College coaches are eager to see you in action.  The best way to do this is to see you play in person; however, sometimes this isn’t always available.  Although your list of athletic accomplishments may be stellar, a dvd with footage of you playing soccer is a way to show coaches what you’re all about on the field.  Dvd’s are not always necessary, but if a coach requests one, you should try to provide it.  It does not need to be an elaborate, state-of-the-art video, so you can have a family member videotape you in action and avoid the added costs of hiring a professional.  If you and your family do not want the responsibility of creating homemade dvd’s, ask other members of your team if they are interested in creating recruitment tapes and would like to split the costs of hiring a professional.  This is a thrifty idea that will yield quality dvd’s.

Guidelines for Creating Your Own DVD:

• The entire tape should be no longer than 15 minutes.  College coaches can tell if they like what they see after a few minutes, so don’t discourage them by providing too much footage.  In addition, coaches receive loads of dvd’s, and they will be thankful if you keep your ‘s short.
• College coaches want to see everything you are capable of doing on the field.  Although you may be an excellent goalscorer, do not only show footage of you scoring goals.  Coaches want to see footage of different skills to get a sense of your versatility on the field - dribbling, defensive positioning, free kicks, throw-ins, sprinting – show it all.  Coaches even like to see how you react to mistakes on the field.  The best way to give coaches a comprehensive look at you on the field is to choose footage of an actual game.  This way coaches can see your skills, athleticism and speed during a real game.  It is also important as well for the coaches to be able to see your opposition and the level of competition in which you are participating against.  Tape several games so that you will have a variety  of segments from which to choose.
• If you choose to make your own tape, it may be helpful to use a tripod when filming to prevent jostling and shaking of the camera that will give anyone watching a headache.  A tripod will keep the camera stationary and will allow the recorder to focus on the game. If you are a goal keeper, you may want to include footage of you participating in various goal keeping drills.  Since goal keepers do not normally see a great amount of action during games, these drills will allow you to continuously demonstrate your skills in goal.  Make sure you diversify the drills you include in your tape to demonstrate your goal keeping skills on the ground, in the air, and your punting and throwing techniques.  In addition, you should include some footage of you in goal during a real game.  This footage allows college coaches to note your temperament and leadership during actual games.
• Also another way to consider getting game/skills footage to a college coach is through the abundance of technology available to everyone these days.  If you’re able to tape footage and either blog or use websites such as: YouTube to download your footage to, then you can include the web address in your initial email or letter so that the college coach has easy access to be able to review your footage this way, as opposed to sending it by dvd through mailing services.