You’ve probably heard it before: To get recruited, you need to create your online recruiting profile, or your athletic resume. But is it really necessary? If I’m good enough won’t coaches just find me? Wouldn’t it be just as easy to start firing emails out to college coaches? The answer: Creating your recruiting profile or athletic resume isn’t required to get recruited, but it’s one extremely helpful tool that makes it easier for more college coaches to recruit you.
In your online recruiting profile, you have the opportunity to promote yourself as a student-athlete, share your accomplishments and show coaches why they should recruit you—all in one convenient, easy-to-get-to place. And in the increasingly digital world of recruiting, coaches are looking for recruits online. If you don’t have an online presence through your recruiting profile, you’re cutting yourself off from a huge channel today’s coaches use to discover and evaluate recruits.
To help you better understand why recruiting profiles are so important, we’ve broken down each of the main components of your online profile.
Highlight or skills video: The first thing coaches want to see when evaluating a student-athlete
Your highlight or skills video gives coaches a good firsthand look at your athletic abilities. Because many coaches don’t have the time or the funding to travel around the country watching recruits compete, they rely heavily on video to evaluate recruits’ athleticism. In fact, most coaches won’t start recruiting an athlete until after they’ve seen their video. This is their first stop when they are looking at an online profile, so it’s imperative that you add your video as soon as possible.
Insider tip: You can host your video on a platform like Hudl, YouTube or Vimeo and add that link to your online recruiting profile. That way, you give coaches even more opportunities to watch your film. Videos are not just one and done. If your skills and size improve, you will want to add new video to your profile.
Strong, sport-specific key stats: Show off your top skillsets
For individual sports like swimming, track and cross country, coaches need to see your season bests and season averages. Don’t worry about sending them your complete list of meets or tournaments. If you’re in a team sport, coaches don’t need to see how well your team placed in a tournament. Keep the focus on you! Where applicable, include verified stats relevant to your sport. For example, football players can include 40-yard dash time, shuttle run, 3-cone drill, vertical jump, broad jump, bench press weight and squat weight.
Your list of upcoming events: Give coaches the opportunity to watch you compete in person
After reviewing your highlight or skills video and your stats, the next step for a college coach is to find a time to watch you compete in person. In your online recruiting profile, you can list your upcoming camps, tournaments and showcases. This is an easy way for coaches to see if your schedules match up.
Read the full article at: ncsasports.org
