Prospect Meadows is an outstanding baseball complex in Marion, Iowa (my home state), featuring eight full-size fields.

The venue attracts top travel baseball teams from across the country (mostly the Midwest) for high-profile tournaments each summer and fall.

These tournaments are beneficial for college coaches because they can see a lot of players in one location.

Most, however, don’t attend tournaments like this to DISCOVER talent. They attend to watch players they ALREADY know about.

I’m not saying it’s impossible to attract attention from a college coach at one of these tournaments, but it’s unlikely.

You could have the game of your life, but go unnoticed if the coaches in attendance are watching a different game.

This begs the question:

How can you get on the radar of college coaches so they will want to see YOU play at these tournaments?

Here’s an important answer:

VIDEO!

College coaches generally don’t make recruiting DECISIONS based solely on video, but they DO use video to determine who they want to follow and see play in the future.

It’s critical to have a good video strategy for your recruiting process.

At College Athlete Advantage, we take a lot of this work off your hands (let me know if you’d like to learn more).

Here are some tips:

5 Video Tips for Your Recruiting Process

Have Skills Video AND Game Footage Available

Having BOTH skills video and game footage available for college coaches to view is important.

What’s the difference?

A skills video includes:

• Bullpen video for pitchers (show 4-5 reps of each pitch)

• Defensive video for catchers (include throws to 2B, receiving, and blocking)

• Ground ball reps for infielders (10-20 reps including all types of ground balls)

• Ground ball/fly ball reps for outfielders (include throws to 3B and home plate)

• Batting practice swings (15-20 reps)

Game footage includes:

• In-game pitches for pitchers (from behind home plate)

• Good at-bats for hitters

• Good defensive plays (more difficult to get)

• Stolen bases (more difficult to get)

Coaches look at skills videos to evaluate fundamentals and mechanics. This gives them a general sense for your skill set.

Coaches watch game footage to determine how your skill set translates to in-game performance.

Update your skills video at least once each year.

Constantly gather game footage. Put the best clips together into 1-2 minute videos to send to college coaches periodically.

You DON’T Need Fancy Equipment

You DON’T need fancy equipment to capture and create good videos.

I use:

• iPad (for skills videos)

• iPhone (for game footage)

• iMovie (for video editing)

I also purchased a tripod that holds my iPad when filming pitchers, catchers, and hitters.

Edit Your Video Clips

Coaches don’t want to wait through dead time between reps when watching video.

Use iMovie or another video editing application to cut out the dead time. This is especially important for game clips.

Cut out the following:

• Pitching - Getting the sign from the catcher and the catcher throwing the ball back to the pitcher

• Hitting - Any pitch you don’t swing at

• Baserunning - Jogging around the bases after a home run

• Etc.

Keep Your Videos Short

Time is a precious commodity for college coaches. They don’t have time to watch long recruiting videos, nor to do they need to.

Coaches can see what they need in 1-2 minutes (assuming the videos are edited to include plenty of reps).

Keep it short!

Update Your Videos Often

Your videos should accurately portray your CURRENT skill set, which will (hopefully) improve as you progress through high school.

Update your skills videos AT LEAST once a year (more often if you make significant improvements in a short time).

Have your parents/coaches capture game footage at every game so you have a large library of clips.

Capturing and editing video takes time and effort. It WILL get tedious, but the work is necessary.

Coaches often make their initial evaluations based on video, so it’s critical to have good video available.

Finding your best college fit is important!

The work is worth it!

Thank you for reading!

Feel free to reply/comment with any questions and/or insights.

All the best!

- Matt

P.S. If you'd like to schedule a free consultation with me to discuss your specific recruiting process, reply to this email or sent me a text at 319-883-0242.