Importance of online video highlights

After speaking with a few Division I coaches lately (CLICK HERE FOR THE ARTICLE), it really helped reiterate to me the importance that athletes who want to be recruited need to have their video highlights online. While some would prefer to just have this footage available on DVD or VHS, now is a perfect time because of the low cost of websites and the ease of posting video footage.

When posting video footage online, if you have the expertise or can get it at a good price, it is definitely worth registering your a domain name with your son’s name (For example, if your son is Michael Jordan, register www.michaeljordan.com). If that domain is taken because it probably is rather popular, try something like jordanbasketball.com or jordanfootball.com. While you can email college coaches the link, it may be easier to be able to tell them to go to an easy website that mirrors the name of the athlete.

As for the main reasons to get this footage online, the biggest and best advantage is to make it easier for college coaches. Lets say that you just finished sending your profile out to 50 schools that fit you academically and athletically. Say that 22 college coaches get back to you and say they are interested in learning more about you and seeing video footage of you. Having these highlights online will be quicker, easier, and cheaper than to send each of the 22 college coaches your full video tape. Not even counting postage, you save the money of producing copies of your DVDs because you send them to the same exact website where all of the coaches can view the highlights. While some may move on to another recruit after seeing the video, these coaches would feel the same way if you took the time to go to the post office, pay the postage, and send them a physical copy of your highlight video.

This is especially important for recruits later in the process. As the end of your junior year sends/into your senior year, getting these highlights online is huge. If you came off the bench as a junior in basketball and suddenly started pouring in 25 points per game in the best conference in your state, this gives the college coaches a quick look at your ability. This helps move the recruiting process along quicker than sending your highlight without any previous contact with the college. I still feel that sending out video footage without prior contact with the coaches is a complete waste of time and money.

If you are going to the trouble of putting a quality highlight DVD together by a professional, it would be at least worth seeing what the costs of building a website for the athlete would be. I am not recommending paying in the thousands of dollars but in the $300 to $700 area could be worth it in the long run. This is another advantage that most athletes or parents do not see when thinking about ways to get their son or daughter recruited. Plus it also allows out of state friends or relatives to visit the site and see the athlete in action himself.

When posting any video footage from a DVD to a size suitable for a website, the quality of the video will be hurt. So many sure when doing this to make it obvious where you are on the field or the court before sending this out to college coaches. In football, it is important to have a squares or circles around where you are if you are a lineman and the quality is not great to begin with.

Looking back, I would recommend doing this. While everyone may not agree, I spoke first hand with a college coach who said he will at least look at the highlights online but would throw away a highlight video that was sent in the mail. Clicking on a link in an email to watch video is much easier than to put the tape in the DVD, sit down, and actually watch the highlights.