NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

Video is incredibly important for just about every sport, but in order for it to be beneficial to a coach, it has to be done properly. For field players, you always want to use game footage. Generally, combining one or two games will be sufficient for a highlight video. Skills footage will not be helpful for a coach to evaluate you. Keepers should have half game footage and half skills footage for coaches to be able to fully evaluate you.

How to Film you games:

- Tape from a high perspective when possible (at least several feet from the ground).We highly recommend the use of a tripod as well.
-Do not zoom in and out. The wider the angle the better; coaches want to see the start of the play, the full development and finish. If you are zoomed in so much that they can’t see all of this, the evaluation will be very difficult.
-Imagine the field separated into thirds (offensive, middle, defensive). When the ball is in the offensive or defensive third of the field, film the entire 18-yard box and beyond. When the ball is in the middle of the field, film the entire middle third.
-Show enough of the field so that we are able to see the player’s vision, runs with and without the ball, use of space, combinations with teammates, etc.
-Coaches want to see the progression of each play so you need a wide enough angle to capture multiple players, but they also want to see foot skills and technical abilities so do not lose focus on the primary player you are recording.

Position Specific:

For field players, you should focus on the following for your footage:

-Shooting: High, middle and low shots on goal, both stationary and driven shots
-Stick Skills: Handling the ball under pressure from another player as well as unguarded
-Passing: Show 5 repetitions of each lateral and forward passing, as well as 5 repetitions each of the player receiving lateral and forward passes
-Off-Hand: Repeat shooting and passing skills with your off hand (left hand for
right handed players and vice versa)

For goalies, coaches will want to evaluate the following:

Shots: Show someone shooting on you. Vary the shots and highlight your ability to cover shots on the ground, at the crossbar and in the corners.
Clearing: Show yourself clearing the ball from the goal and from outside the goal in the crease

Video is especially important in recruiting when a coach can’t see you play live. If you follow these tips, you will create a quality video and coaches will be able to give you a proper evaluation.

A constant complaint that I hear from high school students and their parents is that they do not have enough time to make recruiting a priority. I’ve been through the recruiting process myself and I know that it is very difficult to fit everything in, but that it is possible. To start, you must be extremely disciplined and accept that you may need to make sacrifices in order to reach your goal of playing college soccer. It’s not easy to play soccer at the next level and that’s why it isn’t for everyone. Opportunities aren’t going to be handed to you, so if playing soccer in college is important enough to you, you need to find the time now to work towards achieving your dream.There are 24 hours in each day which means 168 hours in each week. Of those hours, you should be spending a minimum of one to two hours per week on your recruiting, but ideally you should create time to dedicate three to four hours each week. That isn’t much time when you consider you have 168 hours to choose from. Several of these hours will naturally be taken up with sleep, school, practice, and homework, but those tasks will not account for all of your hours. When you are out of season, you should be devoting more time to your recruiting as well.

You may need to spend less time watching TV, playing video games or hanging out with your friends each week in order to have spare time for recruiting work. Re-adjusting your sleep schedule might be an option for you as well. You could most likely stay up a little later a few nights a week or schedule fewer plans on the weekend in order to have time to research schools or contact a few coaches each week. For athletes who play multiple sports, you may find that giving up your secondary sport in order to have more time to concentrate on your soccer recruiting would make the most sense for you. This is not necessary for everyone, but some athletes find that this is a good option.

It is a good idea to prioritize everything that you need to get done each week and find out what you need to spend time on and what should be considered more of a luxury activity.
In your waking hours each week, this is ideally how things should be ordered in terms of importance:

-Family
-School and homework
-Practice, games and workouts
-Recruiting (researching and contacting coaches)
-Hanging out with friends
-Going to events for entertainment
-Watching TV, playing video games, playing on the computer

Learning self discipline and prioritization now puts you a step ahead of your peers who will not be playing sports in college. Prioritizing is something that you will have to do throughout the rest of your life and you are getting good practice early on. The more time you can spend researching schools and establishing contacts, the better. Consider recruiting an extra class and treat it the same way you would an assignment. If you research a total of 50 schools, you will have a better idea of what you are looking for in a school than if you had only researched 10. The more coaches that want you on their team, the more options you will have in the end and the more room you have to negotiate with coaches. Just like anything else, the more work you put into your own recruiting process and the fewer excuses you make about not having enough time, the more you will get out of the process as a whole.

How valuable is a swing video?  Golf is a game where numbers do the talking very similar to track.  There are hundreds of golfers that are shooting very similar scores and carry comparable handicaps.  What a swing video will do will show the college coach what they will be working with if you were to end up on their roster.  Coaches are looking for your technique and by able to see it on film it will allow them to determine if they will be able to work with you and help you continue to grow as a player.  If there is a hitch in your swing they will feel confident that their expertise and guidance over a 4 year span will be enough to maximize your potential. A video is just another tool to have in your toolbox when it comes to your recruiting.

