Make a college skills video tape

Question
My daughter is a junior and has played club and school volleyball sent the 4th grade. She is a setter and hitter.
club ball starts soon. Can you advise me how to go about making recuriting tapes? What are ccoaches looking to see.
How much tape do they want. Should I tape the whole game
from a distant. I just don't know where to begin.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you Bev A

Answer
Good morning Bev! Thanks for visiting www.allexperts.com!  

Videos aren抰 that hard to make.  Your daughter's high school or club coach can help you produce one.   

Here in Roanoke, as in most communities, athletes have several options about making a tape.  

Option I) There are men & women who live down the road who are video specialists who will make a wonderful video that抯 better quality than coaches can create!   These specialists have GREAT equipment and the video quality is excellent!  And the fee is usually reasonable.  I bet there are people just like this in your community!

OPTION II)  Coaches can make your videos. You抣l save money and the tape should be adequate.  But most coaches/schools don抰 have the high-tech video equipment and many can抰 make DVD's........just VHS tapes.  

But regardless of whom does your daughter's video, they'll need game footage of her.  In addition, I want her skills tape to have close up action of her playing.  You get this footage by merely zooming in on her as she plays; but, do it when she's not expecting it!  This close up video will show a college coach how much she hustles, how much she cheers/encourages, how hard she works, how conscientiously she covers, etc.  Ball touches in this part of the tape are not necessary.

Tapes should be intended to show a college coach how much game a teenager has.  That's it.  After a college coach views the tape, you抮e hoping that he/she says, "Whoa, she's pretty good!  I want to see more of her!"

So,let's suppose you're on your own to make this tape with no help from a coach.  Then her skills tape may only be her playing.  Make 100% sure that she is clearly visible to anyone who watches it.  Either her number is clear, or her distinctive hair bow is clear, etc.  If the college coach cannot determine who he is supposed to be watching, there will be no chance of impressing the coach.  So, I recommend her tape be a few of her best games, and some zoomed in action.  

Yet, some parents/coaches want their tapes to be $1000 Hollywood productions!  But tapes shouldn't be made to "trick" coaches.   After watching a video, the college coach should NOT say, "Is she really THAT good?  I can't tell."  You don't want the college coach to say, "Do her parents & coaches think I'm stupid?  Do they think all the music & slow-mo will keep me from seeing how much game she has?"  Any coach with any experience & intelligence can see if the tape is 揻luff".  

If your daughter is a "90" (on a scale from 0 to 100), then music, captions, etc. may make her look like a 91; or, maybe coaches will think she抯 actually an 85 trying to look like a 90!!   A few years ago, a professional producer of athletic videos heard about how I felt and he emailed me about how wrong I was.  As he tried to convince me how wonderful he could make a player appear, he even mailed me a tape that he抎 produced.  Yep, his video was really impressive.  Furthermore, the girl was indeed made to look like a great player.......but there was so much music, slow-motion, captions & repetition, I didn't know if I could trust my perception.   

We emailed back & forth for a week or so厖.it went something like this:   揟om all the girls that I make volleyball tapes for have gone on to play college volleyball.? I said, 揗e too!? He said, 揃ut did your players all get scholarships?? 揘o, of course not.  I just create videos for the volleyball players who live in the area.  I don抰 just pick the 6-footers and I didn抰 have people with $1000 to waste search out my website.?br>     
So my advice is:  Make the video, make it as good as you can, then let your daughter's skills do the work!  

For everyone reading this:  Your child抯 academics, her playing experience, her athleticism, her potential and her character will take her much further than any slick video will ever!  

Thank you again for the email.  Please visit me at www.coachhouser.com when you have a moment.  I think you'll like the smiling faces.