A skills video is a college recruiting video that lets college coaches closely examine a student-athlete's technical form, specifically in a practice setting.
Skills videos are structured differently from highlight reels. A skills video shows you performing a specific skill, or multiple skills, repeatedly. This allows coaches to evaluate your mechanics in detail. The specific skills coaches want to see vary by sport and position. In addition to drills tailored to your position, skills videos can also include footage from weight room workouts, speed training, and conditioning work. This gives coaches a sense of your work ethic and development across all facets of your game.
How Do You Create a Skills Video?
To create a skills video, start by filming yourself working on the technical skills essential to your position and sport, performing each one multiple times in a row. A basketball player can record a series of dribble pull-up jumpers. A soccer goalkeeper can record a series of 1v1 saves. A lacrosse athlete can record a set of wall ball reps. If you want to level up your skills video, try to record each skill from multiple camera angles. This can give coaches a clearer view of your form and technique.
Recording multiple drills is encouraged, but you don't need to record yourself doing 4 or 5 different drills before you start sharing video with college coaches. If you're unsure what to record, ask your club or high school coach for guidance on what coaches in your sport typically want to see.
Once you have footage, upload your clips to a Playlist on your SportsRecruits profile. Playlists are a video experience on SportsRecruits that was built for recruiting. Playlists allow you to provide a flexible collection of clips that college coaches can browse directly from your profile.
Start with one skill, upload those clips, and keep adding footage as you progress. Learn how to create clips for a Playlist here.
When creating each clip, you will be required to tag at least one skill. For skills videos, make sure to apply the training skill tag so coaches evaluating your technical skills can get straight to the footage they're looking for. You can also add a caption to each clip to give coaches more context about what they're watching.
For example, identifying the drill name, the set, or the weight you are using will be beneficial to a coach’s viewing experience. A soccer athlete's skills video might include 3v1 Rondos, 5-10-5 shuttle runs, and a PR in the Goblet Squat. If you have each clip tagged and captioned properly, coaches can navigate straight to what they need to evaluate.
What is the Difference Between a Highlight Reel and a Skills Video?
The main difference in these two types of recruiting videos is what the footage shows. A highlight reel captures your best moments in live game situations, and a skills video captures your technical form in a practice setting. College coaches want to see you develop as an athlete, both in games and in practice. Having both a highlight reel and a skills video as their own Playlists gives them a complete picture.|
With a skills video, coaches can evaluate your mechanics and athletic development up close. With a highlight reel, coaches can see how you perform under pressure in competition. Both types of video should live in your Playlists, giving coaches everything they need to evaluate you in one place. Learn how to make a standout highlight reel here.
How Do You Keep Your Skills Video Current with Playlists?
Your Playlists are designed to grow with you as you move through your athletic career. Showing your offseason training progress while recording drills or a new personal best in the weight room will be fresh footage for college coaches to track your development over time.
Updating your Playlist regularly lets coaches watch your progression from early reps to refined technique, without starting from scratch each season. Weight room and training session footage is a great way to show coaches your development in strength, speed, and conditioning alongside your on-field skills.
What Should I Do After Creating a Skills Video?
Once your skills video is ready, reach out to college coaches to let them know. Use the SportsRecruits Messaging System to contact coaches directly and share your footage, along with anything else they need to evaluate you as a student-athlete. Create a free profile here to learn more about the SportsRecruits Messaging System and how to get your video out to college coaches.