Local resident captures athletes at their best
by Tracy Dudley
Since Kevin Brown moved to Castle Pines North in 1998, he has coached local baseball from t-ball to competitive teams at Rock Canyon High School. However, this will be his first year without coaching, as he is now focusing on helping student athletes with their college recruiting by way of highlight video production and key strategies in marketing to college coaches.
“After going through the college recruiting process with my son, I learned quickly that there is a big void in the Colorado college athletic recruiting process. Student athletes are working hard to market their talents, but 95 percent of these athletes don’t have highlight videos for college coaches and recruiters to view.”
Rapid advances in technology, combined with a weakened economy and budget cuts, are forcing college coaches and recruiters to travel less and rely on the internet more.
Consequently, several online recruiting sites are cropping up for college-bound kids to market themselves. And, while good grades and academic performance speak for themselves, coaches who view student profiles online have no demonstrative evidence of athletic talent without high quality skills and highlight videos.
“I am simply amazed at the number of athletes who don’t have any video footage to view. These students are working hard to market themselves, but it is a futile effort without the skills and highlights video,” said Brown, “Highlight videos are the most critical tools for students to market their talents. Without these, coaches and recruiters don’t have anything to judge athletes on.”
According to Brown, it takes a trained eye to know what coaches want to see. Football coaches require game footage and want to see a few complete series, including skills footage for specific positions only. Meanwhile, baseball coaches require skills footage only, no game highlights, and strict attention to specific camera angles.
“Each sport has specific video requirements that I am familiar with. My coaching background helps me when shooting video footage because I know what coaches are looking for—not just sport specific skills, but everything from overall athleticism and hustle to specific footwork and fundamentals. It’s important to capture the complete package.”
Because college coaches have to sift through hundreds of letters and DVDs, athletes with online videos stand a greater chance of catching a coach’s attention and eliciting a response.
For more information about Brown’s company, Coaches View Productions, visit www.coachesviewproductions.com.
