It is no secret that for the best results in any activity, the younger you start the better chances you have of success in the future. This is true for musicians, for artists, and as every coach knows, for football (soccer) and any physically demanding sport players.

Due to this reality, it is only normal that some of the top football (soccer) teams heavily invest in youth development clubs. These clubs are always separated into age groups ranging from U5 (under 5 years old) to U20 but are not always consistent across the globe. Additionally, there is an issue identified in the article “The relative age effect in youth soccer across Europe” about the difference in performance between youth of the same age but born at opposite ends of the same year. This is why a “soccer age” is

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It is no secret that for the best results in any activity, the younger you start the better chances you have of success in the future. This is true for musicians, for artists, and as every coach knows, for football (soccer) and any physically demanding sport players.

Due to this reality, it is only normal that some of the top football (soccer) teams heavily invest in youth development clubs. These clubs are always separated into age groups ranging from U5 (under 5 years old) to U20 but are not always consistent across the globe. Additionally, there is an issue identified in the article “The relative age effect in youth soccer across Europe” about the difference in performance between youth of the same age but born at opposite ends of the same year. This is why a “soccer age” is used in the younger teams to try to minimize this difference. Some clubs and teams may use other approaches.

Let’s be clear, we are not saying that older players cannot succeed. As answered to a Quora question in October of 2014, there are many dedicated players that worked very hard and became well known athletes after joining a club in their late teens and early 20s: Carlos Salcido, Douglas Franco Teixeira, Willem van Hanegem, Didier Drogba, and the list goes on. However, one must consider that starting early, ages 4 to 14, offers a distinct advantage to becoming a skilful player. Consequently, starting later will leave a player with a significant gap to traverse to catch up to his or her younger starting counterparts. The older player must fully commit to the game, receive superior coaching and train even harder in order to reach the professional level that few will ever reach. If there is a will there is a way!

Could there be a golden age at which to scout a player; an optimal point in a player’s career where it is easier to tell if a player is good enough to be taken seriously? Between the ages of 6 and 12 is where coaches and scouts sample the players. The coach has a player-centric approach to determine what motivates the young player from within. Between 12 and 16 years old, the coach is more serious about determining whether football (soccer) is the sport of choice of the player and whether or not the player considers committing to the sport for the long-term. 16, 17, and 18, are the investment years. The coach will push the player to the edge, give him or her resources for overcoming physical challenges, and will call on the player’s family and friends for support and motivation. At this point, to have a chance at getting noticed for the big leagues, the player must be fully committed and essentially married to the game.

Scouting is the next step. The harsh reality is that most of the great players out there will never be discovered. Believing that if you’re good enough, then someone will find you may have some truth to it, but in this world, there are countless dedicated and ridiculously talented youth that will go unnoticed and will never reach the professional level. This is why it is vital to start early, invest heavily in the player's visibility, and to be proactive about being discovered. To do this, a player must first understand what a scout is looking for. In the past, scouting younger U12 players was focused on a “wow factor”; the players that stood out from the rest by trying new techniques or tricks. Today scouts pay more attention to versatility, technique, coachability, and spirit. Most scouting occurs behind closed doors. Discussions are held between professionals who have known each-other and worked together for years. These professional and the personal networks of these professionals are some of the most closely guarded tools that they have. A scout is nobody without his or her connections and reputation within the industry. With the advent of information technology in the last couple of decades, scouts are rapidly taking a more digital approach in evaluating or pre-evaluating players. A majority of scouting platforms focus solely on semi-professional and professional players with solid backgrounds and track records. If the players are amateurs, their best chance to be noticed online has been to post and share YouTube videos. However, YouTube and similar sites are not optimized for soccer scouting, or any sports scouting for that matter, since the only way to find a video is to use keywords.
These limitations for amateur players are why Tarfee Inc. was created by co-founder and CEO Simon Abushaban. His vision is to give every talented player a chance to be discovered. With Tarfee, players as young as 5 can have their player card and recruitment video(s) posted by their parent, guardian or coach and can update the card as they advance in their career, documenting every step of their ascent to becoming the player they envision.

To learn more about Tarfee, click here.

We would love to hear from you. Please comment below!

In a previous Tarfee Talk entitled “10 Advantages of Online Player Scouting (e-Scouting)” we covered some of the ways that online scouting solves and simplifies common challenges in the world of traditional scouting. However, we can’t ignore the new challenges that scouts and coaches face when it comes to using the internet to find new talents. Here are a few.

