Do I Need a Highlight Reel, and What Should It Include?
How College Coaches Actually Evaluate Volleyball Film
Featuring insights from Susan Forbes, Allison Roberts, and Cori Murphy
Once athletes understand what coaches are looking for in both skill and mindset, the next question becomes how to showcase it. For most recruits, that process begins with a highlight reel.
But according to the experts, the goal of the highlight reel is not to impress coaches with production. It is to make their job easier.
Q: Do athletes actually need a highlight reel, and what makes one effective?
Susan Forbes:
“One of the biggest recruiting cheat codes is doing more on your end so coaches have to do less,” Susan says.
At its core, a highlight reel is not a full match or unedited footage. It is a curated set of clips designed to quickly show what an athlete can do.
“College coaches are not going to sit there and fast forward through full matches trying to find your five touches,” she explains. “You are helping them by clipping the moments that matter.”
One of the most important strategies, she says, is organization. Instead of randomly assembling plays, athletes should group clips by skill.
For example, an outside hitter might open with a few of their strongest attacks, but those clips should show range and versatility rather than the same play over and over.
“You do not want seven of the same swing,” she says. “You want to show different ways you can score. A line shot, a cross court, a tip, a tool. You are showing range.”
From there, athletes should move into other skills like passing or blocking to show a complete picture of their game.
Susan also emphasizes that structure matters just as much as content.
“You are trying to hold a coach’s attention,” she says. “Think of it like giving them a reason to keep watching, then guiding them through the rest of your game.”
She describes the highlight reel as the first step in the evaluation process, not the final one.
“It is the bait on the hook,” she says. “The goal is not to tell the whole story. It is to get them interested enough to come watch you live.”
Q: What should athletes avoid when building a highlight reel?
Allison Roberts:
Allison agrees that film should be simple and intentional, but she adds that many athletes unintentionally leave out key information.
“One of the biggest mistakes I see is athletes only showing one skill,” she says. “Especially setters. It is just set after set after set.”
While setting is critical, she explains that college coaches need to see the full picture of what a player brings to the court.
“You have to be able to serve, defend, and contribute in multiple ways,” she says. “Coaches are not just recruiting one skill.”
She also notes that production value is often overemphasized.
“Music does not matter,” she says. “Most coaches are watching on mute anyway.”
In fact, overly complicated edits can sometimes work against athletes.
“Keep it simple,” Allison says. “No slow motion, no unnecessary effects. If a coach wants to slow it down, they will.”
One detail she does recommend is a simple header at the beginning of the video.
“Coaches are watching a lot of athletes in a short amount of time,” she explains. “You want to remind them who they are watching before the clips start.”
Q: How are coaches actually using highlight film?
Cori Murphy (University Athlete):
From a coach’s perspective, efficiency is everything.
“Two to three minutes is really all you need,” Cori says. “If your clips are three to five seconds each, that is more than enough to show what you need to show.”
She also reinforces the importance of clarity and accessibility.
“Make it easy for coaches to find and watch,” she explains. “The faster they can get to your video, the more likely they are to actually evaluate it.”
Cori also notes that linking it to your University Athlete profile is incredibly helpful. “Like Susan said earlier, the cheat code is making it as easy as possible for a college coach to evaluate you. You need to put everything in one place so they can make that holistic evaluation.
The Bottom Line
A strong highlight reel is not about flashy production or complexity. It is about clarity, structure, and efficiency.
Coaches are not looking for a highlight show. They are looking for a quick, accurate way to understand whether an athlete is worth evaluating further.
Or as Susan summarizes: “Your highlight film should not tell the whole story. It should make a coach want to see more.”