Highlight Films - What Matters?

One of the most critical tools you will use in the effort to have your student-athlete recruited by colleges is their highlight video, and I'd like to share some suggestion gleaned from conversations with college coaches.
Unfortunately, the 'market' for producing highlight videos has been taken over by hucksters and fast buck artists who misrepresent their services and take advantage of parents' pride and emotion. They justify charging the families outrageous amounts of money by putting together a flashy "MTV-style" video which does nothing but turn off a college coach.
These outfits are all over the Internet, and there's a likely chance that through your high school coach they will gain access to you to try and get your business. I've seen parents pay as much as $240 for a six minute video, with the vendor claiming they reviewed all their son's game films and selected the 'best plays'. Truth be told, they obtained the list of 'best plays' from the boys position coach who rates his players performance after every game during weekend film review. The finished product took less than an hour to produce.
But enough about that. Let's talk about what college coaches want and don't want.

DON'Ts
CONTENT - Music - no, No, NO! A typical coach receives several hundred highlight films (DVDs) each season, and has to sit and review them. He is likely in the 40 - 60 year age range, and has absolutely Zero interest in Rap Music, Heavy Metal, etc. Whatever his music taste, he wants to listen to it in his car, at home, etc. - not in an office that is probably shared with other coaches. I've had coaches tell me they refuse to watch any films with music, so the family's efforts have been for naught.
GRAPHICS - Scenes flying in and out, spinning images, etc. only serve to give the coach a headache at best and Vertigo at worst. Go easy on the coach's eyes - remember, he's viewing dozens of these per week.
CALL-OUTS - If your S-A is a lineman and you want to call attention to him before the play starts, do not use what I call the 'Perp' method; that is when the screen goes almost completely dark except for a 'halo' around your son. (Same method used to show criminal activity from security camera footage) The coach wants to not only see your son, but he wants to see how the Offense and Defense are lined up.
PACKAGING - One coach showed me his 'favorite' DVD case; on the cover was a picture of the student-athlete in jeans, without a shirt, and his thumb kid of tucked into his waistband with that 'come-hither' look. The coach called it soft-porn and was disgusted that the family would send out such a representation of a high school student athlete.
Your DVD will be stacked in a pile anyway, so don't go out of your way producing (or get charged for) hyped-up packaging.
MAILING - Do not send a blind DVD to a coach and hope he's just sitting around waiting to discover your student-athlete. Ain't gonna happen.

DO's
CONTENT - In my sales training I tell people - if you want your prospect to buy your product, make it easy for them to do business with you. In the same vein, if you want a coach to show interest in your son, make it easy for him. 1.) Organize plays - run similar plays in sequence on the video. (i.e. if your son is a DE, separate plays by Tackles, Sacks, Hurry-ups, Fumble Recovery, etc.) so there's a continuous stream. Have a Title come up before each section so the coach knows what he's about to see. (Runs; Receptions, etc.) 2.) One Ivy League coach told me that he appreciates having plays organized on the video so they they are not necessarily in game sequence but they are directionally oriented; in other words all the plays where your son is going left to right on the screen are together, then right to left. (1st and 3rd quarter; 2nd and 4th quarter)
GRAPHICS - The video should open with a headshot of your son, and a statistical recap - Academics first, then Season/Career stats afterwards. It should close with email and telephone contact information for the student-athlete as well as Mom and Dad. Plays should simply fade in and out, no fancy swirling stuff.
CALL OUTS - In order for a coach to locate your son on the line, using either an arrow or a circle around him are the best methods. These may not seem as 'high-tech' as the 'Perp' method, but are you trying to impress the coach with your son's skills or with technology? This way the coach can see the whole field clearly around your son and how the X's and O's are lined up. If there is a play that happens quickly and may be visually confusing, use Freeze Action in the video and add a caption to call attention to it. (I recently helped a family with their son's video and he batted down a pass; just before it happened the picture froze, a caption said 'Pass Batted Down' and then the video continued.)
PACKAGING - The cover of the DVD case should contain a simple smiling, casual picture of your son. No need for action still shots or snarling in uniform. You want the coach to see a nice, likable young man. Along with the photo, I would suggest listing his Academic and Season/Career stats. It's like the 'Contents' listing on food products!
MAILING - Prior to sending a DVD to a Coach, you should have had some kind of interaction with that coach. 1.) Make him aware that it is coming. 2.) Be sure to get the correct street address of the coaches' offices; on a large campus if its just sent to the school's address it could take a couple of days to get from the general mail room to the coach's office. 3.) Send it Priority Mail two day service. 4.) after several days make a follow-up call to the coach to ensure that he's received it. (That's all you want to ask, 'Has it arrived?' - don't bug him about 'what he thought'; let him get to it on his time frame)

Remember, if you are paying for video services - YOU - are the customer. Don't let some slick outfit play you into buying something that's overpriced which won't serve your son's interests!

POSTSCRIPT
I was cleaning out a file folder this afternoon and came across a cover letter sent to us by Columbia University's Texas Recruiter and it reminded me of another point. When the letter arrived last Fall, it had a blank DVD with the Columbia Lions logo on it, with three blank lines to write the player's Name, Hometown, and School. The letter stated that was the only format for DVDs that they would accept! See, these coaches know what they want.