A youth soccer coach breaks down how to film highlight reels for MLS NEXT and ECNL scouts: 30 seconds to one minute long, shot from above with a Veo or tripod to show soccer IQ, plus close-up clips for technique. Start by 6th or 7th grade or risk getting turned away.
What should your highlight video look like if you want to play MLS NEXT or ECNL? I'm the How to Play MLS NEXT guy and ECNL guy, and if you want help playing college soccer, call me. Okay, so at this age, you only need a video to be 1 minute long. Now, a lot of you guys are on Instagram recording horizontally. That does not work. Unfortunately, also, if you record vertically, most of you don't have a Trace— there's a Trace camera right there— or a Veo, so you're just using your iPhone, so the angle is only on ground level. That's okay to begin with, but we do need a real highlight video, so either mom and dad have to get a tripod and hold it and stick it above them, or you do need to invest in a Veo or Trace or your club does. Now that's not to say we don't want both angles. Instagram angles are great too. Nice and close up, we can see your technique, see how your personality and your body language is, but we also need to see your soccer IQ. And the only real way to do that is from above. So we need Veo and we need Trace, one of the two. But we need a bird's eye view of your footage. We only need it to be about 30 seconds to a minute long. I don't need it to be more than that at your age because we're gonna send to the MLS Next and ECNL teams and basically ask for a tryout. If they say no, don't be discouraged. You're just gonna keep practicing. And now that you're starting the process, by the time you hit 6th, 7th grade, maybe you'll be on the team and you won't be told, "Oh, we're full," and, uh, it's because you should have started earlier. If you want more help, DM me. I'll talk to you soon. Goodbye.