1. “I have to see it with my own eyes”

There is a certain “I want to see it with my own eyes to believe it” reasoning when we ask some coaches why they are reluctant to use e-scouting platforms such as Tarfee. This is very similar to the argument given for avoiding shopping online for clothes, since it’s difficult to imagine purchasing a pair of pants or shoes without trying them on. This is more than valid point,

In a previous Tarfee Talk entitled “10 Advantages of Online Player Scouting (e-Scouting)” we covered some of the ways that online scouting solves and simplifies common challenges in the world of traditional scouting. However, we can’t ignore the new challenges that scouts and coaches face when it comes to using the internet to find new talents. Here are a few.

1. “I have to see it with my own eyes”

There is a certain “I want to see it with my own eyes to believe it” reasoning when we ask some coaches why they are reluctant to use e-scouting platforms such as Tarfee. This is very similar to the argument given for avoiding shopping online for clothes, since it’s difficult to imagine purchasing a pair of pants or shoes without trying them on. This is more than valid point, but it doesn’t make online scouting useless. It isn’t hard to remember how slowly online shopping gained tractions in the retail world. Today, after years of experience, online shopping is growing exponentially with no sign of slowing down. We believe that soccer scouting, while different, will follow a similar trajectory. Thousands of dollars of scouting and travel expenses can be saved, especially when scouting internationally. For now, coaches, scouts and agents rely mainly on personal connections and longstanding relations to find that diamond in the rough. Maybe there is a better way.

Let’s be clear, we are not saying that online scouting would replace traditional scouting, but it can be a great complementary asset. What some people may overlook is that just like in online shopping, a person does not necessarily have to purchase something for it to be considered “online shopping”. One can simply use the online shopping tools to scout for good deals, products, and services. When looking for soccer players, online videos and other tools can help pinpoint some players with potential, but it’s by watching them during physical tryouts and games that a coach or scout can make an educated decision. In fact, we discourage making final decisions and deals based solely on information found on the internet, no matter how legitimate it looks or sounds.

2. Questionable authenticity and legitimacy of player profiles and videos

How can you tell if what you’re seeing on a screen is true? Just as people often exaggerate in their resumes, both players and soccer professionals can be expected to do the same, and they sometimes do. Reiterating the online shopping analogy, when it first began, one of its biggest challenges was to find a credible vendor that would actually send the product to you in good condition. Nowadays, online shopping has become more reliable due to encryptions, but also due to customer reviews and ratings. A scouting platform like Tarfee works very much in the same way. Professionals and other players are verified and screened. Additionally, each player and professional can like and can leave reviews on player cards and videos, which helps increase the credibility and visibility of these players and decrease the likelihood of fraud occurring. It is possible to mitigate fraud attempts with a little bit of common sense and some careful research. For more information on overcoming fraud, refer to our blog: Preventing Fraud in the World of Online Sports Scouting.

3. It can be quite time consuming

Emails are an integral part of online scouting. Most coaches have their professional email addresses listed on the team’s website, so anyone with an internet connection can send them a letter and a link to a youtube video and hope for the best. Each month, thousands of players do exactly that.

It is not surprising that at some of the more highly placed teams such as in the top NCAA Div 1 schools and some popular teams in Europe, the coaches admit to simply not having enough time to sort through the hundreds if not thousands of emails received each month from players hoping to be noticed, and only relying on emails sent from agents and scouts that they personally know and trust. This is a problem not only for the great players who are overlooked due to the backlog of unchecked emails, but also for the coaches who miss out on opportunities to recruit and mould very promising players.

If only there was a way to overcome this problem and to efficiently sort through the emails or bypass emails altogether. Well, with modern scouting platforms, it is becoming a reality. Imagine, as a coach, being able to home in on exactly the type of player you are looking for by filtering through potential candidates or by going a step further and posting an e-tryout that is only open to candidates with specific characteristics. With Tarfee, for example, you can do both without compromising your contact information. Find out more here.

4. “There aren’t enough players to choose from”

Some of the most popular soccer scouting platforms cater mainly to professional and semi-professional players. These players often have detailed career statistics, they have played in televised games and are managed by renowned agents and coaches. They are also inclined to pay fees to the websites in order to increase their chances of being noticed and to attend tryouts. Those who scout for players also compete fiercely on these websites, because the ratio of players per scout is quite low. Competition is always good to bring the best out of people, but in the case of online soccer scouting, it can leave many others in the shadows.

