, it is compulsory to exchange videos between teams with an XML file. It’s really useful for me, as I am able to import the XML files from the games each Monday into Nacsport and put all the key points from the opponents into one presentation by team. This database is well worth it!With a few clicks you have all your required information: penalty corners, goals and many more from the upcoming opponents.

“I definitely recommend Nacsport”

So, if you are looking for video analysis software which makes it possible to review opponents inauser-friendly interface, I definitely recommend Nacsport. For all different levels there are various versions available for the coaches to fulfil their needs. 

I think Nacsport is affordable, user friendly and allows you to make unlimited presentations from unlimited videos (with my current licence) and, above all, I have my Nacsport Tag&go app to tag live during games.

It is even true that at the highest level, all teams have a free SportsCode Elite license sponsored by the Dutch Hockey Federation, but I stay loyal to my Nacsport license!