Cary-Grove is raising its game — literally.
The Trojans have decided to use drones instead of traditional video taping methods this season, hoping to get a broader view of what's happening on the field. So far, Cary-Grove has used the drones only for filming summer practices.
The drones, which are controlled by assistant coach Ryan Passaglia's son Derek and head coach Brad Seaburg's son Brady, both 11 years old, are not the inexpensive Walmart variety, either. They hover around $1,000 apiece.
Ryan Passaglia
The idea is to get away from stationary filming and view the game in motion. Typically, teams find a spot in the end zone or on top of press boxes to film, only seeing a small portion of the action up close. With the drones, however, the Trojans are hoping to view the game from end zone to end zone.
The drones fly at approximately 100 feet above the field, are controlled by tablet and can be set to stay in one place, if desired. Besides the price, the only real drawback is that the battery life of each drone ranges from 20 to 25 minutes.
And while Passaglia says he has enough batteries to last for a game, there is the hassle of having to lower the drone, replace the battery and get it back up in the air before losing valuable game time.
It’s still a work in progress he said.
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