BRIGHTON, Colo. — FlyRoute, a drone company that specializes in athletics, has entered into a new vendor partnership with Denver Public Schools (DPS) and Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) to capture high school sports game footage for coaches.
“As more education has occurred, we've really taught them about the safety of drone usage and the benefits for the athletes and the coaches,” said Collin Caffrey, founder and president of FlyRoute. “Now, we're at all major school districts, so we're really excited to move forward with Denver and Boulder.”
Individual schools and sports programs, typically football teams, can hire FlyRoute to bring their FAA-certified drone pilots to games. FlyRoute also offers training courses for pilots if the schools would rather do everything themselves.
“When coaches were seeing the film online, it just spread like wildfire,” said Caffrey. “They had never seen anything like it. They saw the film and instantly said, 'This is going to make my job 1,000 times easier.'”
Fairview High School head football coach Tom McCartney, who spoke before their game at Brighton High School, believes the drones are a valuable coaching tool.
“You can see everything. You can see the play develop. You can see everybody on the field. You can see the coverage,” said McCartney. “You’re able to see it longer. Sometimes other angles, you're not going to be able to see things. So, just from vision, drones give you a tremendous angle to see and teach. So that's why I like them.”
FlyRoute uses its drones to record the games and provides the footage to teams after the games are over. Teams also have the option to use a sideline replay system during live games so they can watch footage almost immediately after a play is over.
The video can be a valuable tool for players who hope to compete at the collegiate level. It can be difficult to stand out from the crowd on an internet filled with game highlights, and McCartney believes the drone footage will do just that.
“When our district gave approval, we were really excited,” said McCartney. “One, it's teaching. Two, the players are putting their highlights and stuff together. So, it's a great tool for everybody.”
FlyRoute also offers internships to high school students who want to pursue drone photography as a hobby or eventually break into the drone industry.
“Those types of things are really cool to see,” said Caffrey. “It all started flying drones on Friday night, and now they're out there in the industry working full-time with drones.”
Denver7 is committed to making a difference in our community by standing up for what's right, listening, lending a helping hand and following through on promises. See that work in action, in the videos above.
