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About Tom Houser
Expertise
I can answer any type of volleyball question: school, college, club, coaching, playing, etc. (I am not, however, a athletic trainer! haha)
Experience
23 years coaching varsity, JV, club.
You can see all about me at www.coachhouser.com There are also free downloads for coaches & parents, and hundreds of smiling faces for you volleyball players!
Publications
www.active.com
www.yesIcansports.com
Education/Credentials
BS degree from Va Tech in Math Education. MS degree from Va Tech in Secondary Administration. 28 years teaching high school math!
The Picture!
The picture that you see is my team after winning the 52-team Capitol Hill Classic in February 2008 in Washington DC. We were the only undefeated team in the 15's division. However, they presented our awards to the team that won the SILVER division! haha So the tournament directors had to reorder our medals and our player's MVP trophy, then mail them all to us later!
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You are here: Experts > Recreation/Outdoors > Volleyball > Volleyball > Volleyball
Expert: Tom Houser
Date: 8/11/2008
Subject: Volleyball
Question
My daugher's dream is to play at a division one volleyball college. She will be a junior this year. She current plays at a small town school, Northeatern High School, Fountian City, Indiana. She has played Munciana Club Ball for the last two years. Position DS. Her team came in third this year at the AAU Nationals in Orlando, FL. I know as parents we need to send as many tapes out as we can. What should be included in the tape?
Answer
Good afternoon!
Thank you so much for visiting www.experts.com
Videos aren’t that hard to make. Your daughter's high school or club coach may be able to help you produce one. Here in Roanoke, as in most communities, athletes have several options about making a tape.
Option I) There are men & women in the area who are video specialists and will make a wonderful video that’s better quality than coaches can create! These specialists have GREAT equipment and the video quality is excellent! And the fee is usually reasonable. I bet there are people just like this in your community!
OPTION II) Coaches can make your videos. You’ll save money and the tape should be adequate. But most coaches don’t have the high-tech video equipment to edit the raw footage and create a DVD. I don’t. I can create a VHS, but the quality is poor and VHS’s are going the way of cassette tapes.
But regardless of who does your daughter's video, it should be intended to show a college coach how much game she has. That's it. You just want the coach to watch it and tell you what they think. Of course, you hope that he/she says, "Whoa, she's pretty good! I want to see her play more!", but it’s OK if the coach says, “Another video for the trash pile.”
A tape almost always starts off with the girl facing the camera, telling about herself. For example, on the one I saw last week, the girl said, “Hey, I’m Megan Jones, 5’7”, OH. I go to Central High in Roanoke, Va. c/o ’09. In this video, you’ll see me hit from everywhere on the court, dig and serve receive, serve jumpers and floaters, set, and block.” Then for about 5 minutes, the college coach saw just that.
When you make a tape, edit out the water breaks and warm ups. Thus, the video will be 30 seconds of this skill, 20 of that, 45 of them, 30 of something else, etc. DO NOT cut out the mistakes that she makes. What I mean is, DO NOT send the college coach 2 digs, break in the video, then 3 more digs, break in the video, then 2 more, then break, then 3 more, etc. It’s obvious that the creator of the video has cut out the mistakes. No, don’t do it.
Before we go on, you may say, “Why not cut out the mistakes?” College coaches don’t expect a finished product. A coach told me a long time ago, “Give me an athlete with potential, good grades, good attitude and heart. I’ll do the rest.”
After the skills section, add in some close up action of her playing. You can get this action by merely zooming in on her as she plays. Do it when your daughter’s not expecting it! This close up footage will show a college coach how much she hustles, how much she cheers/encourages, how hard she works, how conscientiously she covers.........ball touches in this part of the tape are acceptable but unnecessary.
Finally, add in the game footage. Maybe about 10 minutes of her playing. Her jersey number MUST be clearly visible, or this part is useless. Sure, find the best game she played in! However, once again, don’t edit.
Some parents feel like they must have $500 Hollywood productions! Parents: tapes shouldn't be made to "trick" coaches. After watching a video, we do not want the college coach to be sitting there saying, "Is she really THAT good? With all the editing and distractions, I can’t tell.” Any coach with any experience and intelligence can see if the tape is “fluff".
Let’s use a scale of 0 to 100, and let’s say your daughter is a 90. Then music, captions, etc. may make her look like a 91.......or maybe coaches will think she’s actually an 85 trying to look like a 90!! A few years ago, a professional producer of athletic videos read an article of mine. He emailed me about how wrong I was. To convince me how wonderful he could make a player appear, he even mailed me a tape that he’d produced. Yep, his video was really impressive. Furthermore, the girl was indeed made to look like a great player.......but there was so much music, slow-motion, captions & repetition, I didn't know if I could trust my own evaluation.
We emailed back & forth for a week or so…….it went something like this: “Tom all the girls that I make volleyball tapes for have gone on to play college volleyball.” I said, “Me too!” He said, “But did your players all get scholarships?” “No, of course not. I just create videos for the volleyball players who live in the area. I don’t just pick the 6-footers who find my website and have $1000 to blow.”
So my advice is: Make the video, make it as good as you can, then let your daughter's skills do the work! Your daughter’s academics, her experience, her athleticism and her character will take her much further than any slick video will ever!
When you have a moment, please visit me at www.coachhouser.com. We're up here in Delaware directing our final camp of the summer. But I hope to direct even more next summer. You'll see my 2009 camp calendar on my website. Let me know if my staff can do anything for you!
Have a great week!
Coach Houser
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