Posting Video on YouTube

nepapitch,

My baseball son never posted pitching videos on YouTube, but my musician son has posted some music performances there.

But just thinking about how busy coaches are, I'm wondering if the private setting for your pitching video might cause coaches to have difficulty accessing it on the first try (maybe they are accessing from a different e-mail account, or don't notice that they have to enter a password, etc.). If they do have some difficulty, they may be in a hurry and just move on to the next e-mail. Unless you have a significant need for privacy, it might be better to just make the video public.

How about this idea:

If you want me to be a "test case" by trying to access your video and see if it is tricky to do so, send me a PM with the same info you would send to a college coach, and I'll give you my e-mail address to add to your list.

Best wishes!

Julie

Nepapitch,
Last summer my son had a DVD skills video made and then downloaded it to YouTube. Insted of mailing letters and DVD's to college coaches, he sent them all an email with his personal information and his interest in their school and copied/pasted the link to the email. All the coaches had to do was read his email and then click on the link to watch the video. He received responses to his email and it worked well. Hope this helps and good luck.

Thanks for the replies so far. Think we may just go the route of removing the private viewing option. Agree a coach may want to just click and watch vs. a log in. Next comes the task of the emails and new link to who it was sent.

We did a session recently where a college coach said don't bother us with CDs anymore -- just post to youtube.

Julie: Thanks for your offer!

I had considered having my son do a website with an access code that could be sent to coaches. The site would have his academics and baseball info along with a video.

I've decided against this. I think that there are some coaches that are computer literate and some that aren't. And there are some that may think this approach is an attempt to oversell a player's skills.

But most importantly, I think the Youtube video is lousy quality and on some computers it is really slow to load. Do coaches want to stare at a 3" square of grainy video, or would they rather watch a DVD of video that can be played on a full size TV (or a computer) with the ability to slow and freeze the action and still have a quality picture.

So, even though I liked the idea of not sending DVD's, we are going to make one in the next month that we can offer to coaches that haven't or can't see him play.

I think if I were back in the recruiting game I would create a free blog of my son using something similar to the this:
link
This can be isolated from search engines and can only be accessed if you provide the web address which could easily be linked in an email to a coach. Video quality is much better than youtube and allows you to provide any additional information about your son.

My experience was that many coaches liked getting the link to youtube. The ones that didn't probably weren't very computer literate, so instead of emails, regular letters with dvds were used. And some coaches won't respond no matter what you do (unless they are promoting a camp, in which they will respond within 5 minutes of a question!)

I think the youtube video (yes, less quality) is still very valid and alot can be gleened from it.

All these methods are good. We used DVD because it allowed more footage and the coach could pick what he wanted to view. There was a cover sheet with a short explanation of each video showing level of play and length of video.
It is important that the coach can keep it to view latter and it is a physical reminder. It is important to not cherry pick and only edit wasted footage. Also keep in mind you are not creating a home movie with all the music and video garbage.

BHD help me out. Could you explain:
1.

quote:

not creating a home movie with all the music and video garbage

What exactly is video garbage?

2.

quote:

We used DVD because it allowed more footage and the coach could pick what he wanted to view

Did your cover sheet reference different tasks -- like hitting, pitching, running and defense?

3.

quote:

It is important to not cherry pick and only edit wasted footage.

Are you saying DON'T pick the best and edit out the rest or DO pick the best and edit out the rest?

#1
No rocky type music Leave the game sounds. Video garbage is stuff like fading etc.


#2 Different tasks ? Yes but as a pitcher we showed things like pickoff move and fielding comebackers.

#3
we showed active high level games. In our case we didn't use any HS video. It is important to show a pitcher in tough spots and how he handles them. It is unrealistic to show only good games. a coach will see that you have cherry picked.

Just my opinion, but I the BHD is doing more than is necessary. Alot of coaches that I've talked to just want about 5 minutes of video so they can see what the kids looks like, what his swing is like, see if he's got good motion, etc.

I agree you don't need music or "video garbage" (I think he means special effects, transitions, etc.). Although I did put 2 slow motion spots in it.

