Game Film: A Recruit's Best Friend/Worst Enemy

I recently worked with a junior college transfer that was interested in playing at the Division I level. Their grades were good but didn't separate the athlete from the pack. However, they have a good skill-set and I felt if they could find the right fit, perhaps they'd have an opportunity to land at a middle/lower tier Division I school.

They reached out to various schools, and we found one that on paper was a good fit: They had one athlete at the same position and they'd be graduating that season. Her grades were in range with the typical applicant. They emailed the coach and got a prompt response. The coach asked the athlete for film, and the athlete said they'd send it by the end of the week.

One week later, we had this conversation via text (A little language, but leaving it as it's important for discussion):

Athlete: Well they just got back to me after seeing sh*tty film. Not a scholarship athlete, she's looking to fill the position but we can discuss walk on options.

Me: I have a question for you and I'm asking for an honest answer :) You told me playing Division I was a dream of yours. You had the opportunity to present your case to a coach who was interested. So why did you use what you yourself describe as "sh*tty film" to make your first impression?

Athlete: Because it's all I had

It's a difficult lesson for the athlete, but a valuable one: Game Film is something just about every coach wants to see in 2014. For an athlete, it can be a way to show their potential in a positive manner, or a way to eliminate your chances to play for a school. Luckily, this athlete will a) have the opportunity to walk-on b) can fine-tune their footage to make a better impression for other schools.

When I was coaching college, I saw just about everything: Slow motion montages, players hitting on nets a foot too low, excessive special effects, videos where the parent zoomed in our their kid and followed them around on the court, a player's first highlight being them sailing a ball long or hitting it into the net - Even if they weren't what we were looking for at the Division I level, they still could have shown themselves in a much better light.

So what are some ways to create a good video? Here are a few things I always stress to my athletes:

1) If you could only show a coach 30 seconds of highlight footage, which clips would you use? ALWAYS start with that portion.

Even the coaches that would like to watch every minute of every film don't have the opportunity to do so. There aren't enough hours in a day to go over every piece of film sent our way. That being said, you don't get a second chance at a first impression, and if you don't catch the coach's eye in the first thirty seconds of film, odds are they're going to move on to the next video. Show the coach what you're capable of as soon as you can to grab their attention!

2) Use camera angles that make it easy for the coach to see the whole court.

While running juniors tournaments last season, I would see parents recording their children and grimace at some of the angles they were using. Sometimes they couldn't see the other side of the court at all, which makes it impossible for the coach to know if the ball's landing in or out. Parents hold the camera and move it as the play continues in a manner that makes it hard to follow and is borderline dizzying. Others would be too zoomed in and I couldn't get a gauge on if players were transitioning from spot to spot correctly.

Below are a few examples of camera angles: To me, the ideal spot is for a non-moving camera to be behind an endline on the same side as the athlete. If possible, elevate it to make it a bit easier to see the other side of the court as well. The more we can see the entire court so we can see how the athlete moves in relation to everything going on around them, the easier it is for us to assess how they're reading the game.

In the first photo, we can't see where the ball lands, or how players on the primary side are moving in relation to ball movement by their opponents. The second and third photos are better, but we have corners of the court that we still can't see due to the camera being too close/zoomed in too much. The fourth and fifth photos are ideal - while the fourth one is missing a small portion of one of the corners, it's minimal and we should be able to see the ref's call on anything that lands near it. The fifth one gives us the opportunity to see the entire court and how all 12 players are moving at all times. While parents may not be able to get a camera up that high, the close we can to this angle the better!

3) The easier it is for a coach to navigate, the better!

Last season I had an athlete ask me to review their game film. They sent me a YouTube link and I was blown away - it was incredibly well-organized. The beginning was a 5-second picture that had the following information:

Age
Year of Graduation
Height
Reach
Block Jump Touch
Approach Jump Touch
GPA

Followed by a video that broke down skill by skill - Hitting, blocking, serve receive/passing, and serving. Each skill set had a button on top that allowed the coach to easily navigate the video to go exactly where they wanted to go. It was an 8-minute video, but the coach had total control on seeing exactly what they wanted to see.

Each coach you send your video to can have different things that they're looking for. Make sure you make it easy for them to find what's important to them, otherwise you may miss your opportunity to catch their attention!

4) Understand that coaches don't just see your good habits and analyze your video accordingly!

A male 6'5 setter with a 10'9 jump touch recently asked me to review his recruiting video. In his mind, it showed his strong points (soft touch to the ball, good location, wrist strength to be moving one way and flip the ball the other). All these things were on display. It also showed him jogging to balls he should have sprinted for, not squaring his shoulders up on every set, and telegraphing a couple sets. Coaches use your film to see your strengths AND your weaknesses.

Some questions you should consider before sending off your video (ESPECIALLY if you send a full match):

* Do you move as fast as you can while staying low/prepared to move?
* Are you standing around watching when the ball isn't coming to you, or are you loaded and ready at all times?
* Does your video show positive interaction with teammates, even when the other team may score a point? (To be blunt - do you sulk when things aren't going your way?)

Game film can make our break you when trying to catch a coach's attention - make sure you use it wisely!