Now more than ever, college coaches are relying on highlight videos. Having an effective highlight video today is essential to your recruiting journey. Effective is the key word here. So, what is effective?
HOW TO CREATE AN EFFECTIVE HIGHLIGHT VIDEO
Keep it Short: Show your highlights in 3-5 minutes. You will gain or lose the interest of a college coach in the first 30 seconds of your video.
Intro to Your Video: Include a few must haves at the start: name, team, league/level, jersey #, grad year. You can intro this via a video clip of yourself or by featuring it in text across the screen.
Make Yourself Visible: Remember, the scout doesn’t know who you are. Add a circle, arrow, light, – some indication as to which player they should be watching…. before EACH clip. And yes, even if you are a goalkeeper!
The Entire Picture: College coaches want to see the build-up of the play and how you carry/handle yourself after the play. Be sure to include 10 seconds before the highlight (showing movement off the ball, field vision, etc.) and 10 seconds after the highlight (celebration, attitude, leadership, etc.).
Make It Relevant to Your Position: It’s helpful to have “sections” in the video that are specific to you/your position. Ex: if you’re a forward you can have sections for: Goals, Assists, Set Pieces
Music: If you are going to use music, make sure it is tasteful (and definitely without profanity)!
Keep it Positive: This is a HIGHLIGHT video – show your positives. Leave your bloopers off the reel.
Cost: There are many resources and options to help create a video. Many players create great videos themselves using iMovie; no need to spend $1,000’s.
SZ Player Profile: Don’t forget to update your SZ Player Profile with your highlight video(s) on the Athletics Tab. You are able to upload unlimited highlight videos into your SZ Player Profile (YouTube, Hudl, Vimeo or Trace). When you share your SZ Player Profile Weblink (via email; social media or text) with college coaches, they have immediate access to all of your highlight videos.