If you’re feeling overwhelmed about the recruiting process, you’ve come to the right place. I’ve been making sports highlight videos for years now, and there’s one thing consistent: Many parents and athletes are left out to dry when it comes to understanding how to create the perfect sports recruiting video.
The most common message I receive from first time clients is one of total confusion and requests for help on how to put highlights together. If you have a budding student athlete in your household, here are a few universal tips to putting together a proper sports recruiting video. These tips are universal and apply to any sport, at any level. If you want your video to get noticed, follow this guide.
Picking the Right Plays for Your Sports Recruiting Video
Picking the right plays seems easy enough, right? Plenty of goals for soccer, or touchdowns for football and you’re all set, right? The best sports recruiting video should have a mix of plays that showcase your overall skills, not just scoring plays.
If, for example, you are a basketball player, primarily a power forward, scoring alone won’t get your video past the initial view by a recruiting coach. Scoring, combined with rebounds, defensive plays (seals & blocks) should all be considered. If you’re a point guard, you might want to think about including more assist plays.
I had a parent reach out to me after I made his son’s soccer highlight video. He commented to me that coaches were really happy with the video because it showcased his ball movement and other little things that coaches need to see on the pitch. If I remember correctly, that student athlete only had 1-2 goal scoring plays on the entire reel, yet it was very popular among coaches!
Never forget the little things. Don’t focus on choosing plays that would make for a great YouTube hype video, instead, make sure that you are presenting your overall skills and ability to college coaches.
How Long Should my Video Be?
The most common question I’m asked is about video length. A sports recruiting video that is intended to go out to coaches needs to find the right balance.
A video that’s too short will give coaches the impression you don’t have enough good plays.
A video that’s too long gives coaches the impression that you don’t value their time, or aren’t organized enough.
Both options are bad. But going over a certain length is worse. Coaches receive hundreds of recruiting videos every year. Make sure that your video stays on top of the pile by making it the right length, which is between 15 and 25 highlights.
15-25 highlights usually comes out to a 2:30-4:30 long video. This depends on a number of factors, like the spot. A volleyball highlight will typically be a few seconds long, while a soccer highlight might be 13 seconds, to show a long run to the goal, for example. So, using a little common sense is important.
You don’t want to cut your highlights so short that coaches can’t see the play develop. For example, if your video is all 5 second clips of dunks and 3-point shots, and ignores how the player worked to get open on the play (again, little things), it will be more likely to be passed over. Show the full play, but don’t show every play.
The length of the video will also depend on the position you play. A goalie, for example, does not need a 25 clip, 4:30 long highlight reel. Nor does a soccer defender. But a wide receiver who also plays special teams might need a longer video to showcase more of what he can bring to a program.
The length may even depend on the coach. Sometimes coaches will reach out if they are interested in an athlete and request a highlight video of a certain length.
How Many Games Should I Use for my Sports Recruiting Video?
This is another situation that requires a little balance. You don’t want to have 25 highlights in a reel from 20 different games. That will give coaches the impression you don’t have enough consistent plays in any one game to be considered a quality enough player. On the other hand, you don’t want to have 15 highlights from a single game. That tells the coach that you may have only had that good game all season.
Typically, if you’re needing a highlight video that has 15 clips, you want to limit the games you pull the clips from to 3-4 different games. For 20-25 you can think about 5-6 games.
What About Video Quality?
Since I started making recruiting videos, I’ve been surprised about the quality some of the video comes to me in. And it’s a very tricky thing to give advice to parents about, because many parents are not in control of the video that they can use to make highlights.
If you are in control and film your games, you should have no less than a 1080p camera. Many parents film using an iPad or even a cell phone. These options are also appropriate, but I would recommend using a stable tripod. Cell phone cameras, believe it or not, can have better quality video than some camcorders. My $150 cell phone, for example, can record 4K video. But again, having a stable surface is important, and it’s good to use a high quality tripod. You should also film from an elevated position, when you can. Even a few rows up the bleachers is better than filming a game from the floor.
If you have no control over the video, because the school or team is filming, you might be stuck. Even in 2022, I’ve come across some lower than HD quality video that I’ve had to use in a sports recruiting video. Most high schools live stream their games, and sometimes the stream is not the best quality (depending on the internet at the school). If you’re paying for a club team or AAU and they aren’t filming in 1080p, I would reconsider working with that particular organization.
The important thing to remember about video quality is to focus on your best plays. If the athlete has a great performance in a particular road game that wasn’t filmed great, use those plays. It’s up to professionals like me to help identify the player, so that college coaches can spot the player. I will work with you to resolve quality issues.
One important tip: Don’t let your high schooler try to put together a highlight video by recording a live stream off their phone. Phone clips tend to come with the worst quality. Typically they’re using a free screen recording app, which may limit the quality that the clips can be saved.
Instead, contact me to create a highlight video that I can use my professional recording software to pull the clips, to ensure the best possible quality. It’s a little more expensive because it’s more work on my end, but the video quality will be much better than trying to record clips from your phone.
What Order Should I Display My Clips?
In short, your best plays should be at the top of your sports recruiting video. Don’t assume a coach will watch the entire video, so lead with your best plays.
Like picking the right plays, there should be balance in picking the order of the clips. For basketball, I almost always lead with the best defensive play. Most basketball videos put too much emphasis on scoring at the beginning, and I think putting defense up top will help separate my client’s video.
I am always happy to pick the order of the plays myself. But I always encourage the athlete to pick the order if they feel particularly strong about it. My advise to parents in this situation is that trust the athlete knows their skills best, and rely on me for guidance when necessary.