Welcome to the Kings Hammer March College Recruiting Newsletter! The club is excited to work with you to accomplish all of your player’s goals for this upcoming soccer year, on and off of the soccer field. Each month, we will be providing this resource to help you navigate the craziness that is the college recruiting process. We hope you find value in this newsletter and we are excited to assist in this exciting process for your family!

This month’s College Recruiting Newsletter will explore the Do’s and Do Not’s of making a highlight video and discuss the importance of asking ourselves “What is my Why”.

Creating a Highlight Video

College coaches are always looking for players to improve their rosters and recruiting classes, and one of the easiest and quickest ways to catch a coach’s attention anywhere and anytime is by putting together and sending a highlight video of yourself.  More than ever before, creating a highlight video that helps you stand out as a player can be a tremendous asset for players. Below are five strategies to consider when creating your highlight video to help you stand out from the crowd!

Start your video strong – Some coaches receive dozens of highlight videos each day, so it is important that you highlight your best qualities and clips right away. Make a positive impression by leading your video with your top plays.

Keep it Short – It is better to include too little and leave the coach wanting more film as opposed to including too much and the coach losing interest. Involve your best moments and try to keep your video to 3-5 minutes tops. If a coach sends a response asking for more film, your video was a hit!

Include All Phases of the Game – As a forward, it is important to showcase your goalscoring ability. But are you dominant in the air? A good pressing player? Can you fly past players with your speed? Do your best to show yourself doing a variety of things in different areas on the field.

Highlight yourself – Make things easy on the coach by highlighting yourself in each clip. By keeping the focus on you, you keep the attention of the coach. You can highlight yourself by using an arrow, circle, spotlight, or many other tools.

Include Contact Info – At the beginning and end of your video, include contact information to help assist the college coach in reaching out to you, or any references you may have. Ultimately, your willingness to get your video to as many coaches as possible and your work ethic in following-up, asking questions, and communicating will assist in building relationships with college coaches (we will discuss this in a later newsletter). However, nothing gets the relationship off to a better start than having an eye-catching highlight video. The above tips should assist you in creating a video reel that gets you on the radar of your dream school and one step closer to playing collegiate soccer!

Personal Development – What is my why?

Hopefully you have been following along on previous Personal Development suggestions (if not you can find past Newsletters on our website.) If so, you should have a list of goals that you are aspiring to accomplish this year as well as a list of core values that are important to you and will help guide you in your everyday life. This section of our newsletter will help us to try to tie both of those ideas together with one sentence that you can view as your own personal mission statement that motivates, inspires, and guides you during whatever life may throw at you.

Before we dive into developing your mission statement, ask yourself this question: “What is my Why?” Your own personal why refers to your sense of purpose, a culmination of your values and goals that allows you to focus your efforts on what matters most, compelling you to take risks and push forward regardless of the odds or challenges. If you are sitting here reading this thinking “I have no idea what my life’s purpose is,” you are not alone. In all reality, many people much older than you probably have the same answer! While you may not know your life’s purpose or your why right now, here are four questions that you can ask yourself from Forbes magazine that can help you get a little bit closer.

1. What makes you come alive? Think about what you are passionate about.
2. What are your innate strengths? Think about the things you’ve always been good at.
3. Where do you add the most value? Think about the problems you really enjoy solving.
4. How will you measure your life? Think about the things you want the most.

Take some time to answer the above questions. After doing so, try to come up with one brief, powerful statement that will inspire and guide you on your path through life. This can be referred to as your own personal mission statement. An example of a personal mission statement can be found below:

“I want to be somebody that is on a relentless pursuit of growth, learning, and achievement while keeping my relationships with friends and family at the center of my life.”

Your mission statement should be personal to YOU! Without any specific structure in mind, do your best to create a 1-2 sentence mission statement that you can refer to each and every day.

Click here to watch Simon Sinek: Start with Why

Additional Sports Recruits Resources

Remember that ALL Kings Hammer High School age group players have a FREE account on the Sports Recruits platform.  This is a great tool for you to utilize in the college search and recruiting process.  You can find more information on using video in your recruiting, guides on creating and using video and other topics by clicking the links below:

Sports Recruits also hosts webinars each month on a variety of topics.  Here is what is coming in April:

• The Do’s and Don’ts of Communication – Tuesday, April 9th at 7:00 PM EST
• Breaking Down Events – Wednesday, April 17th at 7:00 PM EST
• SportsRecruits 101 – Wednesday, April 24th at 7:00 PM EST

CLICK HERE to go to the registration page and sign up to attend one of the listed webinars. You can also catch replays of past webinars from this same location.

Kings Hammer College Commitments

Congratulations to the most recent Kings Hammer soccer players to make college commitment decisions!

• Benjamin Watts – Centre College
• Roman Girandola – DePauw University
• Dominick Dornbush – University of Findlay
• Cooper Staubach – Mount Vernon Nazarene University
• Austin Nowak – Xavier University
• Cooper Staubach – Mount Vernon Nazarene University
• Sarah Wang – Wellesley College
• Paige House – Ohio Northern University
• Paul Brophy – Savannah College of Art and Design
• Tyler Smith – Centre College
• Hannah Engel – University of the Cumberlands
• Diego Hoenderkamp – Northern Kentucky University
• Josh Line – Northern Kentucky University
• Trinity Bauwens – Spaulding University
• Kate Makkas – Youngstown State University
• Caroline Tucker – Mars Hill University
• Ava Hess – University of Southern Indiana
• Lauren Flax – Liberty University
• Kaitlyn Lampe – Mt St Joseph University
• Riley Tarvin – Stetson University
• Avery Riggs – Bryan College
• Landon Barth – Northern Kentucky University
• Riley Rolfert – Thomas More University
• Rylie Niemeyer – Western Carolina University
• Lauren Link – Eastern Kentucky University
• Claire Cress – Morehead State University
• Piper Farris – East Carolina University
• McKenzie Carle – Bellarmine University
• Sarah Deaton – Wittenburg University
• Maggie Molnar – Taylor University
• Maria Dilts – Johns Hopkins University
• Ivy Hoffman – Thomas More University
• Maddy Ehrhardt – Wilmington College
• Anna Taylor – Cedarville University
• Claire Cavacini – Centre College
• Ella Mann – Centre College

Remember to post your commitment to your Sports Recruits account and to include @kingshammer and tag Kings Hammer on any social media posts so that you can be recognized for your achievements!