As history has shown us, some of the greatest players were found in some of the poorest parts of the world. Unfortunately, these places are often remote and simply don’t get enough visibility from recruiters. Luckily, the Internet is becoming increasingly accessible to even the most inaccessible locations. Additionally, new platforms are being created by people who are passionate in giving every kid a chance to be discovered.

Simon Abushaban, CEO of Tarfee Inc. is such a person.

“I believe that every talented player deserves a chance to be discovered and pursue the dream of a career playing the wonderful game”

- S. Abushaban

With platforms such as Tarfee, players still do compete, but only with likes, comments, and ratings from both peers and professionals, instead of with money. Players and their representatives create player cards and are notified of when there is a compatible e-tryout, in which case they can submit their player cards and recruitment videos for consideration.

With this tool, every talented kid out there could truly have a chance.

5. Choosing the right platform

Some of the most frequently expressed concerns are, of course, money related:

• Should one choose a free platforms or paid platform?


• If paid, then how much will it cost and how likely am I to find a good player?


• As a scout, are there any strings attached if a player that I found on a platform becomes successful?


• As a player, do I owe the platform anything for having facilitated my discovery and subsequent success?

These are all valid and important questions. Each scouting platform is different and those questions should be asked or researched thoroughly before signing-up. You’ll often find this information in the privacy policy/terms and conditions pages of the websites.

With regards to Tarfee, a free platform for both players and professionals, there really are no strings attached. See for yourself and request an invitation today!

It goes without saying that involving kids in almost any team sport has some strong benefits to the child's psyche and physical health. With this in mind we've put together a list of 5 benefits that we believe to be crucial and readily attainable when being part of a soccer team.

1) Learning Leadership Skills: Whether it’s from observing the coach, from being the captain of a team, or even just being an active team member, acquired leadership skills through practice or observation will strongly benefit children in their adult lives. Soccer is one low-cost sport that is guaranteed to shine a light on leadership shrewdness. 

2) Learning about respect, courtesy, and consideration: Coaches,

It goes without saying that involving kids in almost any team sport has some strong benefits to the child's psyche and physical health. With this in mind we've put together a list of 5 benefits that we believe to be crucial and readily attainable when being part of a soccer team.

1) Learning Leadership Skills: Whether it’s from observing the coach, from being the captain of a team, or even just being an active team member, acquired leadership skills through practice or observation will strongly benefit children in their adult lives. Soccer is one low-cost sport that is guaranteed to shine a light on leadership shrewdness. 

2) Learning about respect, courtesy, and consideration: Coaches, more often than not, demand respect from their players, but also for the opposing team, for parents, and for fellow payers. There are some important life lessons to learn here for both kids and adults on how to build and preserve one’s reputation and on how to express one’s attitude properly.

3) Making friends and feeling a sense of belonging: Friendship is essential for one’s early life. Friendship built through struggles, losses and success will last a lifetime. Winning as a team and losing as a team has a strong impact on interpersonal relations and influences kids’ emotional intelligence.

4) Staying active: Needless to say, remaining active is very important for one’s health. Staying active, as an adult, can be a real challenge. Habits developed early-on can greatly influence our choices in the future. If a kid is motivated to stay active from a young age while doing something he or she likes, this habit will be hard to break, and he or she can grow up to be a healthy, balanced person who overcame obesity in childhood and adulthood.

5) Improving their communications skills: Whether its school or work, communication is a key skill for success in any professional environment. Like many sports, communication is quintessential to soccer. Players that learn these skills at a young age will not only have a better chance of success in sports, but in their adult relationships as well.

Let us know what you think of this list in the comments below and keep enjoying the beautiful game!

Like in any business, fraud can be committed by either side of the deal. In football (soccer), there are fraudsters who can impersonate licensed agents and scouts. These people promise players the world only to rob them and their families of their hard earned money. On the players’ side, fraud may be committed in the form of embellishments and edited videos, or simply through falsification of information and identity. These issues are some of the primary reasons many scouts, coaches and agents are still reluctant to view online scouting as a reliable tool. Fraudsters can be resourceful in their methods. It’s important to be well informed and to know how to avoid becoming a victim.

