Tips From A National Championship Coach

I recently had the privilege to talk with John Danowski, head coach of the Duke Blue Devils lacrosse team. While he impressed me with his knowledge of the game, his enthusiasm was contagious. It is easy to see why he is such a successful coach. He has strategies for practicing, playing and how to mentally prepare to be the best.

Since we produce recruiting videos for high school athletes, I wanted to get his opinion as to what he would like to see in a recruiting video from a potential player. Coach Danowski said, watching game film would be ideal, but the reality is that they just do not have the time to watch hundreds of hours of game footage. He suggested a 2-3 minute highlight video. He wanted to point out that shooting from the sidelines at ground level doesn’t allow him to see the depth of the field. He highly recommends filming from as high up as possible. By the way, all of our camera operators can get up at least 8 feet, if bleachers are not an option. We also have 2 high tower set ups that allow us to film from 23ft up giving that sought after elevated angle.

As most players put their best plays on the highlight video, Coach Danowski says that he knows that the player isn’t perfect. In fact, he said he has coached several of the nations greatest players, but none have been perfect. He went on to say, that seeing the players body language after a mistake, is just as important to put on the video. He is looking to see if the player is a team leader or a complainer. His last recommendation was to put your top ten plays at the front of the video. This will guarantee that he sees you at your best, as he doesn’t always have time to even watch the full 2-3 minutes.
Thanks Coach!