How to produce your Skills video

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How to produce your Skills video

Rick Macneal Rick resides in Tucson AZ. A strong advocate of video analysis as a coaching tool, Rick has extensively researched and continues to experiment with the best methodology for using video as a means to improve coach/athlete communication and accelerate the learning curve related to developing sound fundamental skill mechanics.

In December ’05 Rick launched a unique business providing the service of video analysis and corrective drill recommendations to coaches and athletes at all levels of development. Armed with professional quality video capture, analysis software and some very well respected skill specific instructors, Rick is able to apply his analysis and instructive techniques to virtually any sport or athletic skill mechanic.

His client list currently includes amateur softball, baseball, golf and sprint coaches and athletes in the southern Arizona region. (Click to close.)
With recent advancements in video transmission via the Internet, the availability of inexpensive basic video editing and CD/DVD burning software, coaches at all levels of the collegiate landscape are requesting (or at least open to receiving) video in some form from aspiring recruits.

by Rick MacNeal
Here's why he's put these tips together...

As a fan of Webball and therefore its community I’d like to offer a basic primer on the skills video presentation topic. Whether you have access to the equipment and the desire to produce your own skills video or would rather have one produced professionally, there are some basic axioms for this type of production I see broken everyday. Unfortunately, a cottage industry of web sites, national scouting sites and wedding video turned sports photographers have sprung up to relieve parents of any spare change they haven’t already spent on equipment, private lessons and travel to regional tournaments or showcase events.

Below you’ll find a listing of general things to incorporate (or avoid) in your video. If, after reading this article you are interested in more details or have comments, please contact me directly.

What coaches want (and don’t want):

* A “skills” video is just that, coaches want to view the athlete’s mechanics. Under most circumstances you will capture better quality video during a practice or planned video shooting session than you will under game conditions.
* Absolutely use a tri-pod. This may seem rudimentary but I’ve seen numerous cases of this simplest rule being broken. Don’t be a culprit! Getting a coach seasick does not make the best first impression.
* DO show a skill from different perspectives, but DON’T be overly repetitious. Collegiate coaches are at that level for a reason; don’t waste their precious time showing your athlete performing the same mechanic over and over.
* DO burn your production to DVD (versus CD) when possible. DVD is more universal and decreases the chance your product is incompatible with the coach’s viewing options.
* DON’T waste your time or money on “slick” video production; especially music! To paraphrase one college coach from a D3 school “if I get one more video with Eye of the Tiger blaring away, I’m going to slit my wrists”
* DON’T exceed 4min 30secs in total length. Five minutes is a “lifetime” in both video (and a coaches concentration time per athlete) if you can’t show off your athlete’s skills in less than five minutes you’ve done something wrong.

Creative Tips:

* Shooting angle: Try to shoot at right angles as much as possible. Directly face-on or back and at 90° of these. The more you deviate from these perspectives the harder it is for the coach to scrutinize the athlete’s mechanics accurately.
* Personality: Whether through text or visually, give the coach a sense of your athlete’s personality. Coaches like to know whether a player exudes passion or is a sea of calm under pressure. They like both types and successful team chemistry is never made up of one personality type.
* Accentuate positives: whether academic or athletic recognition, but don’t ever embellish or overly boast. IT WILLL COME BACK TO HAUNT YOU; particularly things like sprint times. Being less than honest will only harm your athlete’s chances to make a given program.
* Video calling card: View this production more as a movie “trailer” than a full-length feature. Trailers leave the viewer wanting to see more. That’s your goal! Your chances of getting a scholarship offer based solely on a skills video are virtually nil. I advise my clients to view the skills video as a nice electronic calling card. If it introduces you and perhaps gets you on the radar screen for an institution it has served its purpose.
* Control contact info: Unless you have no concerns about theft of sensitive personal information leave telephone and personal address information out of the body of the video. I work with a lot of fast-pitch softball players so I’ve gotten into the habit of only putting contact information on the label of the DVD. That way if they also post videos to web sites, they can control communications to their liking.
* Do your homework: If your athlete is not an elite D1 “blue chipper” do your homework on the institutions or programs you plan on sending your information to and express the reasons for your interest in them. Lot’s of excellent collegiate athletic programs are understaffed or hogtied by stringent academic standards. Therefore coaches concentrate on pursuing only kids they can get past the admissions department and are truly interested in attending their college if accepted.


There are additional nuances associated with this topic, but if you adhere to the general rules listed you’ll create a fully serviceable production, make some bleary eyed coach happy and provide the exposure your athlete needs without spending a lot of money needlessly.

Best of luck in pursuing the dream!