Athletes taking games to the pros

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By Steve Batterson | Wednesday, July 2, 2008 8:41 PM CDT | () comments

With increasing frequency, high school athletes are hiring professionals to put the lights and cameras to their actions.

The resulting video productions provide athletes with one more way to market themselves to potential college recruiters.

Mike Brandtner did just that, understanding that college football recruiters aren’t typically tripping over each other to get to the front door of potential punters and kickers.

The Iowa State punter caught the attention of college coaches in part because of a DVD he and his family had put together to highlight his skills on the field for Davenport Assumption High School.

“It was a way for me to show coaches a little bit of what I am about, and what I could do,’’ Brandtner said.

The DVD that Brandtner sent out consisted of game footage from his high school career. It illustrated his long-distance ability and his ability to place shorter punts inside the

10-yard line. The distance of his punts was displayed graphically as were other highlights and statistical information.

“It turned out well. It looks sharp and was a way for coaches to get to see me and see what I could do. It may be different for guys at other positions, but I think for specialists in particular it is helpful because they can be afterthought for recruiters,’’ Brandtner said. “We have to sell ourselves a little bit more.’’

Most tapes do get looked at by college recruiters.

Darren Bizarri has received tapes, DVDs and electronically transmitted video clips of several hundred prospects since becoming the men’s basketball coach at Black Hawk College.

“Coaches realize that what they are receiving is a highlight tape, and typically seeing additional game tape of how a player fits into a team framework is equally important, but the videos we receive are watched,’’ Bizarri said. “Nobody wants to be the coach that missed out on a great player because he didn’t take the time to look at a video.’’

Many of the professionally produced tapes St. Ambrose football coach Mike Magistrelli has received will highlight one individual, using shading or boxes to make it easier for a coach to single out a player.

“You don’t have to try to pick a kid out of a crowd on a football field, which is nice,’’ he said. “They typically are a little different than what we see on the game film we do look at.’’

There is a reason for that.

Joe Brown, who co-owns Davenport-based mediaWork productions with Rich Webster, has seen a growing number of parents and high school athletes come through the door of his business desiring to have videos put together.

“A lot of people are looking to send them out to colleges, and others simply want to make them as keepsakes for family and friends,’’ Brown said.

The bulk of his company’s business involves corporate work, but Webster said mediaWork has found a word-of-mouth niche in producing videos of area athletes in a variety of sports ranging from soccer and football to basketball and baseball.

“We are always careful to tell parents and athletes that what we produce isn’t going to make them any bigger, faster or stronger,’’ Webster said. “A lot of we do as a company is to promote new products and ideas, and this in some ways is an extension of that.’’

Webster said the bulk of the videos are in the 5- to 7-minute range, and most have involved individuals participating in team sports.

The videos produced typically include action footage, individualized graphical information featuring statistics, awards and honors and contact information for the athlete. Music is in the background throughout.

Brown said he could envision short interviews being a part of a recruiting video.

“We’ve worked with kids who end up going anywhere from Division I to Division III, and the big thing we have to offer is isolated footage. We’ll go out and focus solely on one athlete,’’ Brown said.

The cost varies depending on how much work is involved.

“The editing costs are fairly standard from one to the next, but we’ve gone out and shot an individual in one or two games and we’ve had a couple of instances where we have shot an entire football season for a customer, focusing on one or two players,’’ Brown said.

Distribution is the responsibility of the athlete or in some instances, the high school coach.

“We sent out quite a few, and it accomplished what I hoped it would,’’ Brandtner said. “It gave me an opportunity.’’

Steve Batterson can be contacted at (563) 383-2290 or sbatterson@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.