Skills videos

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When making skills videos, what should be included on them?

Pitchers

Position players ect....

 

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Cathy Aradi's book Preparing to Play Softball at the Collegiate Level covers this and many other related topics quite well, but in general:

• A brief introduction (name, grad year, HS, Summer team, position(s))
• Fielding/Throwing sequences for your primary and secondary positions (grounders to you, to the right, to the left - popups left, right, straight back) - try to include shots of were the coach can see your glovework and footwork along with the results of the throw; infielders should show tags as well as double play sequences
• Hitting - shots from the open side (to show load, stride and finish) as well as from behind and in front; bunts left, right middle (make sure it looks like you're running at the finish);bunters/slappers should highlight those skills, but do need to show they can hit away
• Running - 2-3 times home to first (while hitting is a nice touch), and at least once home to home
• Pitchers - 2-3 of each pitch shot from the open side as well as from behind the plate
• Catchers - Throwdowns to 2nd, 3rd and 1st; blocking of balls in the dirt as well as catching the high and/or extreme inside/outside pitch - generally shot from the front and from the open side

Whole thing should be kept to about 5-7 minutes (generally 2-3 hours to shoot). If you are shooting both infield and outfield you may want to schedule the shoots on separate days to ensure that you are able to put forth maximum effort - it gets really tiring when you're the only one out there.

Cathy also has a good website at: http://www.fastpitchrecruiting.com/

 

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Thank You Bear!!!

 

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For those who have already your videos made, and are pleased with the finished product, price, etc.

Could you please reccomend some names in the Dayton, Cincinnati, and Columbus area?

Thank you!!

 

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Did it ourselves.................Pretty easy actually. Save some money and do it this way. working on website so Colleges just have to click on link. Recommended to do it this way from 2 college coaches that were at the QDSS.

Go by what Bear said as far as looks for the coaches.

 

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We had a college student majoring in media production (or something like that) do ours. He charged us $15 an hour to tape (with a very nice camera), sit with us to pick out which shots we wanted, edit and make 10 copies (we later made more copies). The whole thing cost us $100. He is not a softball person himself, but we used Cathy Aradi's book as a guide as well as other sources on the internet.

You can also look on www.youtube.com, there are plenty of softball skill videos on there to watch.

 

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We did it ourself for all players in our organization that wanted videos made.

Cincinnati Elite (Blue) now 23U coach Don Catalfu is in the Cincinnati area. I don't know if he is still making and editing videos, but you might check with him.

 

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also I have talked to a lot of coaches about this..... I have a dd in college this year. They said they do not want a tape that has been cut and pasted..... Do it un edited they want to see the real thing! and make it short and sweet and to the point. They hate the long drawn out videos they will actually just turn them off

 

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Do college coaches prefer a VHS tape or a DVD? I have heard they prefer VHS and I don't know why. It seems to me DVD is easier to mail out, easier to store and you can perform the same functions (forward, reverse, slow down, pause, etc.) as a VHS. I would also figure that college coaches have a computer that will play a DVD. VHS seems outdated, but I'm sure parents want to give the coaches what they want. So which is better?

 

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DVD has replaced VHS tapes much the same way that audio CDs have replaced audio cassettes. The most important thing to remember is that you need to make it EASY and convenient for the coach. If you give them a video in an obscure or obsolete format, they just may pass on it because it's too much of a hassle.

Whoever told you to use VHS probably did their video over 5 years ago. VHS ruled then, but is fading VERY fast. IMO, you can't go wrong with a DVD. It's very rare you'd find a coach without a DVD drive in their laptop, or a DVD player in their office. There's no rule against just calling a coaches office. Ask one of their assistants what format they'd prefer.

 

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Thanks Sammy. I don't know why I kept hearing "use VHS." I will go with DVD just for ease of mailing and storage. Thanks again.

 

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Your older coaches will want a VHS, middle aged coaches a DVD and the younger coaches will have you put it onto www.youtube.com. It has to do with teaching the old dog new tricks.