Do I have to play in a warm weather climate? What a great question for future collegiate golfers.  Of course it is very attractive to play in a climate where you can play anytime you want but how much of an impact should it have on your college decision? One thing to keep in mind is that most golfers want to head south or west to compete at the next level and this allows the schools to be extremely selective of who they will recruit. Let’s look at things from a different side.  Playing in a cold climate should allow you to focus on your academics as playing golf should be your 2^nd priority.  An unforgettable moment that usually happens at cold climate schools are the spring trips that often head down south or out west.  Spending a week with your team is a great bonding experience and a time that you will never forget. Often men and women teams travel together and it really is able to bring out the golf family at the college.  These trips allow the teams to enjoy the weather and overall experience since warm weather schools don’t need to go on these trips.  Friendships and memories last a lifetime and often are established on these trips.  Golf is a distant 2^nd to education and weather is something that should have a minor impact on your school selection as you are looking at the total package and not just golf.

Can Tennis Academies boost my game?  The answer is absolutely.  Enrolling at an academy such as IMG Academies or Saddlebrook will allow the player to triple the amount of balls that they are hitting on a daily basis.  Tennis is a repetition and rhythm game and being on the court for 6 hours a day can rapidly improve ones game.  On top of the additional repetitions the players will be focusing on their conditioning and footwork with coaches that specify on it. The talent level at the Academies is so deep and broken down to equal groups that the athlete is competing at a level that is only going to challenge and improve them.  Something else to keep in mind is that it allows the student-athlete to interact with players who have a driven mentality as they will at the college level.  The academy atmosphere will prepare the player for the next level.  Academies aren’t for everyone but it is something that is worth considering.

How important is playing USTA?  It is essential that if you want to be a serious recruit that you are playing in tournaments outside of your high school season.  Elite players are found at these tournaments and the only way that you are going to improve is by playing players that are better than you.  Sure, it looks great to have a 22-3 high school season but this isn’t what coaches are looking at.  They are looking at who you beat in tournaments and who your opponents have beaten.  They don’t expect you to travel around the country but in order for them to evaluate you it makes it easier for them to follow your tournament results. A loss in a tournament against a player that you aren’t expected to beat goes a lot further than 5 wins in high school matches that don’t challenge you.

Should I run in multiple events or focus on my top event?  This can have a few angles to it as the most important thing to keep in mind is that track is still considered a team sport at the collegiate level.  By you being able to compete in multiple events it makes you more of a team player and from the coaching perspective it makes the job easier with flexible athletes.  There are not enough of scholarships to provide each performer in every event so being able to compete in more than one could increase your chances. 

On the flip side, being able to put all of your attention on your best event could increase your chances of earning a scholarship since your times would be stronger due to your sole focus on the event.  From the team’s perspective if you can excel in one event then you could be earning more team points since you will be a strong competitor.  There is no correct answer to the question but it is definitely something to think about.

Why have I not been offered yet?  One thing to keep in mind when it comes to the recruitment of track student-athletes is that it develops later than any other sport.  Often, coaches will wait until after signing day in early February to evaluate Indoor times and statistics to see if the athlete has made the improvements as the coach has projected they would from the previous year. Coaches do follow times of underclassman but wait to see if they have peaked or not before offering.  If you are a track athlete and your friends have received offers from schools but they are baseball or football players it does not mean that you will not get an offer.  It is crucial to keep in mind that the recruitment for all sports is different and for track the one word needs t.  Use this information to push yourself through your senior year.

College coaches want to watch quality video when evaluating recruits.  Please look at the following guidelines when filing wrestling matches. 

How to Film:
1) Include time between rounds and referee re-sets. Coaches want to see you wrestle, but they also want to see how you react to coaching between rounds, if you hustle back to the center when the referee calls out-of-bounds, your sportsmanship, and overall demeanor (i.e. high head and confidence even if you are behind).
2) Continue to film from the moment you step on the mat until you step off, even if the match hits a few slow spots. 
3)  Do not zoom in too close or try to show facial expressions. Focus on the three key elements: yourself, your opponent and the referee.
4) Try to capture as much of the mat as possible, including the referee.
5) If possible, film the individual, not team score board. If capturing the score board requires you to zoom too far out, film the score board between rounds instead. Show the final score on the scoreboard.

Please keep in mind that coaches might request both a highlight video and/or full matches.  Make sure that you are prepared!

First you need to decide whether you are attending the camp for evaluation purposes or training purposes.

If you are attending for training:
1. Do some research on the coaching staff. How much experience do they have? How successful have these coaches been? Do they have a reputation for producing great wrestlers? Who is actually going to be coaching at the camp? Often times you will find a college camps, but the head/asst coaches are not doing any of the training for it.
2. Consider how they actually run the camp. Are you with wrestlers your age and ability level? Do they run the camp at a fast pace? Are you getting personal attention?
3. You may want to talk to someone who has attended the camp before signing up.

If you are attending the camp for exposure:
1. Choose to go to camp at a school where the coach is recruiting you.
2. Find out where you are on the recruiting list, how interested are they in you before you attend the camp. Be sure that you KNOW this coach is interested before investing your time and money to go.
3. Most college coaches attending the camp already have a list of student-athletes they are looking at – if you are not on that list it is not likely they will be looking at you.
4. Be sure the school is a realistic fit.
5. You are not likely the only recruit they are inviting to the camp.
6. Do not expect to be discovered at the camp.
7. Be sure to ask the coach whether the camp you are attending is an “Elite” level camp and not for just anyone.
8. If you do attend and have a list of the coaches that will be attending, I highly recommend that you research the college each coach is from, contact them, and let them know that you will be attending.