What comes to mind when you envision high school sports?  Maybe you think about bright lights shining on a cool autumn evening, fellow classmates finally performing on a big stage, or the chants and hallowed traditions of the student section (Noodle!).  These images have surrounded Minnetonka athletics for over half a century, but with technological advances continually making their way into sports, these pictures we have of high school athletics may soon be overshadowed by a newcomer: Video scoreboards.

                As shown in both soccer games and the football home opener against Bloomington-Jefferson, Minnetonka has invested in a new scoreboard with the ability to display video.

                With the old scoreboard not only becoming obsolete but also unreliable, the current board became a project about two years ago.  “We were worried whether the old one would keep working,” said football coach Dave Nelson.  “We set out a goal in the springtime to raise money privately for a scoreboard and we got it done.”

                In order to help with funding, all sports that share the field and will be using the board are chipping in $5,000 apiece.  “Five people stepped up and donated about $120,000,” added Nelson.  “Along with ten grand from the booster club, the money from each sport, and the private donations, we raised about $160,000.”

                Most sports will just use the basic scoring portion of the board.  Video will mostly be used during football games to show highlights from previous games and the introduction clip made for the team.  It also can be used to show player names and pictures during team introductions.  For soccer games, it can show shots on goal and penalty kick position.  At track meets, the board has the ability to display the names of runners in each lane and the times of those runners.  Putting it simply, “We’re kind of just learning what we can do with it,” Nelson stated.

                Expect the new board to change the identity of Minnetonka athletics.