Jay Jalbert and Jesse Hubbard teaching lacrosse with Sportskool on NYC Cablevision
April 12, 2004

Sportskool programming to be rolled out to additional markets; Jay Jalbert and Jesse Hubbard teach lacrosse fundamentals.

by Gerald Goulder

I was seriously impressed with the cable on demand video products I have seen by Jay Jalbert and Jesse Hubbard on lacrosse fundamentals that are available to NYC Cablevision subscribers.

The series, produced by Sportskool, offers high hopes. I have viewed three of the tapes all of which include presentations by the duo of Jalbert and Hubbard: Lacrosse Fundamentals; Attack; and, Midfield. The porgrams involve teaching basic lacrosse fundamentals. The presentations are clear, well designed and well produced. The pace of the presentations are measured. The key fundamentals are repeated to facilitate learning. They are presented at full speed in game action, then broken down for teaching, then reviewed at the conclusion of the program. And, of course, the programming is narrated or "stars" top quality professionals like Jay Jalbery and Jesse Hubbard.

I was particularly impressed with the impact the tapes had on my 8 1/2 year old son who is currently playing Bantam lacrosse in our local youth lacrosse association. He grasped everything presented; well enough to be quoting Jalbert and Hubbard on the field at our subsequent Bantam team practice.

What better review could one want from video programming of this type than to have young players so absord the infomation?

Says Jalbert of sportskool, "Living on Long Island, with so many competitive lacrosse leagues and teams, made me dream of playing lacrosse professionally. Sp I'd practice like crazy, trying to get better. Now sportskool makes it possible for athletes to learn the skills they need staright from the pros, so they can go out and realize their dreams."

Sportskool has been endorsed by the National High School Coaches Association. It is the nation's first video on demand cable network dedicated to sports and fitness instruction. The sportskool library is said top include over 1,500 instructional segments for the beginner, intermediate and advanced participant, delivered by star athletes and highly respected sports authorities covering 90 different activities, including Mia Hamm, Bill Walton, Jeff Blake, as well as Hubbard and Jalbert.

Sportskool is a video-on-demand service (rather than a pay-per-view service) that is only available via digital cable television. It is currently available in the New York Metropolitan region as part of Cablevision's iO: Interactive Optimum® digital cable television platform. Cablevision provides cable service to nearly 3 million customers in the New York metropolitan area, including Long Island, parts of Westchester, Rockland and Orange counties, parts of New York City, southern Connecticut and northern and central New Jersey.

Cablevision offers sportskool as a FREE video-on-demand service, so that all of the company's digital cable television subscribers can access sportskool at no additional charge. As sportskool launches on other cable systems across the country, the cable operators will determine how they decide to offer it to their digital cable subscribers. Sportskool hopes the programming will be offered as a FREE video-on-demand service as is the case with Cablevision.