Skills video???
- Thread starter tocullo
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The short answer is $0. If you have your own camera (even a phone with a good quality camera), basic editing software on your computer, and know what skills you want to capture, you can easily do this yourself and avoid the $150-$400 I've seen charged for this.
The longer answer is still $0, but...
My daughter is wrapping up her recruiting journey, and every coach she has talked to has asked for video...and every one of them has also said that they don't care at all about whether the video is fancy or not. Music, "cool" transitions, special effects, etc. are distractions to them. They just want to see the player's skills. iPhone video uploaded to YouTube is fine for most of them. Professionally produced skills videos tend to be just that...professionally produced with lots of bells and whistles.
NCSA has a good resource with tips for shooting your own video. Softball Skills Video | NCSA Athletic Recruiting. If you capture every shot suggested in the link, you will end up with way more video than you actually need, so you can edit it down to the suggested 3-4 minutes max. In addition to the tips in the link, I'd add a brief "Hi my name is..." introduction and overlay contact information at the beginning and/or end.
If you don't have access to a decent camera and basic editing software, then absolutely you can work with an organization to do this for you. I am not from Central Florida, so can't help you there, but in my area (midwest) some of the larger travel ball organizations offer a video service for a fee, so maybe some of your local travel ball orgs do the same? You can expect to pay on average $250-300 for a video.
The longer answer is still $0, but...
My daughter is wrapping up her recruiting journey, and every coach she has talked to has asked for video...and every one of them has also said that they don't care at all about whether the video is fancy or not. Music, "cool" transitions, special effects, etc. are distractions to them. They just want to see the player's skills. iPhone video uploaded to YouTube is fine for most of them. Professionally produced skills videos tend to be just that...professionally produced with lots of bells and whistles.
NCSA has a good resource with tips for shooting your own video. Softball Skills Video | NCSA Athletic Recruiting. If you capture every shot suggested in the link, you will end up with way more video than you actually need, so you can edit it down to the suggested 3-4 minutes max. In addition to the tips in the link, I'd add a brief "Hi my name is..." introduction and overlay contact information at the beginning and/or end.
If you don't have access to a decent camera and basic editing software, then absolutely you can work with an organization to do this for you. I am not from Central Florida, so can't help you there, but in my area (midwest) some of the larger travel ball organizations offer a video service for a fee, so maybe some of your local travel ball orgs do the same? You can expect to pay on average $250-300 for a video.
I was in the same boat trying to figure out how to do my DD's. I have found several pages online that give advice on camera set up and angles to catch the best shots. I also searched for videos others had posted. We are in the process of getting ours done now.
$0 and youtube. You can even do it off your phone and get the quality needed if you have a phone from the last 2-3 years.
There are lots of threads and examples on this site of how to do it and people here are happy to critique.
Most important things though:
- BEST THING SHE DOES FIRST (what she would bring day one to the program). So of she is fast you don't show bunting or hitting or fielding - you show her running the bases FIRST and the other stuff later.
- CONTACT DETAILS
- You have 30 seconds max to catch the coaches eye - and if you can do that they will watch the next 2:30 minutes (so in total 3 minutes max)
- No music. Cut hard, don't waste precious seconds.
The best recruiting video I ever saw was 30 seconds long. It had contact details, then a video of the player hitting the ball about 60' over the fence in a game against a 'name' team and part of the video title was "I do this at least once every weekend"
That video got that girl a LOT of attention and she is currently at a very nice D1 school up in the Northeast.
There are lots of threads and examples on this site of how to do it and people here are happy to critique.
Most important things though:
- BEST THING SHE DOES FIRST (what she would bring day one to the program). So of she is fast you don't show bunting or hitting or fielding - you show her running the bases FIRST and the other stuff later.
- CONTACT DETAILS
- You have 30 seconds max to catch the coaches eye - and if you can do that they will watch the next 2:30 minutes (so in total 3 minutes max)
- No music. Cut hard, don't waste precious seconds.
The best recruiting video I ever saw was 30 seconds long. It had contact details, then a video of the player hitting the ball about 60' over the fence in a game against a 'name' team and part of the video title was "I do this at least once every weekend"
That video got that girl a LOT of attention and she is currently at a very nice D1 school up in the Northeast.
With today cell phone cameras and free editing software you can put together a skills video yourself if you are somewhat computer savvy. As far as costs, we paid $250 to have my DD's done. We spent two hours at the field filming, then they editing the video and sent me a link to the file on Youtube. I though the original video was too long, so I edited it down myself. Is there a local message board in Central FL? I would suggest asking some local TB coaches if there is anyone they recommend.
Some things to keep in mind - college coaches are looking at the skills of the player, not the skills of the photographer or video editor. You do not need a professionally done video to catch a college coaches attention, but you have @ 45 seconds to grab their attention, so put your DD's best foot forward first. If you put her strongest skills at the end of the video most coaches will never make it that long...
Avoid the temptation to add background music to the video...trust me on this one.
Some things to keep in mind - college coaches are looking at the skills of the player, not the skills of the photographer or video editor. You do not need a professionally done video to catch a college coaches attention, but you have @ 45 seconds to grab their attention, so put your DD's best foot forward first. If you put her strongest skills at the end of the video most coaches will never make it that long...
Avoid the temptation to add background music to the video...trust me on this one.
Me_and_my_big_mouth
witty softball quote
We used both approaches. We needed something fast and dirty before a big showcase, so it was filmed by Mom on her Android.
The next one, we used a service. It has better images, and better editing. DD doesn't like it as much - says it makes her look like it's hiding something because it's edited. In our homemade version, we tried to leave it as uncut as possible.
Have received views and comments from both - and actually have kept both up in case coaches have linked to them.
For fun, we also put a video of her doing 15 pullups on her 15th birthday. We have actually heard college coaches comment about coming to see, "the pullup girl." That was 30 seconds and cost zero.
So go figure.
The next one, we used a service. It has better images, and better editing. DD doesn't like it as much - says it makes her look like it's hiding something because it's edited. In our homemade version, we tried to leave it as uncut as possible.
Have received views and comments from both - and actually have kept both up in case coaches have linked to them.
For fun, we also put a video of her doing 15 pullups on her 15th birthday. We have actually heard college coaches comment about coming to see, "the pullup girl." That was 30 seconds and cost zero.
So go figure.
Pull ups!!! That is amazing!!LMAO I though i was the only crazy one i guess not!!hahahaha My DD will love to hear this she is a workout maniac!!!
- Mar 9, 2015
- 321
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We ended up doing it ourselves few weeks ago. Got a lot of video with iPad and then used the GoPro software. Once you get started pretty easy and looks good.
Me_and_my_big_mouth
witty softball quote
We were kind of surprised at how people have responded to it. Her brother is in the Navy, so she started working out with him and seeing if she could keep up with the PFA requirements. Then it just took on a life of its own, and she started trying to find different places with playgrounds or bars to do pullups and take video. Even on my best day, I could do maybe one. And I was probably cheating, TBH. Tell your daughter to kick butt - it scares off the wrong men, and it attracts the right ones!
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