athletic recruiting video tips

A well shot, clear, easy to access, recruiting video/footage can have a large impact on a coach’s first impression of you… you need to catch the coach’s attention immediately, separate yourself from all the other recruits and make the coach want to contact you… this will help your chances of receiving an athletic scholarship.

Here are a few tips to make sure your video is brilliant:

• Research what the coaches are looking for in your sport… video is important and the coaches will not only want to see your best plays, but also your positioning on the field or court amongst other players. Make it a collection of plays (15 to 20), and maybe add two or three skills clips at the end. If you play more than one position well, then include all positions.
• Keep asking friends and family to take videos of your games… You need to be able to show a coach live footage, so begin shooting your Freshman year (or earlier if you are an elite athlete at an earlier age).
• Team sports should be shot mid-field or mid court from a higher angle than the play, but make sure you also include a little footage from the end zone/end of court. Some sports can be shot from behind the baseline, still at a higher angle (i.e. tennis). Just make sure your videographer is shooting different angles (and not just zooming on you but showing the entire play).
• Get high quality video footage. The quality of your recruiting video is very important… it needs to be crisp and clear. You could ask your coach to use their game footage. Or ask to use a friend’s video camera and tripod if you don’t have one. There are also many video companies that specialize in sport videos who you could hire.
• Your recruiting video should be 5 to 7 minutes (perhaps 15 to 20 plays) – coaches will ask for more film once you have them interested with your initial recruiting video.
• Include your best plays first in case the coach does not have time to review your entire video.
• Don’t add music – this video is intended for recruiting.
• Your first screen should be an introduction including your photo, jersey number, position and team colours (your other athletic statistics will be available to the coach on your recruityourself2college.com athletic resume). The coach needs to see who YOU are immediately.
• Clearly identify yourself on the video… there are many options to show who you are in the video – stop the video at the beginning and use an arrow to identify yourself, or use spot shadows, spot highlights, etc. Editing your video is an important step. Below is a link to information about free, simple video editing programs. Coaches don’t have time to review an entire game so you will need to edit certain plays.

  http://www.real.com/resources/free-video-editing-software/

• Upload your video to your personal YouTube channel. Below is a link to a simple video (under 5 minutes) that explains creating a YouTube account/channel, and instructions for uploading videos. We suggest that you save this channel as private, so you will be able to monitor the hits/views received by coaches. Only your recruiting video or “sport” footage should appear on this channel. You could also include a few full games on this channel… some coaches recommend including a full game at the beginning, middle, and end of your season. Recruityourself2college.com resumes include a live link to your YouTube channel.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31PfTHWnP3