Bill Belichick recognized the Zoom fatigue: the glazed eyes and the distracted, disinterested looks.
The New England Patriots coach conducted minicamp and organized team activities virtually and quickly saw his players were losing interest in staring at their computer screens for lengthy meetings. They were accustomed to learning on the football field and in in-person meetings with their coaches. Because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the Patriots had to adapt. Even in a virtual environment, Belichick catered to what made these players succesful. He tapped into their competitive urges.
“We talked about that (fatigue over digital meetings) a lot after like two meetings. We could see that was the new way of the world. … A decent amount of the staff meetings was dedicated to that, especially early,” Belichick said during a videoconference on Friday. “We did some things to heighten the engagement — set up some competitive things, set a variety of things. And then the coaches exchanged ideas. … We might have a competition between the two rooms and let them see who’s better at whatever the activity was.”
Belichick said the Patriots favored smaller meetings of four or five, rather than bigger ones of 60 or more. “The engagement is a lot higher. The interaction is a lot better. The mute button doesn’t have to be off like it does with those 100-person meetings.” Belichick also consulted with college coaches, who had a head start on virtual meetings because of spring practices. New England did what they could to adjust to their players’ needs on the fly while, as best they could, teaching during a pandemic.
“The players certainly gave us a lot of good feedback,” Belichick said. “A lot of those guys are more tech savvy and had some good ideas. Some of the people on the coaching staff, including myself — I would be at the bottom of that tech list. And we used some of their ideas as well. Collectively, I think things went better than I thought they would.”
Belichick admitted that he is now “experienced” in teaching players over videoconference calls. He was optimistic about deploying it as a coaching tool beyond the 2020 offseason.
“I could see where there might be a place for it in the future,” he said.
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