Problem: Talent Representation Fraud

As much as we at Tarfee.com conduct our due diligence when inviting

Like in any business, fraud can be committed by either side of the deal. In football (soccer), there are fraudsters who can impersonate licensed agents and scouts. These people promise players the world only to rob them and their families of their hard earned money. On the players’ side, fraud may be committed in the form of embellishments and edited videos, or simply through falsification of information and identity. These issues are some of the primary reasons many scouts, coaches and agents are still reluctant to view online scouting as a reliable tool. Fraudsters can be resourceful in their methods. It’s important to be well informed and to know how to avoid becoming a victim.

Problem: Talent Representation Fraud

As much as we at Tarfee.com conduct our due diligence when inviting organizations and professionals to join our scouting platform, a skilled fraudster may be able to sneak his or her way into any online platform. Here are some key giveaways which can help you identify and avoid them:

• Requesting to communicate privately outside of the recruitment platform can be a red flag. We recommend that all our users keep in touch through the Tarfee messaging system, as to avoid possible miscommunications and even fraud.


• Requests for advanced payment for a real or fictional trial: If an agent or scout is pushing you to urgently purchase something, don’t do it. If you truly are the diamond in the rough they are looking for, they will approach you in a more professional manner. Fraudsters often rely on not leaving too much room and time for their victim to think critically.

• Premature promises in exchange for small amount of money: Fraudsters often promise something grandiose, or to cover all expenses except for some insignificant-sounding fee to cover things like insurance or taxes. Does this sound familiar? Maybe you’ve received a call about winning a free cruise to the Bahamas, where they ask you for your credit card information in order to cover taxes. You later find out that there was no cruise, and that it’s the charlatan who called you was after that small amount of taxes in the first place.


• Lots of compliments and promises of dream fulfillment: Swindlers and deceivers want you to make a decision based on your emotions, not logic. Making you feel like you’re special can be a very effective tool for the trickster. He/she will make you feel like a million bucks, but make you pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars in return.

If you feel like something is too good to be true, the rule of thumb is that is probably is.

Overcoming the Problem

• Always double and triple-check the identity of the person contacting you.


• If the person or organization who is contacting you isn’t officially verified by Tarfee (no “verified” sticker on the profile), this means that official documentation proving their legitimacy hasn’t yet been processed. Though most unverified Tarfee users are invited by Tarfee admins through verifiable means, like official organization websites and official FIFA documentation, there may still be a risk of fraud.


• Never pay an agent up-front before having met and signed an agreement.


• Finally, if you feel like someone is trying to defraud you in any of the ways mentioned above, you can report the user to Tarfee, and we will take care of the rest, as well as give you feedback about how the matter was resolved.

Problem: Talent Identity Fraud

Fake agents aren’t the only nuisance that can surface on an online scouting platform. As a scout, you’re not only looking for when a player scores. You look for raw talent, personality and understanding of the game. Unfortunately, many players or their siblings, friends and others could potentially falsify information about their skills in order to gain a competitive advantage. Here are some examples of recruitment videos and player details that should be taken with a grain of salt:

• Blurry / low quality videos: Videos that don’t clearly identify the player. If the player is serious about being recruited, he/she will record a quality recruitment video.


• Videos that use fast editing and seem to cherry-pick shining moments and leave out details like how the player recovers after losing the ball, or what the player does when he/she doesn’t have the ball in his/her possession.


• Videos that leave-out information on the strength of the opposing team.


• Unverified lists of certifications, trophies and statistics, can also be misleading.

Overcoming the Problem

• Look for good quality, clear videos with introductions and an easily identifiable player.


• Look for 11 vs 11 full matches with highlight time-stamps, and request information from the host of the player card. This can be a school, a youth development club, a team, or an individual like an agent, coach, or parent.


• Observe the opposing team; It’s easy to look talented when your opponent isn’t.

Bottom line: If you gut isn’t buying it, don’t let your guard down. Ask questions, research your contact, and be diligent. Best of luck!  

