Sports coaching goes viral

My son and I were preparing for the upcoming youth soccer season by watching a few soccer games on ESPN. I wanted him to pay particular attention to the technique and style of the teams so he could get a feel for what might be expected of him this coming season. Instead of watching the footwork and skill of the players, he just watched whoever had the ball and commented on how hard they kicked it.

After realizing that this process of teaching wasn’t what I envisioned, I considered buying instructional tapes to give him an early advantage and hopefully advance his learning curve of the strategies. Before I searched websites, which offer these videos for purchase, I decided to check YouTube and analyze their offerings. Goodness!

I was overwhelmed to find that YouTube had instructional videos for every sport imaginable, even badminton. There wasn’t a need for me to use my credit card and wait a week before I could view the intricacies of soccer and explain them to my son. I was able to analyze what these coaches were saying and the terminology they used, and then apply them to my son’s workout. Awesome, I saved money (something I am always interested in) and I was able to assist my son that same day.

After the instruction, I wanted to investigate how many more instructional videos were available and what the viewers were saying about them. After further research, I noticed that the rate of adoption with this innovation of using viral methods for sports instruction was quite swift.

YouTube has only been around for maybe three years and many of these soccer enthusiasts saw an opportunity for free publicity. Not only were individuals placing their knowledge of instruction on YouTube but many of them used this method as a tool to demonstrate their advance knowledge of the game. Sort of like a resume for future advancement within that respective sport.

Viewers used the message boards to ask if the instructors had other videos for different strategies within that sport. The message boards were used as a means of communication by the creator of the video and the person reviewing it. This type of instant feedback usually resulted in additional videos from the creator. Also, many of the video creators gave about five to ten minutes of instruction to later tell the audience that they can purchase their full instructional video at a specific website. Marketing genius if you ask me. Opinions of the instruction were evident as many viewers loved to apply their two cents – “Thanks, this was helpful” or “don’t buy this guys video, it’s a waste” were a few.

Viral video, I thought, was a place for many teenagers to act themselves when school let out or when their parents left the house to go to the grocery store. I have found that viral video can be used as a marketing tactic to inform the masses about your knowledge of a sport and also be used as a quasi-letter of recommendation that you have the goods to coach the sport.

Now that YouTube has helped my son become a better soccer player, let’s see if it can help him with his homework…..