<p>Regarding the tape - can I take the video or do we need a professional to do it?</p>
<p>I would say that it depends how good you are with the camera. The important thing is that that the coach is able to evaluate your son without being distracted by problems with the recording. We used actual tape four years ago without a problem, but I’m wondering if coaches have not switched entirely to DVD by now. I just don’t know.</p>
<p>About the films…</p>
<p>I’m frugal and decided to make the video myself. I recommend renting a good high def camera (there are good deals online for this) if you don’t already own one or have one you can borrow. The camera work is the easy part, but let’s just say I learned a lot when I had to teach myself how to transfer the film onto the computer, edit it, and make a cd. I couldn’t even begin to figure out how to make a dvd, but most coaches seem fine with playing a cd on their computer. </p>
<p>FWIW, for soccer, we did mostly highlights, and some longer chunks of footage. But for basketball, longer footage is probably a lot better because you can see the action up close and every player is essentially in on nearly every play. Soccer footage can get a bit dull if your player isn’t in the action and is way on the other side of the field.</p>
<p>You might find a high school kid who is very tech-savvy and would do this for not too much money. But if you hire the pros, they charge a lot for this service.</p>
<p>Thanks for the information. As soon as the fall season begins (two weeks), I will attempt filming. I will have one of my son’s computer savey friends transfer to a CD (that should be fun). </p>
<p>If it is a disaster, I will look into a pro. I hate to spend the money if the coaches are not really interested. I guess it is worth a try. My son really wants to play in college.</p>
<p>EMM1 - At your suggestion (item 1 above) I called my son’s high school coach. I swore him to silence becasue my son would kill me for speaking to the coach. I asked his high school coach for a frank assessment of my son’s abililities. He thinks my son definitely has the ability for DIV III and should play college ball. So I guess we will attemp items 2, 3 and 4 above. The fun begins!</p>
<p>Doesn’t your high school tape all of their games? The coach can let you have/make a copy which Costco can transfer onto the appropriate CD/DVD. It just needs to be good enough that the coach doesn’t get irritated by it and throw it out without watching your son. </p>
<p>Your son can send a letter with tape/DVD to any school he is interested in playing for. Include an unofficial transcript and any SAT/ACT scores. Give them the number of the HS coach after making sure he will give your son a glowing review. Coaches want to know who they are recruiting… good character, work ethic, etc. Your son can find a school to play in but make sure it is a school he would love even if he ends up never being able to play a minute of basketball. Good luck. Post an update later.</p>
<p>We were lucky in that my daughter’s coach made all of her dvd’s. He used footage from her previous meets and practices and made a very nice montage of all of her events, along with her practicing newer skills. He then helped her put together a cover letter and “resume” of all of her meet scores and accomplishments. This was sent out to almost 40 schools. At least I know what to do for my son…I just don’t know how I’m going to do it on my own!!! Is there a specific program for creating the DVD/CD? I have lots of “clips” of games that I’ve taped on my digital cameral (they came out surprisingly well), as well as some full game DVD’s that I need to gleen clips from. How do you put all of these together into one disc? It’s my plan to get all of these out by the end of his fall hs season (he is a junior), which is pushing it for some of the DI’s, but he has already been in contact and has been seen by a lot of schools.</p>
<p>keylyme - you are so lucky to have had such a great coach! I’m hardly qualified to answer your question about the DIY version, except that I spent a ridiculous amount of time teaching myself to do it. If you have the time and patience, I think the easiest thing is to just use Windows Moviemaker - it’s probably already on your computer. I went online to find tutorials about importing digital film to the computer. Then Moviemaker allows you to select clips and splice them together to make a finished movie. Selecting clips was time-consuming, but once I mastered the technique, I felt pretty confident that it would work. I did sort of a rough cut and then turned my D loose on it - she axed a lot of the clips that I thought were decent, but that was good because it kept the film short (about 14 minutes total). You can add narration, background music, title slides, etc., so the end result can be pretty nice, if you have adequate footage to work with. Once the movie is finalized, you save it to a cd, and pop it in the mail. </p>
<p>If you use a Mac, there’s probably some miraculous program that makes the movie for you, but I wouldn’t know about that. For PC’s, there are lots of options if you want to buy a more sophisticated piece of software. I didn’t do that; my son told me the learning curve would be too high, and I should keep it simple by using moviemaker.</p>
<p>My son’s varsity coach left after his junior year - not very enthusiastic - never filmed any of the games. His new varsity coach is extremely different and I am sure he will have someone filming all of the games. I am not sure if that will be too late for my son.</p>
<p>Just make a regular tape with whatever camera you have and send it ot. You have nothing to lose. Have your son research schools and the teams before he contacts the coaches. By research the team, I mean that he should know who is graduating at what position (look up the roster online) and what spots are available at his position. He should let the coach know he isn’t mailing out letters to random schools. Personalize each one and offer to visit the school to meet the coach. Tell them you are visiting for academic reasons and would like to stop by and say hello. If playing at the college level does not work out, your son can try to become a team manager at a higher level conference. That is a great way to learn all sorts of skills, meet influential alumnus, and get experience for a potential career in sports (coaching, marketing, etc.) Hey, if you never take the shot, you never have the opportunity to score.</p>
<p>I think that phone calls are better than letters.</p>
<p>Yes, talking is better. Sometimes it is easier to get a call through if they already have an idea of who is on the other end of the phone. Recruits will have an easier time if they call the basketball office and ask to speak to the assistant coach in charge of recruiting.</p>