Loom Video is a game changer for athletes who are serious about getting recruited.
The odds of getting recruited are stacked against your child.
Make no mistake: Recruiting is a competition, an incredibly tough competition. There are 8 million high school athletes in United States, not to mention the rest of the world. Only 480,000, or 6% of U.S. high school athletes will compete at the college level. Only 2% receive any kind of athletic scholarship.
Who gets recruited?
The athletes who go above and beyond the other athletes win the recruiting game. Help your athlete do everything they can to set themselves apart from the competition.
Developing relationships with college coaches and letting them know who your child is should be their primary goal. Coaches don’t recruit just by numbers. They recruit athletes they know. They recruit athletes who show how much they want to be at their school and in their program.
To get recruited, your child needs to stand out. They need to do things other high school kids are not. They need to let coaches see their personality.
Introducing Loom Video: a real game changer.
Loom is a personal video message delivered through email.
Consider this: College coaches at small schools receive hundreds of emails from high school athletes per year. Coaches at name brand schools receive thousands of emails per year. The majority of these emails don’t get opened. Those that do, fall into two categories. First, an email that looks like it is a mass email is immediately trashed. The second category are emails with a good introduction and a resume. The initial email has about 5 seconds to impress a coach or it is in the trash.
What if you change the game? Instead of just another email, your child can send a short video message introducing themselves. I promise it will stand out. The coach will take one minute to watch. They may even watch it twice or talk about it. They will notice of your kid.
Use Loom Video as a brief introduction.
Have your child include a brief intro about themselves: name, grad year, and position. Don’t go into every detail. Your child can attach a resume for the details.
Why do they love the sport? Is it their passion? Give reasons they want to play in college.
Why this college and this coach? Talk about the college and why your child wants to be part of their program. Everybody loves to hear about themselves and know why you are interested in them (even coaches).
For your child’s first Loom, this is all it should contain.
How long should the Loom Video be?
Between 1-2 minutes. Don’t go longer than 2 minutes, no matter what. Say everything in less than 120 seconds. Your athlete will have other opportunities to share more.
What you should NOT include in a Loom Video.
The Loom Video is meant to be a brief introduction to your child. Think of it like a 120 second job interview. Your child’s personality should come across while keeping it professional. Therefore, there are a lot of things you should never include in a Loom video.
First, leave out game film and highlights. There is an appropriate time to share these with coaches, but not in an introductory video. The Loom video should be your child, in front of the camera, introducing themselves in real time.
Next, never let your child brag about what a great athlete they are. Would you be impressed by 120 seconds of boasting if you were watching someone else’s kid? Use the Loom video to get the coach to take a look at your athlete. Then the coach will form their own opinion. Your child can prove their value as a player. The kids who brag are never the best ones on the field – and coaches know it. Help your child communicate their accomplishments without boasting. And never let your child over-sell themselves.
Finally, and this should go without saying, keep the Loom video clean. No profanity. Nothing suggestive. No trash talking others. These will get the coaches talking, but not in a good way. College coaches hate these and they guarantee the coach won’t open another email from you. Have your child clean up all social media accounts. Coaches check those and inappropriate content is a quick way to get your name scratched off the list. Let your child’s personality come across, but keep it clean.
If you keep in mind that the video is like a 120 second job interview, you and your child can create a video that will have coaches talking – in a good way.
Should you send more than one Loom video?
Yes. Through the months and years of the recruiting process you can mix Loom messages in with your child’s regular emails. Future Looms should be sent with one specific theme and should be under 90 seconds. Talk with your child and decide what to include in each video, making sure your child’s personality comes across. Here are some possible options:
• What they like to do outside of sport
• Talk about family
• Watch a college game online or in person and tell the coach three things they saw and liked. Never go negative or critique!
• What are their goals in life outside of sport: major, career, etc. and how the college can help
Why most of your kids won’t use Loom Video.
It takes work and it is something new. It is putting themselves out there in front of an adult. Using social media with friends is easy. Using social media to market themselves to college coaches is entirely different. Your kids will feel self-conscious.
Most of your kids will plug along in the midst of a crowded field. You will encourage your child to play hard, hoping to compete in college and hoping to get a scholarship. Hope is your game plan. Don’t complain when your athlete doesn’t achieve their goal of playing in college.
To the handful of parents and high school kids who will listen: You can set yourself apart, simply because most athletes won’t bother. You will have to put in some work to prepare a topic for each video. You will have to practice a couple times until the video flows well. How is that different from what you do every day with your sport?
The cream always rises to the top. The athletes who work the hardest are most often the ones who succeed and achieve their dreams.
The basics about Loom Video.
• You need a Gmail account. Loom is a Google product.
• It is Free.
• It is incredibly simple to use.
• Unfortunately, Loom is only compatible with Google Chrome because it is a Google product. The coach does not need to use Chrome to watch the Loom video.
How to set up Loom Video.
1. Go to https://www.useloom.com/
2. Click on Get Loom for Free button in the upper right corner.
3. Click Install on Chrome. This will add it to the tool bar at the top.
Now create your Loom Video.
1. Go to your Gmail account.
2. Click on the Loom icon in the tool bar at the top of the page.
3. Click Record and start talking.
4. Share your video to an email. You can type in the email just like normal.
5. Title the email so the coach wants to open it. Example: Coach Johnson here is why I want to be part of your program.
It literally takes seconds to make this all happen, unless you are like me and it takes 15 minutes. I will record the video over and over until I am happy with it.
Have your child take the extra time to record a separate video for each coach they contact. The wow-factor comes from an individualized video that mentions both the coach and school by name. If your child is contacting a program through an assistant coach who handles recruiting, mention both the assistant and the head coach in the same video. Although your child will ultimately play for the head coach, they need to impress both coaches.
Why Loom is a game changer!
Your child will set themselves apart. They will show clear interest to the coach. I wouldn’t be surprised if the coach you send it to so impressed they watch it more than once and mention it to other coaches or their spouse at home. When I received a Loom from somebody the first time, I watched it three times and then I showed my wife and had her watch it. I have discussed it countless times with people. That individual has set themselves apart as a go-getter in my mind.
How you use Loom Video is totally up to you and your child. If you are one of the few who are willing to go above and beyond because you want to play in college that badly, go for it. Be creative – but remember your Loom Video is like a 120 second job interview.
If you are really bold I would love to have you post your video on The Recruiting Code FB group. If that is too much, send me the video through email. You can even practice on me if you want, therecruitingcode@gmail.com.