The schedule of a college scout is usually jam-packed with managing their team and planning tactics for the next game. A big part of their schedule, however, also includes analyzing recruiting videos to find their next star player. If you think that star player may be your child, then it really makes sense to invest a good amount time and effort into producing the best recruitment video possible.
It doesn’t matter how flawless their track record or how many points they scored last season; if their recruitment video doesn’t do their sporting prowess justice or is littered with mistakes, the coach will simply move on. Game over.
Why Create a Recruitment Video?
You should see your athlete’s recruitment video as a foot in the door, their sports showreel and their best recruitment asset. You can’t always bank on college scouts turning up to the game to watch them play. A good recruitment video is the next best thing for creating exposure that will get them noticed and invited to the next stage of the selection process.
Video is by far the most effective resource available to high school athletes looking to obtain a scholarship with the NCAA. There are currently over 400,000 athletes competing across 23 NCAA-approved sports across the country. Most have had to rely on self-promotion. With the right recruitment video, your child could join them and have their college education paid for through a scholarship grant.
Getting Reel: How to Prioritize What’s On A Recruitment Video
The life of a college scout is hectic. For this reason, parents need to prioritize their child’s recruitment video in a way that ensures it quickly grabs the attention of scouts when their time is tight. Here are some ways to make sure your video is optimized:
- Use those precious seconds well – Brevity is of the utmost importance when creating the best recruitment video. Coaches rarely watch even the most impressive videos all the way through. Aim to show highlights in the first 30 seconds, perhaps with six or seven touchdowns in a quick sequence or their last streak of home runs. Don’t count on the scout to wade through the video to find their best bits.
- Add lots of variety to your highlights – The last thing you’ll want a scout to think while watching the video is: “one-trick pony.” Athletes looking to get noticed need to use a number of different types of play to show off their full array of skills. For instance, those six or seven touchdowns included on the video should show varied pace, different modes of attack and give the scout confidence in your athlete’s overall abilities on the field. Are they proud of their breaking tackle or their deep throws? Show them off!
- Show them some personality – In addition to playing ability, scouts also need to be sure that an athlete’s personality is a good fit for their team. Including a little dialogue from your child at the beginning or end of the video could help to make them more valuable in the eyes of the scout.
What to Avoid When Making Your Recruitment Video
College scouts are sent thousands of resumes and applications and many of these include a video as part of the package. In order to stand out from the crowd and ensure your application makes the next phase in the selection process, you child will need a professional video that plays to their best strengths. Here are just a few mistakes to avoid that will ensure their video stays away from the reject pile:
- Avoid poor-quality footage – Amateur recording and editing can turn those best bits into a mass of unwatchable video that is likely to be turned off in the first few seconds. Watch out also for mobile phone footage, which can be jumpy and erratic.
- Look out for bad editing – Just like a boring PowerPoint presentation can kill a sales pitch, bad editing can kill the chances of your athlete becoming a sporting pro. Yes, you can get some great effects out of editing software, but are they really necessary? Will they distract attention from the highlights on the video? Use dramatic edits sparingly and in the right places.
- Choose the right background music – This may not seem important at first glance, but by adding good background music to your video, you can ramp up the excitement and grab attention. While some coaches may watch videos on mute, either because of their environment or because they want to focus solely on the action, others may keep watching if you’ve chosen the right track. Just remember to avoid lyrics with inappropriate or vulgar language!
Stand Out In Your Field With a Professional Video
When your athlete has just one shot to stand out in a highly competitive field of athletes, producing the best recruitment video possible is critical to their success. By using a professional video company, your budding sporting hero can concentrate on playing their best while a professional captures the action in the highest quality HD and uses the latest video editing tools to create a slick, eye-catching video that gets straight down to business. When they’ve spent most of their career so far looking to get noticed, investing in a professionally produced recruitment video could be all that stands between your child and sporting history.
