1. Play Your Position Know where to set up for the best highlights.
2. Use Both Eyes One eye to shoot, the other to help follow the action.
3. When in Doubt, Get Wide If you lose the play in the eyepiece, zoom out to wide-angle until you find the play, then zoom back in.
4. Size Matters Use your zoom to keep players the same size throughout the video.
5. Experiment Take chances, make mistakes and move all around the court or playing field to get different shots.
6. Practice This is probably the most important tip. The more you shoot, the better you'll become.

Often times, coaches and trainers will use a camcorder as a training tool, videotaping games and sometimes even practice sessions to critique the team's performance.

Instructional videographers often set up a camera on a tripod high in the stands or in the rafters. The shot is typically wide so coaches can see all of the players and all of the action. Cutaways of the scoreboard are still useful, as are a time/date stamp and a pencil and paper to take notes as the game progresses. As the tape rolls, the coach or trainer (if he or she is shooting the video) can use the camera's onboard microphone to make comments.

Since the intent of this type of videography is not to entertain but to provide an informative record of the game, aesthetic concerns are less important. It's a good idea to shoot with a high-speed shutter setting so that when the coach or trainer plays the tape back frame-by-frame, the action is frozen solid without any motion blur.

Since your goal is to shoot the entire game, be sure to bring along plenty of batteries and anticipate battery depletion before it occurs. You certainly wouldn't want to have your camcorder go dead in the middle of the most important play of the game. Most sporting events run over two hours, which is longer than most batteries can handle. The same thing goes for blank tape. Keep plenty of supplies on hand, and you should be prepared for any eventuality.