Providing the best footage of you to help impress coaches is crucial during the recruiting process. With current circumstances meaning more seasons, events, and games are being cancelled, almost all coaches are unable to travel and watch prospective student-athletes compete in their sport. The recruiting process is becoming more and more digital with respect to how coaches communicate and assess the athleticism and technical ability of an athlete.
What Coaches want to see
When it comes to footage of an athlete, coaches prefer game footage and highlights. They want to see how an athlete like you performs in a competitive environment and under pressure. You can also create a skills video highlighting your technique of skills required for your sport. The video can include pressure drills which you should perform at full speed, in exactly the way you would perform these during a game, event, or match.
To give yourself the very best chance, your videos should include:
- Footage from games, practices, and events
- Individual drills and skills required by your sport
- Technical elements such as running, jumping, change of direction etc
- Consistency and repetition of technique and performance
Filming and Editing
Don’t worry. The videos do not need to perfect or to a high edit value. The coaches are interested in seeing your skills and how you execute them from different angles. This means all you need is your phone and a tripod or someone to help film for you. Test different angles to ensure your full skill is captured.
The video doesn’t need to be long, either. Your aim is to keep the coach engaged while watching your footage so your game footage or skill video should be under 10 minutes. The video does not need special effects, transitions or to be of particularly high quality, coaches simply want to see your athletic ability and technique.
Tip: Free tools for video editing are iMovie, DaVinci Resolve, and YouTube editor.
Where to film
This is the best thing about shooting a video, it can be filmed anywhere. Depending on COVID restrictions in your area, you can film at any sports facility you have access to, whether gym, park or field. You can even film in garages and back gardens – as long as you can showcase your talents in full view then the location doesn’t really matter. Coaches are watching the athlete, not the environment.
Where to post the video
Once you are happy with the video you can add it to your profile on the FirstPoint USA scholarship platform. You can also share this video when communicating with coaches via email, social media, or texts.
A skills or game footage will be of great help during your recruiting process but it is also worth noting that coaches equally wish to evaluate an athlete’s character, work ethic, and academic results before making the final decision in offering a scholarship.