Playing a sport competitively and keeping up with your grades in school can prove to be a daunting task. On one side your coach demands your undivided commitment, your teachers feel like school should be your number one priority, meanwhile your parents want you to just magically juggle both so you can get into a great University on a sports scholarship. Here are eight tips that can make the balancing act between school and soccer possible: 

1. Keep your smartphone away. Snapchat, Instagram, WhatsApp, iMessage, Twitter… and the list could go on forever. Procrastination has become ever-so-easy with the domination of smartphones in our lives. The average kid spends over 53 hours per week on media; that’s an average of 7.5 hours per day![1] Put your phone on airplane mode while you study,

Playing a sport competitively and keeping up with your grades in school can prove to be a daunting task. On one side your coach demands your undivided commitment, your teachers feel like school should be your number one priority, meanwhile your parents want you to just magically juggle both so you can get into a great University on a sports scholarship. Here are eight tips that can make the balancing act between school and soccer possible: 

1. Keep your smartphone away. Snapchat, Instagram, WhatsApp, iMessage, Twitter… and the list could go on forever. Procrastination has become ever-so-easy with the domination of smartphones in our lives. The average kid spends over 53 hours per week on media; that’s an average of 7.5 hours per day![1] Put your phone on airplane mode while you study, and stick to glancing at it only when you’re taking a well-deserved break. 


2. Schedule Everything. Sports teach us a discipline we would otherwise not have in our teen years. Time management is everything when you want to be a star of the soccer team and maintain the grades necessary to play it in college. Keep a calendar on your desk or your phone, and schedule your classes, practices, study sessions and downtime.


3. Stick to the Schedule. Even worse than not creating a schedule is creating one and not using it! Ensure you follow your agenda and/or calendar from the start or straying off it will become a habit.


4. Communicate with your coach & teachers. Be transparent and try to establish a good working relationship with your coach and teachers. A good relationship with them will help them better understand what you’re dealing with. This could easily translate to some benefits like: extended deadlines or alternative practice times.


5. Seek help. Classmates, teachers, tutors, and teammates. Help can compliment your learning process and skill improvement both within the classroom and on the field.  


6. Stay Ahead. This may sound extremely far-fetched but if you start early, staying ahead is not just a possibility but quite an achievable one. As soon as you skip a practice, or miss a homework assignment playing the catch-up game becomes increasingly hard, especially if you are trying to juggle between a competitive sport and your academic life.


7. Take advantage of spare time. If you have free periods in school, use them wisely to stay up-to-date with your lessons or even get ahead. Make sure any free time you have in school is spent wisely, as this means less work to take home later.


8. Reward Yourself. Don’t forget to reward yourself! Go out with friends, enjoy family night, or binge on Netflix every now and then. Not giving yourself a break will further stress you and is not fun.

[1] The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, http://kff.org/other/event/generation-m2-media-in-the-lives-of/

Online scouting tools are becoming more sophisticated and useful every day! They are making online scouting quickly catch-up to the traditional "I have to see it with my own eyes to believe it" scouting methods in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and legitimacy. We've put together a top 10 list of advantages of using online scouting tools such as Tarfee.

1 - Access players in remote locations from the comfort of your home or office

All coaches and scouts agree that scouting can be very time-consuming. Especially when scouting internationally. With the proper scouting tools, the time it takes to filter quality players can be significantly reduced. Before booking that next flight to Brazil to watch a few games, a scout or coach can do some preliminary exploring online to plan and optimize

Online scouting tools are becoming more sophisticated and useful every day! They are making online scouting quickly catch-up to the traditional "I have to see it with my own eyes to believe it" scouting methods in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and legitimacy. We've put together a top 10 list of advantages of using online scouting tools such as Tarfee.

1 - Access players in remote locations from the comfort of your home or office

All coaches and scouts agree that scouting can be very time-consuming. Especially when scouting internationally. With the proper scouting tools, the time it takes to filter quality players can be significantly reduced. Before booking that next flight to Brazil to watch a few games, a scout or coach can do some preliminary exploring online to plan and optimize the upcoming trip.

2 - Save time and money on travel expenses

This one is a no-brainer. International scouting is a growing trend, but it can be very expensive. Why leave the best, undiscovered players to the clubs and teams who can most afford risking thousands of dollars on travel? Online scouting enables even the most financially modest teams with the strictest budgets to access players in remote locations for a chance to find that diamond in the rough!