We're not pros, so just some decent quality video should be ok.

Here's the link to my kid's video. Its certainly not perfect, but it gets the point across, for the most part.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q82CqWSwXgY


IMO, the video should generate interest so the coach wants to see more. He may not see everything in a video, but enough to become interested in furthering the process..

I can only tell you that I used video that I had recorded over a 2 year span. Once I chose which ones I wanted to use I transfered them to DVD and they appeared in a window on the computer screen. The coach could see the icons which showed how long they were and who the opponent was and what level it was. All they had to do was look at the cover sheet or just click a short version to see if they were interested. I had several coaches tell me they watched every min of the videos and asked for more during the season. The one coach was a former Yankee who evaluated pitchers for his college and said he enjoyed watching it. The college my son is at called immediately after viewing most of the video and his exact words were "We have to talk" An offer was couriered within 2 weeks after we hammered out the amount of BB money son would receive.
Do you need the 20 hrs or so of video that we had ? Probably not but it cost nothing to put them on the DVD. For a pitcher more can't hurt but only help. If the coach doesn't like what he sees after a short clip he can throw the video in the trash. I can tell you we had a great response and didn't go to showcases. I figured out that I spent about $7000 or less on all my son's BB since he was 9yo. Thats less than $800 per year.
Personally I would find it hard to get excited about a short video that I have no idea how good the competition is.

We've use YOUTUBE, its easy to upload and simple to send video links. Also, I don't add music or edit the video. It is what it is, the good and the bad.

GED10 YouTube Videos

GED10DaD

GOD loves catchers!!

Ive talked to a lot of coaches about this stuff. Most are computer literate at this point and if not they have someone on the coaching staff who is. The best advice I can give is to keep it short (5 min or less), edit it to keep the action moving, and try to show a players TOOLS. Use a radar gun or a stopwatch in the video to show things like pitching velocity, batspeed, or 60-time. Its hard to argue with a pro-style workout type of format. Thats what you'll wind up with going to a showcase. Id do game footage in a separate video. Some coaches dont bother with it because it is to difficult to gauge the competition level. A video isnt going to get anyone a scholarship, but to pique coaches interest enough to invite someone for a workout or come see them during the season. I also had many coaches tell me they use videos to eliminate players they may not think have the skill set they need when they seem them on video, so it cuts both ways.

We had several offers off video only. Never saw son in real action. The college my son is at never saw him until he stepped on campus 3 years ago.

wow i never really thought of posting on youtube, thats a great idea.
i speak to college coaches and they just want to personally see you do something regardless of who vouches for you and what relationship they have with that person

Fungo,
That was a GREAT idea. I created a blog in one afternoon and will be tweaking it along the way, but the rough draft is pretty functional. Just need to keep it from becoming cluttered, and update it as the season progresses.

quillgirl,
I currently have a "personal blog" that I share with my family and friends. I never used it for baseball because it wasn't around at the time my son was being recruited but I could see how it could work with schedules, stats, GPAs, video etc. One thing about this electronic media/recruiting environment --- it changes frequently. I don't think we need to be on the cutting edge of this revolution but I do think we should at least be aware of what's works in today's recruiting environment.
Fungo

quote:

Originally posted by quillgirl:
Fungo,
That was a GREAT idea. I created a blog in one afternoon and will be tweaking it along the way, but the rough draft is pretty functional. Just need to keep it from becoming cluttered, and update it as the season progresses.

I agree, great idea Fungo! I just set up a blog page to document the upcoming season, post game photo's etc. I did this one year for the High School basketball team in a local town website when I worked as the local HS sportswriter and the parents told me the kids enjoyed the game day stories and highlights and the parents did also. Many of them said they kept copies of the articles in a book to have for later years so they can travel back to their "glory days" !

We have a video links section within our site for our players to use, that will take many outputs, with one being youtube.

I think it is a great way for players to display their videos. It makes much more sense for coaches from a time standpoint to open a page/link, then to have a stack of videos in their office.

I would highly recommend it.

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