Social Media: Can You Manage It?

Written and courtesy of Lori Payne, Assistant Director of Swimming & the staff at American College Connection

Never has communication been so easy. In years past, we waited for the phone to ring or the hand written letter to appear in the mail box.

In today’s world, very few people have home phones, but everyone has a cell phone.

And, with that, they have many varieties of social media. Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat are very popular amongst teens.

Isn’t it great to be able to have instant communications with your parents, friends and teammates? Sometimes, it’s not so great though, when you were supposed to be home ten minutes ago, or you get a text from your parents, “It’s a school/swim night, get home now!”.

With this instant chat comes great responsibility. WHAT on earth do I mean?

When you are being formally recruited, the first thing coaches peruse is your social media habits and your comments.  This is your opportunity to shine and sell your potential, but a lot of kids are not thinking when they rapidly type in the first thing that comes to mind.

All of a sudden, it’s too late. It’s out there. The coaches have seen and read a post of yours that wasn’t meant for their eyes. You wish you could take it back and you can’t.

Coaches will not recruit this type of athlete. They are not at all shy about asking an existing swimmer to leave their team for this attitude.

You have a brain and you need to use it to the best of your ability. If you write something you know is going to be controversial, don’t write it. Don’t express how you hate your workouts, your coach, your life. No one wants to read your negative texts. That’s your opinion and you need to keep it to yourself.

Be a leader on your team, and write how great your workout was, how great your coach is, and how you love your life.

Hey, life is not fair. Get that through your head now. There are several teams that have had their season eliminated, their team eliminated and their swimmers expelled. Do you want to be one of those student athletes who thought they had the world by the tail, and blow it because you wrote the first thing that came to your mind and put it out on social media for all to see?