If you have made the decision that you want to continue your beach volleyball career collegiately, it is important that you showcase your skills in a highlight video. Highlight videos not only show you off as a player, but give coaches who may not have the opportunity to see you play in person valuable insight into how you play and where you stack up against your competition.
Keys to creating a killer highlight video:
- Start the video out with your stand out plays.
- Highlight videos should be no more than 3-4 minutes long. Wow coaches within the first 30 seconds to not only make an initial great impression, but make coaches want to see more!
- Distinguish yourself from other players in the film.
- Do not assume coaches will know who you are in each play, distinguish yourself from others in your video with something clean and simple that makes you stand out ie. an arrow, spotlight, circle, etc.
- Create highlights from competition play over practice film.
- Coaches prefer match play over practice film to get a more realistic idea of how you react as a player. Smashing a perfectly tossed ball at practice is great, but how do your skills match up when the set isn’t perfect?
- Film from the baseline to be sure coaches will get an idea of the full picture of how you move on the court. Be sure the camera is steady and not moving around, no one wants to watch a shakey 3 minute video!
- If you live somewhere where access to the beach isn’t always possible, it is okay to create a highlight video in the gym but be sure to create another video as soon as you are able to be back at the beach.
- Show off all your skills, including:
- Passing: Show off your serve receive skills moving to both your left and your right, as well as your defensive capabilities.
- Setting: In transition, out of system, in system, etc both with your hands and your platform.
- Attacking: Angle, line, short, deep corners, etc.
- Serving: Standing float, jump float, top spin, short, deep, etc.
- Out of System Plays: Beach volleyball is not perfect play after perfect play, show coaches how you respond to long rallies, how you better the ball after a “bad” first contact and how you can side-out from a less than perfect set.
- Blocking/Defending: Coaches want to see how well you can read a hitter and adjust accordingly to make that dig or that block. Are you coming off the net when appropriate? Can you run down the ball in defense? Coaches want to see it all!
- Be sure to include your contact information both in the beginning and final seconds of your video.
- Contact information to include: name, email, phone number, position (if applicable).
Finally, keep in mind that with practice and more competition your skills are going to improve which means your highlight video from the beginning of your season might not be the best representation of your skill set at the end of your season. You should constantly be collecting film and updating it when you can!