Making Your College Recruiting Video

The Introduction - Have your daughter introduce herself...name, school, graduation year, and what her video will show.

First skill is passing/digging (unless she's a 6'3" hitter, then who cares if she can pass or NOT!) She must pass frees, pass float serves, pass spinner serves, dig the big hit (with her arms AND hands!). No more than 5 minutes

Show the Serve - She should show her serving to location, and she should show her floater. If she serves a spinner, I don't think a college coach is interested unless it's a MONSTER serve. If she has a nasty jump serve, definitely show the coach. Do not show the coach a jumper that you have no control over. No more than 2 minutes

Hitting - Show her hitting high outside, low middle (if she can), high back sets, shoots, back row sets, hitting the overpass. She needs to show off her off-speed shots (tips, slams, roll shots, etc) during this part. 3 minutes* At this time, you may have been in the gym 2 hours...just for 10 minutes of tape. If she feels fresh, continue, but if she doesn't, come back another day and finish.

Setting - If she's a setter, setting goes before the hitting. She must show her complete package...low outside, hit outside, show middle, back, back row, setting with arms, making the set on the run, jump setting, dumping, etc. If your daughter ISN'T a setter, still show the college coach as much of this as she can adequately do. Setters: 3 minutes. Non-setter: 1 minute

Blocking - Show good footwork, penetration, etc. If your daughter is 5'2" and does not have a great vertical, I wouldn't include blocking at all. About 1 minute

Game Play Footage - It is USELESS unless your daughter is clearly visible on the tape. So this club season, YOU, the parents, make sure that you get clear game tape, with her number clearly visible. No more than 5 minutes. Some parents really zoom in on their daughters so that college coaches can see the girl's spirit and teamness. This is a great idea....butno more than 1 minute.

Tips:

  1. When taping any skill show the flight of the ball as it comes to her and show where the ball lands.
  2. If your daughter cannot do a skill...jump serving, jump setting, etc...do not experiment with it on a college video.
  3. Don't: Use music, captions, fireworks, etc. - it is not needed. College coaches want good students, good athletes, and good attitudes. They are not going to be convinced by a slick marketing pitch. The Coastal Carolina coach says that she gets about 350 tapes a year. The LibertyUniv. coach says that within 5 minutes, she knows if the girl can help her or not. So all fireworks will be a waste of time.
  4. Do: Have the ORIGINAL kept in a safe place...as a coach, I keep ALL originals; then they will not get lost.
    Make as many copies as necessary. Send copies to as many schools as you wish. Some will say "Thanks" while some will say nothing.
  5. Contact the school your daughter wants to go to. If your daughter has her heart set on one particular school, contact them once a week until you get a definitive answer. Some schools will lead you on. Press for an answer.
  6. When to Start Sending Videos: Start sending videos whenever the girl is skilled enough to make it worth the college coaches' time. If she's interested in a DI or DII scholarship, this should be spring of her junior year AT THE LATEST. If she wants to play for a smaller school, then you can usually take your time, as those schools will take a quality athlete nearly ANYTIME, often even after the deadline for applications for the next fall have expired.