Ahhhh, the fresh aroma of Spring is starting to float through the air. The smell of just-cut grass, newly planted flowers, and that nose burning smell of freshly laid mulch. It’s Springtime and that means one thing…kids Spring season sports! If your kids are like mine, they are pretty much overextended and participating in multiple endeavors. Soccer, dance, and track are the current events we are shuttling between.
As our family, and probably yours, starts to emerge from the winter doldrums and engage in the fun and excitement of driving all over your metro area to sit under oppressive heat listening to over zealous dads scream excessive instruction to their anointed superstars, then you are also probably thinking about capturing these glorious moments on film (wow that’s a long sentence…I would like to think I’m better than that, but I’m not).
So, how do you manage all of this and get to a point where you are proud of your collection of sports media and serve as your own mini-ESPN organization?
At a recent soccer game I came across this guy…
As you can see from the photo, he is employing multiple devices to capture the magic. He has a video recorder mounted on a tripod and is simultaneously capturing high quality digital images of the action. This guy means business. But, is it the right approach?
Here are a few tips for how to go about capturing and maintaining precious moments at your kids sporting events…
1. Back it up! – This is THE most important tip. You never want to lose your photo albums with pictures of your kids. The same should be said of digital video and images captured. You spent all that time capturing quality images or video so don’t let it go to waste and lose it all if your hard drive dies. You’ll be sick to your stomach. Implement a strategy that has backup layers. Have a hard copy somewhere as well as an online back up. The hard copy is not as important to as having that online backup. Don’t waste another minute hoping your don’t lose your memories, get a backup system in place! I recommend Carbonite for backing up your data. I have it on multiple computers and it makes online secure backup of precious data so easy.
2. Don’t miss the game – If you are the guy in the picture above, you probably spend most of your time at the game making sure you have the shot centered, that you have each device balanced and ready to use, that batteries are optimally maintaining charge, that you have the record button on at the right time, etc. By spending all of your time worrying about the devices, you are missing the true storyline and experience of the game. I love capturing great moments to watch in the future, but at the same time, there has to be a balance. This guy does not have the right approach in my book. Pick one device.
3. Figure out what your ultimate goal is – What do you hope to accomplish by recording the action? Are you recording every second of the game, or just the highlights? What do you plan to do with the recording? I used to record the entire game for my daughter’s soccer games. Since I’m in the tech industry, I ran the team website. In that role, I would cut the video and upload the highlights of the games for the parents to see. It took a lot of work, but if you get creative with it, it can be quite entertaining. Check out this simple video I cut for one highlight. It’s not going to win me an Oscar but it shows some simple things you can do using a Flip camera and the free Microsoft Movie Maker program (I like free tools). Turn on your speakers and see how the NFL Films style was introduced for dramatic effect and a lil bit of fun…
If your ultimate goal is to record the entire game with the delusion that you’ll sit down and watch it one day in the future, or God forbid you think anyone visiting your house would want to sit through an entire game, you are mistaken. So, figure out your end goal and record accordingly.
4. Don’t break down film with your child – Settle down Coach. You aren’t a pro scout nor an ESPN analyst. So, don’t take your game footage and break down every aspect of the game with your kid. I’ve been guilty of showing one thing or two to my kids in the past but usually it’s the positive stuff. I’ll show them nice passes they had or nice foot skills they exhibited during the game. Don’t break down every single play with your child though and tell them all they did right, wrong, or how they need to improve. That is a sure fire way to burn your kids out and ruin any fun they may be having.
5. If you do it, do it right – If you do decide to record the majority of the game make sure you do it right. This means buying a tripod or maintaining a steady hand. Buy quality devices. Research techniques for capturing sporting events. I’ve watched enough sports in my life to understand how you have to capture the entire scene and not just zoom in on your particular player. Anticipate the next pass or ball movement and position the camera view such that you capture it without panning. Optimally, you should have the camera rather consistent in presentation of the game. For example, on a corner kick in soccer, there is no need to zoom in on the player kicking the ball in the corner then trying to follow the path of the ball as it moves into the fray in front of the goal. Stay at a distance that mimics what you see watching the game on TV. As you can see from my sample above, I didn’t employ the highest quality equipment because I wasn’t THAT serious about it. I was more about convenience. In my case I used a Flip camera as it provided easy download capability to my laptop. Quality and the ability to zoom suffered as a result. With the demise of the Flip camera and the improvements on cell phones, you could probably get away with using your iPhone. But, this theory is starting to take a hit at my oldest daughter’s track meets. With my iPhone, when she is running on the back stretch, she basically looks like an ant. I need to scoop up a better digital video recorder. In general, if you follow some basic techniques for video capture your resulting video viewing experience will be much better, regardless of the device.
6. Organize, organize, organize – Before you know it, your video/image library will quickly overwhelm you and you’ll never be able to find anything. Build a folder structure on your computer that breaks down by year, by sport, by season, by team, etc. Import directly to the appropriate folders and name files accordingly. Stay on top of this. Don’t think you’ll go back and do it later because you probably won’t. Also, make sure you cull any of the non-action clips, time-outs, wasted film, or poor images. They will just take up space on your computer and add no real value going forward.
7. Share – Some of the best pictures I have of my girls playing in games were captured by other parents or school reps. It’s a great team building exercise to share your photos with the rest of the group. I had the ability to share my photos, and other parents photos, on our team website since I was in charge. However, you can always just send out an email to the team with the top pictures you captured. If you are REALLY into it and capture 230 pictures of one game, you might want to upload to an online photo sharing service and send a link to the team instead. Also, don’t forget to pull down any pictures of your kids that happened to be captured by someone else into your folders.
There you have it. 7 ways to improve how you record and maintain your kids’ sports this spring season. These tips can translate into any event too, whether it’s a summer cook-out with the family or a school band concert. Enjoy the times with your kids and make sure you can re-live them later in life.
Leave a Reply