{"id":14693,"date":"2020-02-02T14:00:31","date_gmt":"2020-02-02T20:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/?p=14693"},"modified":"2020-03-24T12:06:25","modified_gmt":"2020-03-24T17:06:25","slug":"the-fundamentals-of-a-good-skills-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/the-fundamentals-of-a-good-skills-video\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fundamentals of a Good Skills Video"},"content":{"rendered":"

Everybody knows college coaches want to see a prospective student-athletes skills video before they start recruiting them. Many times, coaches won\u2019t even watch an athlete play until they\u2019ve seen some skills video. Mostly so they don\u2019t waste their time.<\/p>\n

College coaches across all divisions have very little time to recruit and even less time to plan their recruiting. That is why video is such a vital part of the recruiting process. Coaches only want to spend their time and budget recruiting legit candidates for their program.<\/p>\n

That being said, your skills video could be part of the problem. Long skills videos, with poor-quality and bad content, can be detrimental to your recruiting process. A good skills video will separate you from the rest of the pack. How do you create a good skills video? By including the right content for college coaches and following these simple tips.<\/p>\n

Introduce Yourself<\/h2>\n

College coaches need to know who you are, what position you play, and when you graduate in the first few seconds of your video. Remember, this is an evaluation video, so you want to show a little personality, but be professional. \u00a0When filming the introduction, make sure your camera or smartphone has the right lighting and is in a quiet area.<\/p>\n

Length Matters<\/h2>\n

There\u2019s no magic number for what length video works because every coach is different. However, our video department explains that a 3-5 minute skills, or highlight reel, is a good length for video and will get the most views. We know that you probably have hours of footage, but most college coaches will be able to tell if you have what it takes within the first 30-seconds. Don\u2019t waste your time and energy sending a 10-minute skills video because they won\u2019t watch all of it.<\/p>\n

Quality is Key\"Landscape<\/a><\/h2>\n

Obviously, if you can get high-quality video footage from a GoPro or expensive DSLR camera, do that. But we know this is not feasible for everyone, and that is a-okay! We do want to emphasize the importance of taking a good, clear shot. For example, if you\u2019re going to use your smartphone, make sure the athlete is the only thing visible in the shot, it’s on a sturdy surface and in landscape mode. By doing this, it ensures that your video quality will be clear and not shaky.<\/p>\n

Show your Skills<\/h2>\n

Remember how we said that college coaches know in the first 30-seconds if you have the skills that fit their program? Then start with your best stuff! If you\u2019re a softball player who has a cannon for an arm, show a clip of you throwing and have a Pocket Radar there to show your throwing velocity. The same can be said if you\u2019re a golfer and your best skill is how well you drive the ball. Don\u2019t save the best for last because the odds of the coach sticking through the whole video aren\u2019t very high.<\/p>\n

Angles are Everything<\/h2>\n

An excellent video has multiple angles of the same skill. For example, a baseball or softball pitcher will have multiple angles of their pitching form. They may have some shots from the catcher\u2019s perspective, a couple of close-ups, and from the side. By doing this, it gives college coaches the opportunity to see an athlete\u2019s mechanics and technique from different positions. It allows them the ability to evaluate further, which is always a good thing.<\/p>\n

Make the Skills Video Accessible<\/h2>\n

Coaches don\u2019t have a lot of time to click multiple buttons to see a skills video. Frankly, if it\u2019s not something that\u2019s easily viewable, it probably won\u2019t get watched. We suggest having a profile, like this one<\/a>, or location that is a direct link to the video and has all of your information. From there you can send that link to college coaches. Having a link that goes straight to the video with one click is key. Don\u2019t send an attachment of your video for college coaches to download. It takes up a ton of space in your inbox and theirs. Second, if their device doesn’t recognize or support the video’s format, they won’t be able to watch. Again, the point of a skills video is to make it quick and easy for coaches to see your skills.<\/p>\n

Be Visible<\/h2>\n

In your skills video, you want to be easily identifiable to the viewer. Typically it’s easy to identify the athlete if the video only contains skills footage since there’s only one person in action. Figuring out who’s the focal point of the video becomes a problem with game film or highlight reels. Most of the time, the footage will be far away, so it\u2019s hard to identify who\u2019s who in the video. To fix this problem, try to point out the athlete\u2019s jersey number, or if you\u2019re tech savvy add a ring or highlight bubble to the film to show viewers exactly who to watch.<\/p>\n

Video Everything and Update Frequently<\/h2>\n

You can never have too much film. So, don\u2019t waste a good play because you\u2019re hoping you\u2019ll do something amazing next. Go ahead and add the best moments you currently have an update your video whenever you do something better or get a new skill. Updating your skills video often is crucial. It helps to put your best skills clearly on display, and it\u2019s good for you and college coaches to see your improvement.<\/p>\n

Finally, make sure you thank college coaches for watching your video. They took the time out of their day to watch your skills video, and it\u2019s common courtesy to acknowledge that. It probably won\u2019t be a deal breaker, but it\u2019s always good to do the right thing.<\/p>\n

For more video details click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Everybody knows college coaches want to see a prospective student-athletes skills video before they start recruiting them. Many times, coaches won\u2019t even watch an athlete play until they\u2019ve seen some skills video. Mostly so they don\u2019t waste their time. College coaches across all divisions have very little time to recruit and even less time to … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":14782,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1299],"tags":[301,10,11,1233,29,1232,31,1238,56,57,1234,76,222,79,94,95,1235,1237,1236],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14693"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14693"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14728,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14693\/revisions\/14728"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}