The Regents School of Austin program films every session so the coaching staff can study their athletes’ performance in excruciating detail and arrive at the field the next day prepared with corrections. They even invested in a state-of-the-art drone camera that can float above the field and capture the action with high-definition quality. The drone operation worked perfectly until their sophomore filmer, Cody Robert, had to miss practice for a prior commitment.
With Robert unavailable, Regents head coach Tim Phillips quickly tabbed an assistant coach to man the remote control for the drone.The coach got it flying and figured out how to record, but when Phillips got back to his office after the two-hour practice and poured over the video he realized something had gone wrong.
The drone was positioned 90 degrees above the line of scrimmage, which meant the players’ long shadows in the Texas sun obscured the camera’s vision. The entire practice had been filmed, but the coaches couldn’t see a thing from it.
Thankfully for Phillips, Robert returned the next day to take back command of the drone and didn’t miss another practice, ensuring there was only one day lost to obscurity.
“When he’s not there, we got problems because we have a whole day of wasted film,” Phillips said.
Robert is the only son in his family to not play football for the Knights, but he’s found a way to help the coaching staff just as much as any athlete donning a jersey.
And he serves a Regents community that has supported him for three years.
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