The college recruitment process is often a stressful one. To get noticed by as many schools as possible, any young athlete needs to create a highlight video to prove how much talent they have.
Follow these tips for making a highlight video so you can stand out from the crowd.
Use Quality Video
To get noticed, coaches need to actually see you, so use quality video. Ask someone you trust or a professional to film your games and get a good vantage point of your play. Invest in a quality camera and use a tripod to avoid any shaky cam footage.
Keep It Short
Whether you are editing the video yourself or having someone else do it, make sure you keep it short. College coaches go through hundreds of videos, so make it concise for them. Don’t have your clips super long and try to keep the entire highlight video under seven minutes.
Put Your Best Clips at the Front
In addition to keeping your highlight video and clips short, make sure you put your best highlights at the front. A coach might not go through your entire video, so ensure they see the best that you have to offer to give yourself the best chance.
Showcase Different Skills
A common mistake young athletes make with their highlight video is that they will only put clips of them scoring goals.
Make sure you showcase various skills, from offense to defense, steals to assists. You want coaches to see that you are a well-rounded player that could be the perfect fit for their program.
Identify Who You Are
Because your clips might be from both high school and travel team seasons, make sure you identify yourself.
You can accomplish this in editing by adding an arrow pointing to who you are or using spot shadows. Also put your name, number, age, school, club, and other important information at the beginning and end of the video.
Make It Easily Accessible
When you are sending highlight videos to college coaches, make sure it’s easily accessible. Your best bet is to upload it to YouTube, so you can just send a link to them. The days of using physical media are over when it comes to most things, including highlight videos.
Be Careful With the Music
An important tip for making a highlight video is to be careful with the music. Avoid using songs with curse words, or just leave the music out completely.
The coach might not like your taste of music, and you don’t want to risk irritating them. The safest option would be to go with no music, but you could get away with instrumental.
