Lights, Camera, Action

When the Maryland volleyball team took the court in its season opener this past fall, against the Virginia Cavaliers, it looked as if one of their athletes wasn’t playing in the match. 

On the court in street clothes was an athletic, college student who just so happens to stand at 6-foot, 3-inches. She wasn’t a volleyball player, though. It was Maryland women’s basketball player Mimi Collins. 

She wasn’t there to play volleyball, nor did she mix up her basketball practice times. Collins was there to work. 

Outside of her academic studies and basketball, Collins has another passion. When she’s not playing for Brenda Frese’s national powerhouse basketball program, Collins is working with the Maryland athletics video department as one of its student interns.  

“My goal was always to be behind the camera,” Collins explained. “I know a lot of people want to be in front of it, but I always had the dream to be behind it. I wanted to be able to do sports video directly or digital management.”

As well as being a gifted basketball player, Collins has carved herself out a role as a great videographer, one that is getting a lot of attention around the department. 

Collins has always been interested in videography and is majoring in Cinema and Media Studies in College Park. Her connection with the video staff at Maryland stems back from the women’s basketball team’s time in the San Antonio bubble during last year's postseason. 

Jarred Belman, Assistant Director of Video Production for the University of Maryland Athletic Department, is the lead video content creator for the women’s basketball team to create visual stories for them as they competed in the NCAA tournament.

With not much to do inside the enclosed setting, Collins expressed her interest in Belman’s work, and the two struck up a friendship over their shared interest. 

“We were spending a lot of time with each other and so whether it was on walks to COVID testing, practice, and stuff like that,” Belman said. “I would always let her take the camera and film some of those non-game action sorts of pieces. It was cool for me to kind of be able to get off work with a student-athlete and teach them a skill outside of their own sport.”

After the women’s basketball season ended last spring, Collins and Belman stayed in touch, and she became an unofficial intern of sorts for the department and they gave her a few opportunities to show off her skills.

“She's always just been really curious about video production,” Belman said. “She got started with us, and once the [women’s basketball] season ended, she got a couple of opportunities in the spring with baseball games, and then she came on with us full-time in the fall. Then she worked a lot with volleyball."

Collins finds herself in a unique position as she is the only current student-athlete to be an intern with the video production team at Maryland. It gives her a special voice inside the room as someone who understands what athletes want, how they want it, and what they want it to look like. 

In that way, Collins is one of the most valuable resources that the production team has. But for her, she’s just trying to nurture a passion of hers, and her status as a women’s basketball player is ultimately irrelevant because she has earned her spot as a video intern. 

“Being able to put out a vision for other athletes when those other athletes usually don't have a say because sometimes there are things that they're not allowed to do or can’t do,” Collins explained. “I love to be able to connect with other athletes and have the [personal] athlete experience. To know that I know what you want to see because I experience that [too].”

Being able to work with athletes is something that Collins loves doing, being one herself, but she feels a special connection to the volleyball players. They share many of the same facilities and have shared experiences as fellow Terrapin student-athletes. 

For those reasons and others, Collins has befriended several volleyball players over the years and can use that friendship to create a better video for them.  

“It's just a plus being with volleyball,” Collins said. “I know the girls really well, so I know what they want. I know what their vision is, so it’s awesome being able to connect so well with them and just be able to put their vision through a lens. It's the best experience ever.”

Collins’s proactiveness in getting the internship and willingness to take on even more challenges that come on top of being a student-athlete have impressed those around her. For Belman, he’s happy to help her achieve her goals off the court and thinks she’s embodying what being a student-athlete at the University of Maryland is all about. 

“Sports are great, and we love sports, but it's not forever,” Belman said. “No matter what you do or what level you get to, there comes the point where you can't really compete anymore. So for her to recognize it and shape her secondary goals in college and for us to be able to support her is really great. It's awesome to see it.”

Being in the spotlight on a Top-10 ranked team with a program that is synonymous with excellence can allow for people to only associate you with your athletic abilities. Collins is grateful for her gifts and nurtures them the best she can, but she’s using her scholarship at Maryland to further more than just basketball.

For her, basketball has been a vital tool to help open doors that she can then use to explore all of her interests, no matter what they might be. 

“She's a normal student,” Belman said. “She's got interests outside of basketball and l think for us, as an athletic department, part of our greater mission is to show that. Yes, they are world-class athletes and they're amazing at what they do, but also, they are people, and they have lived outside of the court off the field.”