Our Best Tips for a Memorable End-of-Season Highlight

By: Tiegen Kirkwold

From the Hudl Blog

We know what it takes to craft the per­fect high­light reel for your banquet.

The state tour­na­ment is over. Jerseys are turned in. The next sports sea­son is gear­ing up, but there’s still time to reflect on the one that just fin­ished. Most teams will host an end-of-sea­son ban­quet to gath­er with team­mates, fam­i­lies and coach­es to cel­e­brate accomplishments. 

It’s on you to fig­ure out food, venue, dec­o­ra­tions and team awards. But we’re here to help with the end-of-sea­son high­light reel.

What to Include

Find the best moments.

Start in matches that had a big impact on the suc­cess of your sea­son. That five-set thriller where your team squeaked by with a 16 – 14 win in the last set? We bet there’s a 10-foot kill or two you could find. 

Show some variety.

The aces are fun to watch but every­body needs some love. After all, there’s no ​“I” in team. We want to see a great dig, or the lock­down defense from your post player.

Include every­one.

Your ban­quet reel is also a chance to thank your stu­dent-ath­letes for par­tic­i­pat­ing, espe­cial­ly seniors who may have just played their last match of orga­nized volleyball. 

Don’t show cheap shots.

It might seem obvious, but don’t high­light a kill that left the oth­er girl with a bro­ken nose. Doing that makes your ath­letes think it’s okay to put those moments in their reels — and that’s not what recruiters want to see.

Add a sick track.

Every great high­light needs a great beat. We have all kinds of hits in our music library to give your high­light some much-need­ed swag. 

Use spot shadows.

Make it easy for the audi­ence to know exact­ly what they should be look­ing at. Put a spot shad­ow on the key player a few sec­onds into the buildup play so all eyes are on them.

Break it up.

Use title slides to guide the video and intro­duce what’s com­ing next. Focusing on offense for the next minute or two? Put a title slide that says ​“Top Offensive Plays” with the names of ath­letes featured.

The How-To

Now that you know the recipe for a killer high­light reel, let’s talk about how to make one. The process is easy as 1, 2, 3.

Step one: Tag the clips in your library. Cre­ate the clip, trim or extend it, and send it to your team’s highlights. 

Step two: Head over to your team high­lights page by click­ing the Highlights tab.

Step three (where the mag­ic hap­pens): Click Create Highlight to get start­ed in the high­light edi­tor. Give your reel a name, choose a theme and cus­tomize it with video, music, slides and pho­tos. This is also the step where you’ll add spot shad­ows title slides. Check out this tuto­r­i­al to see the process step-by-step.

Share Your Reel

You spent time craft­ing the per­fect high­light to cel­e­brate your sea­son, so why not share it out? It just might land an ath­lete a big oppor­tu­ni­ty, plus it’s a great way to pro­mote your program.

We make it easy to share your reel on Facebook, Twitter or by direct URL. Or take it up a notch by embed­ding the high­light reel on your school’s ath­let­ics website. 

Take some time to look back on your team’s sea­son and remem­ber the ride — whether it end­ed in an ear­ly loss in the play­offs or a state cham­pi­onship. We can’t wait to see what you create.