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The days of mailing out DVDs to colleges or sports teams via snail mail, waiting to receive a letter in response, are gone. More and more soccer recruiters are looking online to search out talent.
Many soccer teams hire professional videographers to create their recruitment video. A lot of teams are also turning to Trace, which can film the entire team and break up the recordings into player-specific videos.
While these soccer recording systems make a powerful impression on recruiters, not every player can access those options. They can require a budget that individual players might not have. For soccer players who need to make their recruitment reels, here are some pointers that will catch a college recruiter's attention.
1. Keep It Concise
The average recruiter will watch dozens, if not hundreds, of videos, so keep your video short. Most recruiters will only watch the first couple of minutes of a video -- it shouldn't be any longer than 5 minutes. Since having such a short time to make an impression, keep your best highlights near the beginning.
Start the video with a slide that shows your name, school, and contact information. Try to include a combination of individual play and game clips. Think about what unique skills you have that will benefit the soccer team you're trying to get recruited by. Use this video to showcase those talents. Try talking to your coach to get advice on what to include in the footage.
End the video with another slide containing the information from the first slide, along with any championships or awards you've won and your player stats.
2. Keep the Video Simple
Don't over-complicate the video with too many special effects. If you use any clips of your games, highlight where you are in the video using simple effects like a spotlight. Spotlighting uses arrows or shading to highlight you in a crowd.
We genuinely recommend no background music, but if you are going to use music, make sure it's appropriate and doesn't overshadow your game clips.
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3. Use a Professional Account
If you're posting your video on Youtube, don't use your personal account - you know, the one where you look up cat videos or fail compilations. Instead, create a new Gmail account with a professional YouTube username, and post all of your recruitment videos there.
4. Post Consistently
If you've gone through all the trouble to get recruiters onto your YouTube page, you want to give them a reason to stick around. Add more videos to your account that they can check out. You're more likely to get a second look from them if there's more footage for them to check out.
Start by posting additional game footage shot with Trace. You might even consider doing themed videos, where you highlight different skill sets in each video or share soccer tips and best practices.
5. Get Inspiration from Other Players
Feel free to check out your competition. Watch other recruitment videos on YouTube from other soccer players to get ideas on composition and what skills to highlight.
And like on the field, don't give up. If you don't hear a response to your video within two weeks of sending it, follow up with the coaches via email. When you follow up, include a link to your video again. As you continue to play and improve, update your recruitment video, and continually send your most updated video.
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