3 - Filter through players based on your specific criteria

Coaches are bombarded with applications and tryout requests from around the globe, some get hundreds of emails every day from talented and not so talented players all over the world. Emails can become disorganized and dealing with this backlog can be a real challenge. Using online platforms, filters and other selection tools can organize player submissions automatically and tailored them to your requirements. For example: one of Tarfee's best features is its e-Tryout tool, which enables you to launch customized e-tryout campaigns that notify all available players who fit your criteria to apply to your e-tryout. You can sort through these applicants using the criteria of your choice.

4 - Watch, re-watch, and evaluate players through scouting videos

It is true that just as some employees can be insincere in their resumes and CVs, so can aspiring soccer players lie in their scouting video(s). We're not saying that watching videos is on the same level as watching an 11 vs 11 game from the bleachers, but it's a great tool for the initial screening and decision making on who is worth investigating further. This is especially true for amateur players who may not have a rich & documented history. With video-centric, rating and comment-enabled scouting platforms like Tarfee, video-based scouting can be very effective and efficient in pinpointing a potential star through player videos. As an extra measure of security against fraudulent submissions, Tarfee only accepts videos posted by verified organizations and not directly from players.

5 - Connect and expand your network by meeting other scouts, agents and organizations

Networking. Networking. Networking! You can meet colleagues and counterparts in remote locations who can become part of your network for future deals, trades, and other scouting opportunities. Just as you would meet other scouts and coaches during physical tryouts, the same can be done when scouting online. You'd be surprised by how many people you can meet; people with whom you may have otherwise never crossed paths. 

6 - Easily compare different players simultaneously 

Comparing stats and skills of players in the same team is easy when watching a live game. What if you want to compare a player from a previous game or from another country? With online scouting tools, these players are at your finger tips! Simply split your screen, watch both videos, and compare their statistics side-by-side. 

7 - Keep-up with technology trends. Don't be left behind.

Whether we like it or not, the world is sprinting towards computerizing and automating the facets of everyday life. Soccer scouting is no different. With Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and all the other social networking websites being omnipresent in everyday interactions, it's only a matter of time until scouting for any sport begins and ends through some form of online interaction. It is easier and more fruitful to begin early and evolve with the trends than to join when everyone is already established and benefiting from the movement.

8 - Easily share player information with your colleagues

To e-mail scouting videos can be time-consuming. In order to remain organized, email accounts require customization and filtering. With online scouting tools that host player profiles, or in Tarfee's case: Player Cards, you can easily share one or more players' information with colleagues and other professionals with the simple click of a button.

9 - Access useful player statistics and view community-generated comments & ratings 

Most scouting platforms offer some form of statistical tracking for their players. Whether i consists of details on average miles or kilometers ran during a game, positional clustering maps, simple win-loss information, or community-generated comment/like/share statistics, this information is indispensable when comparing players. 

10 - Promote your club or team and connect with fans

Finally, one of the most important features of online scouting is making yourself, your club(s), and your team(s) visible to the online community. Additionally, it really doesn't hurt to engage with your fans and followers. Online notoriety can go a long way in generating interest and awareness from both fans and aspiring players!

TARFEE COMPLIANCE OVERVIEW

If you are an NCAA compliant establishment, you're probably asking yourself if Tarfee is right for you. Based on our research and on correspondence with NCAA's Enforcement Certification and Approvals Group, as well as their legal team, we are confident that we are compliant with their standards, and here's how:

Article 13.14.3.2 of the 2015-2016 NCAA Div 1 Manual

TARFEE COMPLIANCE OVERVIEW

If you are an NCAA compliant establishment, you're probably asking yourself if Tarfee is right for you. Based on our research and on correspondence with NCAA's Enforcement Certification and Approvals Group, as well as their legal team, we are confident that we are compliant with their standards, and here's how:

Article 13.14.3.2 of the 2015-2016 NCAA Div 1 Manual states: In sports other than basketball and football, an institution may subscribe to a recruiting or scouting service involving prospective student-athletes, (1) provided the service is made available to all institutions desiring to subscribe and at the same fee rate for all subscribers.  (2)The service must also provide information regarding each prospective student-athlete in a standardized format that ensures consistent distribution to all subscribers. (3) An institution is not permitted to subscribe to a recruiting or scouting service that provides information in any form (e.g., oral reports, electronic messages) about prospective student-athletes beyond the standardized, consistent information that is provided to all subscribers. (4) An institution is permitted to subscribe to a service that provides scholastic and/or non-scholastic video. (5) The institution may not contract with a service in advance to have a particular contest recorded or provided. [D] (Adopted: 1/14/12, Revised: 7/26/12, 1/15/14)

Condition (1)

During the first phase of its launch, Tarfee remains a free service for any soccer organisation that wishes to join. During the second phase (date yet to be determined) Tarfee will notify all participating NCAA institutions of a cut-off date where the service will become subscription based with an equal monthly fee for every school. At no time on Tarfee's platform will one school have any monetary, informational, or any other type of advantage over any other school in the same division.

