How to Create & Submit a Highlight Reel

If you want to play college soccer, it’s your responsibility to put yourself on the radar of college coaches. How do you do this? By reaching out to the coach and providing hard evidence of your skills, athleticism, and soccer IQ.

This is the purpose of a highlight reel, a key component of a soccer resume. Many college coaches use highlight reels to discover and evaluate potential recruits, partially because they don’t have the budget to travel across the country and see as many athletes as they want to perform in person.  

For this reason, your chances of getting recruited are much higher if coaches can get an accurate first impression of your strengths and playing style from video footage.

Here are a few tips for creating a quality highlight reel:

Demonstrate a Variety of Strengths

Contrary to what the name suggests, a highlight reel shouldn’t just include your fanciest moments on the field, like scoring goals. Is this the only way you contribute to your team’s success? 

Different clips of you scoring goals doesn’t paint an accurate picture of your overall playing style, nor does it help you stand out from other players. So, this isn’t exactly what coaches are looking for in a highlight reel.

What coaches do want to see is you showcasing a variety of strengths during play. This shows that you’re a well-rounded player who understands the different demands of their position. For example, a midfielder should include clips of their ball-distribution, turning out of pressure as well as clips of their ability to close off passing lanes. Likewise, a defender should include clips of them winning balls back from attackers, as well as clips of them using their distribution skills to start the attack.

Show Your Commitment to the Team

Coaches gravitate towards players who put the team first, as opposed to only thinking of themselves. A great example would be a clip of you shifting back to cover a teammate’s spot on defense.

Yes, this clip might not seem very exciting to the average person. But coaches know that the most important plays in a soccer game often go unnoticed by spectators because they require a highly trained eye. So, if you’re smart enough to include moments like these in your highlight reel, coaches will be impressed by your understanding of the game, not to mention your willingness to help out your teammates.

Keep Your Highlight Reel Short

Coaches get sent countless highlight reels, so even if you have 17 minutes of worthy clips, they’ll have a feel for you as a player after a few minutes. Keep your highlight reel short, ideally no more than three minutes in length. Also, don’t save your best moments for the end of the video, like the climax to a movie. Remember that your highlight reel is for you to make a first impression, and the first two or three clips are the first part of that first impression – lead with the clips you absolutely want them to see.

But before you get to the clips, it’s crucial to start your highlight reel with an introduction. You can do something simple, like a brief text with basic information like name, height/weight, positions played, GPA, graduation year, and contact information.

Make Yourself Visible

Most game footage is captured from a high angle, and often the video looks grainy. To make sure coaches know where you are in your clips, add a circle or an arrow that indicates exactly which player the coach should be watching. We recommend starting each clip with a pause for a second or two, so you can place a circle around yourself before the action takes place. This can dramatically improve the clarity of your highlight reel, and coaches will get a more clear understanding of you as a player.

At Beyond Goals Mentoring, we know that high-level athletes aren’t video production experts. That’s why we’re dedicated to guiding young athletes through the various steps of the college recruitment process.

So, if your athlete is looking to take their game to the next level, let’s set up a mentoring session today.