The skills tape can be a very important part of getting your face and abilities in front of college coaches. For schools that do not have a large recruiting budget, the skills tape may be how they determine which student-athletes to recruit. You can spend lots of money on a professional tape, or do one yourself, the coach does not care either way. What the coaches do want to see is how you play volleyball. This tape should be sent along with your player profile with updated information pertaining to your sophomore year awards and junior year preview. It is a good idea to make a skills tape at the end of your sophomore club season or after your junior year season of high school play. Ultimately, you want to make the tape while you are performing your best.

• Most schools can view DVD skills tapes. If you are concerned that they only have VHS, ask the school.
• If possible, create different scenes on the DVD for each different skill segment.  This makes it easier for coaches to move from hitting, to blocking, to passing while viewing your skills tape.
• Make multiple copies of your skills tape, most of the time what you send will not come back.
• If you put music on your skills tape remember to make it appropriate.
• Watch the entire tape, and watch each of your copies. You do not want to send a DVD that did not copy correctly or not at all.
• Highlight your BEST assets!

• Film yourself setting a variety of sets to hitters (3-5 of each set)
• Set balls passed all over the court. Most coaches know you can set the perfect pass, but they want to see how you do while on the run for an errant pass.
• Show how big you can be at the net, i.e. dumping, attacking, and blocking
• Your game play footage is important because it is the best way to see how you run the court, i.e. communicating with hitters, leading your team, and making good decisions as the rally develops.

• Find a setter that can help you look good
• Hit 3-5 of each set that you feel you hit the best
• Coaches are looking for arm swing, speed, vertical, and footwork

• The elements of blocking you want to feature is form, footwork, and net penetration. The best angle to film this is from behind the blocker and an angle perpendicular to the net that allows the viewer to see net penetration.
• You want to film 3-5 blocking runs to the right and the left.

• Serve receive passing should be from a full court live server. Film from the front and the back of the passer. No more than 5 balls from each camera angle should be recorded.
• Digging off of a live hitter is preferred. You can add blockers as well. Film from behind the digger. Pick a few places to dig from. You want to include movement and reading the hitter. Record a total of 10 balls maximum.

• All players should demonstrate passing. (5 filmed from in front of the passer, and 5 filmed from behind the passer is enough). Keep in mind that if you are a Middle Blocker that is a terrible passer, you may want to omit this skill. Remember we are highlighting your BEST assets!
• Serving should be filmed from the baseline from which you are serving. 5 serves is enough.

• Film matches from start to finish with the exception of time outs, between games, and any other stop in play.
• Some schools will ask for 1 uncut recorded match.
• Pick a match to send that is competitive and highlights your assets.
• Do not edit out mistakes! All coaches know that you can, do and will make mistakes. They want to see your reaction and how you play through it. With that said, if the errors far outnumber the positive plays, you may want to find different match to send.
• Make sure the coach knows where you are on the court at all times during the match. You can do this a few different ways. (1) Send a sheet of paper that denotes where you start in the rotation and what number you are wearing. (2) Use some of the production features on your computer to highlight, use arrows, or any other marker to indicate your location on the court.
• Use a tri-pod when filming match play.
• Do not include the surround sound from the camera operator (AKA loving parent) or the nearby parents. Your reactions and thoughts about the match should not be on the film.
• Narration is not necessary.
• The best angle to film is high up on the baseline (or near it). Realize that this may be hard to do at club tournaments. (I have recently seen parents use remote controlled cameras with massive extender poles to accomplish this task)