The majority of coaches in the US are using the internet to watch videos on new Recruits. If you don’t have a video ready to go, then you are missing a great opportunity to get noticed. It is difficult for coaches to travel all over the country to watch recruits play. College coaches have an extremely busy life. They have team commitments, recruiting budgets, opponent research and scouting, game planning, recruiting of thousands of players, travel, practices, and the list goes on. With all that a coach has to do, it is very unlikely that they will spend the time or money to come watch you play based on your reputation.
You need to make it as easy as possible to get around a coach’s busy lifestyle. It is much more convenient for a coach to sit in his office and watch a 3-5 minute video of you then it is to travel across the country. Sending your video to a coach can fast track the recruitment process for you. Recruiting videos have become an essential part of any high school recruit looking to gain the attention of prospective college coaches. Most recruiting videos today are presented through online links. AllStarLAX.com has the functionality for Student Athletes to upload links or YouTube videos directly on their recruiting profiles. Coaches time is valuable, so it makes more sense to send a link that can be easily be viewed online through a laptop or mobile device.
Highlight videos are a chance to get student-athletes in front of coaches and give them an unbiased look at their skills and abilities. It’s a fact that online recruiting profiles that include a highlight video receive more than 10 times as much traffic as those without one. A great highlight video can sometimes be a difference-maker that gets a student-athlete some serious attention from college coaches.
Next, let’s talk about the Videos you need in your Playbook and the components that a Coach is interested in.
Personal Video
You should create a short video (2-3 minutes) that will allow coaches to get to know you. It should just be you in front of the camera. Here are a few things you should mention:
- Your Name
- High School
- Graduation Year
- GPA and Test Scores
- Athletic Highlights (stats, times, awards)
- What qualities you will bring to a program
If you want to take your Personal Video a step further, you can create videos personalized to particular programs. Based on the research when you developed your targeted schools list, you will have insight as to what is important to the coach and the lacrosse program. These videos can be extremely powerful to help get on a coach’s radar.
Individual Skill Video
This should be no more than a 3 minute video showing off your skills. Running, passing, shooting, defense, or stick skills. You want to give the Coach assurance that you are in fact a legitimate athlete. If you have some sort of skill, stick trick, etc that other athletes can’t do, put it in the video. The goal is to get more exposure.
Game Highlights Video
If your high school games are being taped and you can get access to those videos, they would be helpful to use when you create your highlight video. The first thing a coach should see when he plays the Game Highlight Video is a screen that has a snapshot of you along with a picture of you in your uniform. This screen should remain up for about 6-7 seconds. The coach can pause the image if he needs more time to review it.
- Name
- Address
- Home Phone
- Cell Phone
- Email Address
- School
- Graduation Year
- Age
- Date of Birth
- Height
- Weight
- Coach Name
- Coach email
- Position
- Uniform Number
- GPA
- ACT
- Scholastic Awards if any
- Athletic Awards
This gives the coach all the essential background information he needs before he reviews your plays.  It’s in one place and can be paused if he needs more time to review it.
The next panel should identify the season and the number of plays. “Freshman Year Highlights”
- Identify the Player on Screen
Each play should start with a freeze frame of the set up, and the player clearly identified with a circle, highlight or an arrow so the coach knows exactly where to look on the screen. This should remain for approximately 2 seconds on screen then be released for the action to play through. In some cases, if the player is off screen when the play begins, the play will begin then freeze when the player enters the action, the player will be identified with an arrow or circle and the play will continue.
- Number of Plays
The number of plays should be determined by the quality of the play itself and the athlete’s performance within the play. A good number around 20. In some cases, less is more. The important thing is to convey how you do your job in a given situation and the consistency of your performance.
- A Complete Game
It is becoming a common practice to include a link to a complete game at the end of the highlight section of your presentation. Coaches may request full game film and you should have the ability to provide it upon request.
- Music/Graphics/Special Effects
Music, graphics and other “creative” elements detract from the overall statement you are trying to make, so they should be used sparingly or not at all. You have one chance to make a first impression with a college coach. Coaches do not want inappropriate music lyrics blasting from their office or on their cell phones because of your highlight video.
Reference Video
Reference videos could be more important than any other videos. Reference videos have others highlighting your athletic and academic abilities as well as other positive attirubutes including your character. Your coaches, teammates, teachers, parents, and opponents could all be potential references for you. You can provide these individuals with a few questions as a guide to get them started.
High School or Club Coach
- What qualities as an athlete and a member of your team come to mind when you think of Jordyn Burns?
- Can you elaborabe on Jordyn’s work ethic and coachability?
- Can you provide insight on Jordyn’s leadership qualities, teammate relationships and overall character?
Teammates
Current teammates are good options because you can offer to record a video for them.
- What qualities come to mind when you think of Jordyn Burns?
- Can you provide some details about Jordyn’s work ethic?
- Can you provide insight on Jordyn’s leadership qualities, character and being a teammate?
Parents
You might think it is crazy to create a video of your parents talking about you, but coaches are often concerned about “over the top” parents who are way too involved in every detail of a student-athlete’s career. By creating a video of your parents that shows their support while communicating that they are normal, grounded people, this can only be positive for your recruiting strategy. If you are neck and neck with another recruit, whose parents were “over the top” or “pushy”, the coach will be much more willing to go with the recruit whose parents were not going to add additional stresses to their jobs and programs.
- In what type of program and school would you like to see Jordyn?
- Over the years what has most impressed you about Jordyn as an athlete?
- What qualities do you think Jordyn will bring to her college team?
- What is your best memory of Jordyn playing sports?
Teacher
Having a teacher do a reference video for you could help a college coach better understand how important academics are to you as well as give credibility to your character outside the athletic environment. Coaches want to know they are recruiting good people not just good athletes. Questions you could ask are:
- What comes to mind when you think of Jordyn as a student and member of your high school?
- Can you give me some background on Jordyn’s academic work ethic and preparation when it comes to homework and exams?
- How would you describe Jordyn’s character and attitude outside of athletics?
These questions are just a guide. If you can think of better questions…you should use them.
You should try to keep questions at a very high level and let the individual talk and expand on their answer. These videos should not be long….2-3 minutes per video max. Coaches do not have the time to watch long videos. The goal is to engage and spark interest with coaches, not tell your life story.
What do you do with the Videos? You can upload them to your YouTube Channel, AllStarRecruits Profile, or Facebook Page. They will be ready to ready to roll in your email signature when you initiate contact with Coaches.
