Get the Most Out of Your Hockey Videos

When using hockey videos to promote your abilities, there are several things to consider. The first decision you need to make is whether you are a 'do it yourself' type or if you want to hire a professional video service to help you with the process.

The whole idea of sending video is to make the job of the hockey coach easier to evaluate your son or daughter.

Regardless of whom does the grunt work of filming and editing your hockey videos, here are the important aspects that must be considered:

Videography

• Find a spot in the rink that is as high and close to center ice as possible
• Zoom out to capture as much of the play as possible. This allows the coach to see the play and evaluate your son or daughter's ability to read, react, make decisions, and make plays.
  

Equipment (Hardware)

• You will need a smartphone, tablet or a flip cam

Equipment (Software)

• Video editing software is necessary if you plan to edit your video.
• Editing your video can be very helpful to a coach who is evaluating your son or daughter. Most coaching staff's are very busy throughout the season. If you have the ability to edit the video so that you can send a coach only your shifts on the ice it is a huge time saver. Rather than investing 2 hours to watch a game tape, now the coach can watch the game in 15-20 minutes.
• You can also send the coach video of specific parts of your game, such as face offs, body checks, 1 on 1's, etc.
• Some video editing software will allow you to highlight your son or daughter on the screen so they are easy to identify.
• Many times you will send unsolicited video to a coach to help promote your young player. A busy coach is much more likely to watch the video if it is short and it is easy to identify and evaluate your son or daughter. To increase the odds of your video being viewed, send a link to your online video.

Infomation to send with the video

• Ways to identify your son or daughter such as their jersey number, jersey color, position and shot.
  
• Contact information with a schedule of upcoming games.
  

A word about highlight videos

• Be careful when sending highlight videos. As much as they are fun to watch, they do not give a true representation of a player's abilities.
  
• A highlight video alone will not give a coach the opportunity to evaluate your son or daughter effectively.
• However, it can be a good way to supplement some full game video if you have the time and resources to edit the video.

There is no doubt that a good video can help a coach evaluate your son or daughter without having to spend the time and money to see them in person. The benefits to sending video can be very helpful to an aspiring young hockey player.

Return from Effective Use of Hockey Videos to Recruiting
Return from Effective Use of Hockey Videos to Your College Hockey