The Soccer Game Recording Equipment You Need

The Soccer Game Recording Equipment You Need

A skillful pass, a burst of movement, and a shot that curves around defenders can electrify a crowd. The moment you watch the ball soar into the goal is the most exciting and satisfying part of any soccer game. All those hours of practice and training that caused you to come home sore and covered in sweat, grass stains, and mud now seem worth it in exchange for the rush of scoring a goal. ​

When it comes to professional highlight reels of games, there’s a reason that goals are the meat and potatoes. A good goal is memorable and is almost a thing of beauty. The build-up to the goal can be just as exciting. It’s worth remembering, and so you’re going to want to record it, but how? Who can you trust? You could try asking someone to record from the sidelines on their phone, but chances are it’ll turn out blurry, shaky, and you won’t even be able to see the ball hit the net. If you want to make sure that you will be able to relive the best moment of the game and see exactly what was going on, find out how you can use professional sports recording equipment to immortalize your best plays.

Equipment

The right tools for the job always make things easier. If you’re recording a soccer game and trying to catch the perfect goal, here is the soccer filming equipment you will need to get the job done right. ​

​Telescopic Camera Pole

Soccer fields are enormous. They’re bigger than a football field, and the action can cover the entire field in only a few minutes of play. If you want to get the best shot of a goal, you need to be able to keep track of the action across the entire field that leads up to it. In order to see that much of the field, your camera has to be up high. If your camera is elevated, it gives you better angles to see the field and lets you see entire plays, positioning and strategies that lead up to any amazing goals. 

This is easier to do at some fields because there is a stadium or bleachers that can be utilized to give your cameraman a better view. But, many fields don’t have bleachers that provide that better advantage. If you want to get a good angle, you will need to use a telescopic camera pole that is at least 16 feet high. 

Telescopic camera poles solve the problem of trying to get your camera up high. They have a stabilizing tripod at the base to keep your footage stable, while also giving you an eagle’s eye view of the entire field. Telescopic camera poles also remove a lot of the “conversation noise” that is picked-up if you are trying to record a soccer game by just holding a camcorder in a stadium.  Conversations and yelling by parents and others are reduced when you put a camcorder up 16’ which makes watching the final footage much more pleasant.
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A telescopic camera pole should be more than a pipe that you tape a camera to. It should be light enough, and compact enough, to carry and transport, while also being strong enough to keep a camera stable without bending and becoming floppy. If you want a steady, clean, and professional recording of a game, a telescopic camera pole is where you need to start.

Monitors

These camera poles give you the height your sport recordings need, but there’s a small question you need to answer before you start recording soccer. If your camera is 16 feet above the ground, how will you see what you’re recording?
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A monitor is the solution for allowing you to see what the camera is seeing. A monitor broadcasts what the camera is recording down to you. When picking a monitor, make sure to get a screen that is visible for all types of games, so whether you are playing at night under stadium lights or in the middle of the day, you will be able to see the screen. You’ll also want to make sure you have a portable power source if you are on outdoor fields.

Remote

A good wired remote is critical if you want to be able to easily control the functions of your camcorder. You don’t want to have to take apart your rig during the game to fix the zoom of your camera, start or stop the recording, or power on or off the camcorder.  
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A remote allows you to control the zoom on your camera as well as power it on and off. Rather than having to wrestle with your entire setup, you can easily do what you need without missing any of the action. Wired remotes allow for an immediate response. Many WI-FI remote systems have a lagged response and can cause you to not be able to capture the plays you want - especially on the near sideline where action can be very quick.

Power Needs

Having an adequate power supply reduces the hassle of breaking down a tower camera to change out batteries.  It also reduces the logistics of trying to charge up multiple batteries the night before. Make sure your tower camera has a power supply that can power your system for an entire game.  It is best if you only have one power supply that can power the monitor and camcorder - reducing the number of components you have to worry about before and during a game.

Cables

It seems simple enough that you’re going to need cables and wires to connect everything, but quality matters. You need cables that are designed, tested, and proven to meet your performance standards while recording soccer games. Low-quality cables can cause issues in the audio, frame rate, and also have a higher chance of breaking down and needing to be replaced. It is important to note that most camcorders have small connection points (i.e. micro HDMI).  It is important that the weight of the cables are not hanging on these connections. ​

Tripod Adaptability

Make sure the tripod on your tower camera has adjustable legs to adapt to the ground you will be on. Some fields are flat and easy to set up on. Other fields may have slopes on either side, and having multiple adjustable legs will allow you more flexibility in making sure your telescopic camera pole is not sloped - providing a better video.

Where Should You Position Your Telescopic Camera Pole? ​

Getting the best recording of a goal can be tricky because every goal is different. The defenders might be positioned in a way where placing a camera behind the goal is perfect, or maybe a sideline shot from the corner is better for the next. There’s a wide variety of exciting and dynamic options you can film from if you’re trying to film a goal. A good place for inspiration is to watch professional broadcasts, and see what choices they make when producing a highlight clip. It’s very easy to take inspiration from the Premier League, the World Cup, or FIFA and mimic the different camera locations and angles they film from to make great highlights and compilations of your plays.  Another benefit of having a telescopic camera pole is that you can position it wherever you want to get the view you’d like.

The only danger in trying to recreate the shots that you see on TV is that while they occasionally make for exciting clips, that’s all they’re good at. They have the chance to make great action clips, but they’re horrible at recording the rest of the action for the game. Professional broadcasters can put dozens of cameras on a field with multiple operators and a production team so they can mix and blend various shots from a wide range of angles to show exactly what happened. Unfortunately, that isn’t an option for most people. 
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If you aren’t just looking to catch that “one great shot”, and  you aren’t going to have multiple cameras able to operate at the same time, positioning the pole in the sweet spot to capture the field is important. A much more reliable place to film a soccer game is to set up at a high point near the center of the field. This allows you to better see the full field, including both goals and allows you to capture all of the action that leads up to any goals made. While this might not show the sweat dripping down your face, it will show how you broke past two defenders, passed it to your center midfielder, which then set things up for the game-winning goal.

No matter where you set up, make sure that you use a tripod. You might think your hands are as stable as a surgeon, but trying to hold a camera for an entire game gets tiring, and no one wants to fight against getting motion sick while they should be focusing on an amazing play.

SVT Advantage Can Help

SVT Advantage is your solution to recording soccer, lacrosse, and football games. With different packages and options that you can purchase, you can rest assured that you will work with quality tools that will let you catch the footage you envision at an affordable price. 
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If you have any questions about any of our soccer game recording equipment, feel free to contact us today.