Help spread some cheer when your athletes need it most by creating the perfect highlight reel. We’ve rounded up our top tips to make it easy.
With a lot of winter sports seasons cut short, and spring seasons cancelled, your athletes might be looking for something to cheer them up. Creating highlight reels is a great way to reflect on the season that just finished or even one from the previous year. We're here to help you build the perfect one.
What to Include
Find the best moments.
Start in games 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 touchdowns and goals are fun to watch but everybody needs some love. After all, there’s no “I” in team. We want to see a nasty sack from your inside linebacker, 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 game of organized athletics.
Don’t show cheap shots.
Don’t highlight a player peeling back on a lazy lineman 30 yards away from the play, or 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. Showing your midfielder’s 30-yard cracker in the state final? Put a spot shadow on them 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. If you’re a football coach on Hudl Classic, it’s as simple as clicking the star button next to the clip number in your library. All other sports will 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.
In case you need some inspiration, here are a couple end-of-season reels we’re loving.
We love the title slide at the beginning highlighting the team's motto for the season.
They kept the jams going throughout and mixed in defensive plays like turnovers.
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.
