Video footage as an effective recruiting tool

As I mentioned previously, the one recruiting site we used was www.be.recruited.com.  One of the benefits of this site was it allowed us to upload video and provided a specific URL I could include in our emails to various coaches and they could view all the videos I had uploaded to the site.  

Video was key in getting coaches a chance to see my son in action. All of the schools we targeted were out of state and so the only way they could see my son skills were through video. Here is the link to the videos of my son on his Berecruited.com profile  http://video.berecruited.com/videos/athletes/612206

 In creating video I followed these guidelines:

1. Keep each video short 2 to 3 minutes max.

2. avoid adding background music and a bunch of visual effects.

3. When making a highlight video of game footage, try to edit out unnecessary footage. example if you are capturing 3 at bat from a single game. Edit the tape to capture the hit and maybe a few other pitches in the at bat the demonstrate pitch selection.

4. Keep each video specific to one area of your son's game. don't mix live at bat with pitching and/or defense in the same video.

5. include some video of drills. batting drills, defense, pitching. Again keep each video specific to a particular position.

If you end up not using a recruiting site; you can upload videos to youtube or attach videos in emails and send them directly to the coaches.  However, on the occasions in which I emailed video directly to the coaches it was always after I had already communicated with the coach. in most cases we had sent out an initial email expressing our interest in the school and gave a brief background of my son. If the coach responded, I sent a reply asking if he'd like to some video. We would send 2 or 3 short video files and as part of  the email, we'd ask if he would like us to send more video as the season progressed.  A good piece of advice is not send video to frequently. Maybe 2 more times over the season and maybe once or twice over the summer.  The emailing of video in this fashion also gives you a good gauge on interest. The coaches that had the most interest in my son would reply back after they took a look at the video and provide feedback or at the very least ask how his season was going and to stay in touch,

If you are casting wide net in your college search as we did; the effective use of video is essential.  When I started taking video, I had no experience on editing. I started with the Windows movie maker software on my PC. Through trial and error I became proficient enough to where I could take an hour of footage and edit it down to 2 to 3 minutes of good footage. Again, like everything else in the recruiting process it takes time.

Please take look at the URL I provided and take a look at footage I had put together.

Thanks