How Microsoft Teams changed my football team during the pandemic

Canceled practices forced us to online classrooms, and now we plan to use them even when things are back to normal.



As the head coach of a football team, or American football as they call it here in the UK, I'm always looking for ways to improve our team and to become a better coach. The current health crisis forced me to use a tool that has now worked its way into our permanent workflow, Microsoft Teams. With practices and team activities shut down due to the global pandemic, we moved to virtual classrooms to continue coaching our team, the Nottingham Caesars Juniors. While shifting to Teams had a learning curve, I think using it is one of the best decisions I've made as a head coach.

The tools it provides have greatly enhanced our practices and provided a way to communicate with players and coaches that we never had before the pandemic. While nothing can replace getting reps on the field, the classroom time we get online allows us to install our playbooks and teach players now to...