Here is one thing you can do to help your kid get a college scholarship. I have about 12 things you can do but to keep this post short I’m only gonna start with one. I’ve been coaching for 15 years and a few of my guys are on college teams now. I’ve spent a ton of time thinking about this problem and talked with college recruiters and other coaches that have gotten a bunch of kids to college and compiled a list of things that parents can do to help get their kid a college scholarship. This also works for nearly any sport. Football, Basketball, Gymnastics, even Golf… It doesn’t matter which sport, recruiters are facing the huge task of finding the best athletes in the nation for their schools to give scholarships worth thousands of dollars.
The Parent, what you can do now?
Step1: Startup a YouTube Channel for your Kid.
Some parents might say this is crazy and they don’t want their kid online yet. I get it… just start the page and keep it private until they are older. You can also make it so that only people with the link are able to watch or just people with email addresses that you have specifically allowed.
Step 2: Post Video’s of your kid in practice, in competition, and a few just fun videos
It’s really up to you how many video’s you want to put up there. Try and keep them short and to the point. If sally got her double back today we want to have 3 or 4 turns. One or two where she’s close and then 1 or 2 when she nails it. We don’t need the entire 45 minutes of Floor that day if the main thing is her double back.
Quick Note:
The older the athlete the more videos you should post soon. If your kid is 15 or 16 you should get a few videos up now and make them public so that they can get on recruiters’ radar. If they are 18 it’s not too late. Hopefully you have some videos of them earlier in their career and you can get demo reel up with some highlights along with older competition videos. If your kid is only 6 one video every couple of months should be fine.
Why should you make a YouTube channel for your kid?
Reason #1 – This will give college recruiters a chance to get to know your kid better.
Let’s think of this from college recruiters point of view. They are looking through dozens or even hundreds of potential athletes. The thing nobody talks about is the skills are only half the battle. They need to find someone that has the right personality. Someone that is coachable. Someone that can have a bad day and then come back the next practice fired up and ready to overcome whatever obstacle was in their way.
Reason #2 – They will have a chance to show it to others and get feedback.
I haven’t met a recruiter yet that doesn’t have a team helping them. They are networking and talking with each other as well. If your kid has a video library then they can send it to colleagues or other coaches and get feedback. This is huge. Maybe they don’t have any spots open but they have a friend at another college that does.
Reason #3 – It gives them time to work on their schedule
If you are at a big competition and you need to meetup and evaluate a dozen athletes there is just not enough time. Remember they are being paid to go there by the college and they are probably on a really tight schedule. If you get a chance to talk with one and mention that you have a youtube channel that shows all the hard work Tommy has been doing over the last 8 years I guarantee they will ask for a link.
I hope this has helped,
-Coach Kyle