Video is the crux of the recruiting process. It’s the key to the car, the legend to the map, the battery to the remote, and whatever other analogy you would like to make for a catalyst.
In a previous post, we noted the first steps of video – including a plan best for obtaining and putting it to use. But now that you are ready to distribute your video, how do you go about this?
Here are three steps to video ensure your distribution will put you in the best position possible.
1. What to Distribute
Simply, it’s vital to ensure you are not only sending a coach your athletic information (e.g., highlight reel) but also your academic information as well (e.g., transcript).
Here’s where to start. Create a target list of about 15-20 schools. Vary the list, getting a mix of schools varying in size, region and academic selectivity – and run that list by a trusted resource (like a club or high school coach) to ensure you are on the right track.
Once you feel good about the list and have done the research into the schools, and reach out to those coaches! Alert them of your interest in their school (NOT just athletic program), send them pertinent academic information and your highlight reel.
It’s vital to include both your highlight reel and your academic information. A coach needs everything they can get to evaluate you, so be sure you are not making them look for your information.
Not sure what to say? Here are a few pointers.
2. When to Distribute
It is vital to reach out to a coach before you are attending an event! It’s the only way to get on their radar before they attend, and if they are interested, it’s a way to increase the chances they see you play on that day.
Don’t rely on chance to be seen! In this way, the timing of your email of interest is vital. Give a coach enough time to evaluate you and increase your chances!
If it’s not event season, another good time to reach out is anytime you have updated information – say, a new quarter’s worth of grades, or an updated highlight reel. You don’t want to annoy a coach, so ensure any time you are reaching out, you are supplying them with new information that will help them recruit you.
3. How to Distribute
It’s vital your process and correspondences are organized. For one, you don’t want to have six attachments on an email and hope a coach clicks on them, and you also don’t want to risk forgetting to attach something and having to resend the information – not exactly a good first impression.
We are obviously partial to online platforms (like this one) that can organize your information in one easy-to-access link, lines it up so nothing gets lost in the margins and allows you to track which coaches saw your information, furthering informing your process.
But however you choose to attack, it’s vital to be organized and make like on the coach as simple as possible.