Conditions (2) & (3)

Each student and non-student athlete's information, including trial videos, is contained within a single Player Card, which is accessible by all organisations and contains consistent information for all to see. If interested in a particular athlete, the coaching staff is free to lawfully contact the representative(s) of this athlete and initiate the standard recruitment processes, including but not limited to asking for additional information. This additional information is no longer considered to be provided by Tarfee, but by the athlete's representative(s).

Condition (4)

This one's easy; it’s our main feature! We provide scholastic and non-scholastic videos for you to watch and use as an initial evaluation tool.

Condition (5)

As mentioned previously, Tarfee does not supply one particular school with information about an athlete that is not readily available to any other school in the same division. Schools and their coaching staff can filter through players using Tarfee's filtering tools, e-Tryout Campaigns, and other tools in order to discover particular players, but all provided information and content is equally available to any other school in the same divisions that makes the same filtered queries, posts similar e-Tryout Campaigns, and uses any of the other tools in a similar fashion.

Conclusion (TL;DR)
Every NCAA Div 1 school will pay the same monthly fee (or lack thereof), at the same time, and will get the same services and information as any other school in the same division. Tarfee is doing its due diligence in reviewing NCAA compliance standards. Tarfee's has the ultimate goal of creating a unique place for legitimate organizations to expand their recruiting potential and for talented players to increase their chances of being discovered, while working hard to comply with industry regulations and standards.

Disclaimer: As much as we try to be compliant, the interpretation above is that of Tarfee Inc. We encourage you to check with your compliance office, and if necessary, submit a request for interpretation to the Academic and Membership Affairs Group (AMA).

For additional information please contact us or comment on this talk.

Scouting videos are the most important aspect of showcasing your talent on Tarfee. But most scouts and coaches don't have time to watch all of the available videos. Follow these tips to make sure the first video they watch leaves a good impression.

The best videos are, of course, the ones taken from recorded, official matches. Amateur videos can easily be edited and artificially made to look good. This is the main reason why some coaches and scouts don't like making decisions based on amateur videos. This leaves amateur players undiscovered. How to overcome this obstacle?

• Make a 10 to 15 second introduction of yourself at the beginning of your videos. (Your name, your jersey number, and a little something about your goals in life, and why you want to be recruited) Talk into the camera as

Scouting videos are the most important aspect of showcasing your talent on Tarfee. But most scouts and coaches don't have time to watch all of the available videos. Follow these tips to make sure the first video they watch leaves a good impression.

The best videos are, of course, the ones taken from recorded, official matches. Amateur videos can easily be edited and artificially made to look good. This is the main reason why some coaches and scouts don't like making decisions based on amateur videos. This leaves amateur players undiscovered. How to overcome this obstacle?

• Make a 10 to 15 second introduction of yourself at the beginning of your videos. (Your name, your jersey number, and a little something about your goals in life, and why you want to be recruited) Talk into the camera as if you are being interviewed.


• Ask your current coach to say a few words about you as well.


• Include some training footage. (Ball control, running, shooting, working out with teammates)


• Include lots of in-game highlights (11 vs 11) rather than practice videos. Anyone can kick a ball 100 times and just edit-out the bad shots. Ask a family member of friend to videotape your next match, even from the bleachers.


• If you decide to upload a full game, make sure you indicate at which timestamps are your highlights


• Ask yourself: Am I easily identifiable in my videos? Is my number clearly visible? (Pro Tip: Use video editing apps to mark yourself with an arrow or another indicator.


• Scouting videos should rarely exceed 10 minutes, unless you are uploading a full-length game.


• Avoid using cliché or profanity-filled songs as background music. You don’t want to divert attention away from your performance by using “eye of the tiger” as background music.


• Be careful of copyright infringement when choosing your background music.

Video Scouting isn’t an exact science. Just experiment and keep uploading!

Good Luck!