Mulan: A Double-Edged Sword?

IMOGENE TOMICIC

Following school closure at Peninsula amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on March 13, Peninsula’s spring sports season was promptly canceled, along with the fall season as well. As a result of these cancelations, senior athletes were not able to gather enough footage for the highlight reels normally submitted during the college application process. In the reels, college applicants can visually display their athletic abilities through footage of them playing their sport. Without this representation of their skills, student athletes will struggle to introduce themselves to college coaches as multifaceted candidates for collegiate sports teams. Senior and varsity boys’ track and field runner Aiden Musgrave is one of many student athletes trying to make the best of his college application despite setbacks.

“[A highlight reel] gives coaches a chance to see you in action [and] not having it when I apply is a setback for sure,” Musgrave said. “The absence of a recent highlight reel might affect whether or not I get to compete on [a] college’s team.”

While highlight reels are an important addition to student athletes’ college applications, they also serve a pivotal role in recruitment. Students can use these videos in online recruiting profiles where coaches can easily access and discover athletes. According to the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA Sports), recruiting profiles that include highlight reels or recruitment videos receive upwards of 10 times more views from coaches than profiles without them.

As highlight reels are a significant aspect of a student athlete’s college application and useful tools for their sports careers overall, it is important that students find alternative ways to present their abilities to coaches. Senior and varsity boys’ baseball player Ethan Wang has diverged from the use of formal highlight reels by creating virtual scouting videos for high school softball and baseball players on his Twitter page, @scoutingvirtual.

“[I have] made recruiting videos for baseball players with advanced data, [such as statistics of their pitching, because] they lost their season,” Wang said. “Since [students cannot] get game highlights for baseball, at least the data on their hitting and pitching is [material] they can send to coaches.”

Many Peninsula students share Wang’s predicament and are attempting to adapt and overcome these circumstantial issues. Peninsula Athletic Director Glenn Van Enk recognizes the struggles that students may encounter as they delve deeper into the complicated admissions process.

“[Without spring season or highlight reels], it sounds like students are going to have to find other ways to highlight their skills to college coaches, especially for the big sports like football, baseball [and] basketball,” Van Enk said. “However, I [do not] think Peninsula students are at a disadvantage in any way, because all high school students are in the same position; [everyone is] in the same boat.”

With all spring student athletes applying to college without highlight reels this year, college applications will likely look different. In spite of changes, student athletes must hold their heads high while going into their years ahead as college students as they find alternative ways to showcase their talents.